Time for Conkies

"According to the A-Z of Barbadian Heritage, the Ghanaian