Rituals - the cake

Warning! Warning! DO NOT EAT AND DRIVE! I know, it's different from the usual Do Not Drink and Drive but I tell you, this should be a warning attached to all Christmas black cakes. This is a deep, dark and dangerously intoxicating cake that can make you wobbly at the knees just by smelling it. To read more about this delicious must-have cake in many homes, click here.

Part of the ritual of black cake is the setting of the fruits. My fruits, blended, have been soaked in some good Caribbean dark rum for a little more than a year!

Look at it, see how dark and rich it is? The prunes are what give the fruits and cake the naturally dark colour. I know some people put browning in their black cake but I don't.

Don't worry about the cracks in the cake, they will close up as the cake cools down. Use this opportunity to pour some of the wine/brandy/rum as the first feeding. If you want the recipe, email me.

Since the beginning of December I have thoroughly enjoyed the work of some of my blogger friends who have been baking their traditional cakes and I thought that I'd remind you of some of them.

My friend, the Happy Cook used to make her cake from October and feed brandy all the way to Christmas - oh yeah! What's not to love about that.

Another friend, Shn, opens her post with a Charles Dickens quote that so aptly describes what my column is about this week and the joys of Christmas cake.

Happy, happy Christmas that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveller back to his own fireside and quiet home. - Charles Dickens.

You must go read her post.

My friend, Meeta takes us into the kitchen where she channels her mom and her dear Tante Stephanie, with a cake recipe that has now been passed on to her.

And you can visit a sweet lady, Glenna who's thanking the British for the cake tradition as she lovingly feeds her cake with some fine Southern Comfort.

Amidst all this, I want you to read this - it is vivid, lively, entertaining, nostalgic and a must read for anyone that's not home this Christmas. Kalyan will transport you back and though you may not be from the place that he writes about, each one of us can identify with something or recall similar memories. Please go read it.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish each and everyone of you, your family, friends and loved ones a very Happy Christmas. May this holiday season be filled with love, laughter, good cheer, health and prosperity. I pray that the warmth and love prevailing at this time of the year lasts throughout the year.

Have a great week everyone and don't forget to check out, Forgive me my nonsense... where this week, I'm asking for your help in defining and understanding the term "homemade".

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Taste & Smell the Stars!

We use them all year round in so many sweet and savoury dishes and countless beverages but at this time of the year, they shine brighter, so roll out the red carpet for the very Christmasy stars of cinnamon and clove.

This week's column celebrates the cinnamon and clove. It is not just the flavour they impart that we taste and love, but also the aroma that signals the season, and that holds true not just for us here in the Caribbean. All over the world, screens - both television and computer, are filled with mulled wine and hot spiced cider and everyone is talking about how the aroma fills the house and makes it cheerful.

Well for us in the Caribbean, beverages such as ginger beer and sorrel are seasonal and we really look forward to them at Christmas. Cinnamon and cloves are important in the other foods we make at this time too, such as pepperpot, ham, cakes, etc.

Sorrel

De-seeded sorrel

I know that it's cold where some of you are but there is nothing quite as refreshing as a cold glass of spiced-fruity sorrel drink on a hot day. This first picture is my entry for CLICK!

OR a glass of ginger beer to go with a slice of Christmas cake.

And how can one forget the other star of the holiday table. Clove-studded and stunning :)

Baked ham

For your information, Cassia is a member of the cinnamon family but it has a stronger flavour and therefore requires less when using in a recipe.

Please email me for any of the recipes seen here.

Hey, don't forget to check out Forgive me my nonsense... where Bee talks about Sammy Gitau. Who is he? click here for more.

Have a great weekend.

Pepperpot & Garlic Pork!

Pepperpot

Pepperpot and garlic pork are among the must-have dishes in Guyana at Christmas. The unique thing about both of these dishes is that they get better with age- just like a good steak, wine, cheese or cured meat. Almost every home on Christmas morning has these dishes on the breakfast table. Click here to read how these dishes are made and aged.

As I’ve said in previous posts and columns, Guyana is made up a 6 races. The dish pepperpot has its origins with our Indigenous peoples (Amerindians). Here are some facts:

1. The key ingredient in pepperpot is cassava casareep, made from the juice extracted from grated cassava.
2. It takes the juice of 60 pounds of grated cassava, boiled for hours to produce one-10oz bottle of casreep.
3. The Indigenous peoples had no refrigeration and so they used casareep for its preservative properities (that is why pepperpot can be left on the stovetop, reheated daily for days and not spoil).
4. The indigenous peoples used lots of pepper sometimes instead of meat to make pepperpot, hence the name.
5. Cassava is gluten free, high in fibre and low in fat.
6. Casareep can be used as a browning agent in a variety of dishes such as stews, pelau etc.

Pepperpot, though traditionally eaten with cassava bread (made from the pulp after squeezing for the juice to make casareep) is more popularly eaten with homemade bread.

For info on how you can get casareep in your neck of the woods, please contact Annette Arjoon of the Guyana Marine Turtle Conservation Society, here.

Garlic Pork

Garlic pork, came from our Portuguese ancestors, it’s a pickle. A paste of fresh thyme and garlic are used to season thin slices of pork and then the meat is soaked in a solution of distilled vinegar, water and salt for weeks before its pan fried, sliced and served. You can read the column for more info.

Thyme-garlic paste

Pickling garlic pork

Recipes for both of these dishes are available, just send me an email.

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Bee and I would like to thank you for helping us to kick things off on the new blog, Forgive me my nonsense… do drop by again, we love to hearing from you.

By the way, Charlotte at the Great Big Veggie Challenge has been on a quest to introduce her family, particularly her 7-year-old son, Freddie, described as veggie-phobic, to eating and enjoying a wide variety of vegetables. Since they are going through the alphabet and are now at the letter P, the veg is Plantain. So if you have a plantain-recipe or plantain post and would like to share it, send it to Charlotte. Next week as she moves on to Q, she’ll be looking for Quick vegetable recipes, if you have any, you know what to do.

Feasting at Festivals

This week, Hindus throughout the world will be celebrating Diwali, the festival of lights, and that includes us here in the Caribbean where Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago and Suriname are home to the largest populations of Caribbean Hindus and Muslims. Hindu and Muslim religious holidays are therefore, national holidays.

Growing up in a multicultural society with people of various races and religions helps one to gain insights that some people go a lifetime without glimpsing. Coming from a bi-racial family, I often had a front-row seat to the cultural heritage of both my parents. Click here to read the column and some of my memories of celebrating these holidays.

The tradition of celebrating, for example, Diwali, is thought to have been brought to Guyana in 1853 by the first set of indentured labourers from India.

Though I'm neither Hindu nor Muslim, I miss celebrating these holidays with my family and friends. Today, I thought I’d share with you some of the foods of these religious holidays that I look forward to having and miss dearly. I want to sincerely thank my cousin, Doris for guiding me through the process, long distance, of making parsad; my aunt Betty for showing me how to make her version of parsad and roat; my cousin-in-law, Shireen for the step by step demo of making vermicelli cake; and my friend, Safie for sharing her mitai (kurma) recipe with me. I hope that I did justice to all your teachings and look forward to getting better.

Typical veg meal on religious holiday

Curried potatoes (aloo curry)

Sauteed pumpkin (fried pumpkin)

Sauteed spinach and channa

Split-peas dhal

Parsad (parched flour, ghee, sugar, water, milk, cardamom and raisins)

Parsad is what we call this dish, if you recognise it by another name based on the ingredients or look, can you let me know? Thanks.

Roat (flour, ghee, sugar, milk and raisins)

Again, if you recognise this sweet by another name, please share it with me.

Mitai (Kurma)

Vermicelli cake

Happy Diwali! And email me for any of the recipes.

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By now, many of you may have heard or seen the Click event being hosted by the tireless duo at Jugalbandi, Bee & Jai. Based on all that I’ve read and seen, I’d say that the first event was a tremendous success and that this event will get stronger and bigger as time goes by.

Last’s month’s theme was eggs and you can have a look here at the entries and here for the winners in the various categories. A generous and very creative woman, Sunita of Sunita’s world was the overall winner. Congrats my friend.

This month, the theme is noodles and I am honoured to be asked to join the esteemed panel of judges for this month’s event. Read the details of the event. For info on this month’s theme and how to submit your entries, click here.

I’m excited to see your entries so click away!

Holi Hai!

In preparation for my column this week, I thought I'd try my hand at making phulourie and biganee. Phulourie is a seasoned splitpea and flour batter that's deep fried. Biganee is thinly sliced eggplant that's dipped in the phulourie batter and deep fried. Both are served with what we call sour or chutney.

These are just two of the foods made by my extended family to celebrate Phagwah/Holi. Read the column for more.

Phulourie batter

Phulourie frying

Cooked phulourie

Biganee frying

Biganee and sour

Pancakes Today!

These are the pancakes I like and today (the day before Ash Wednesday) is the only day I like to eat pancakes. It is not the typical flat pancakes such as the American ones. These pancakes are the ones I grew up on. Happy Pancake Day!

No store-bought syrup for me!

Sticky and sweet is how I like it!







Pancakes exposed!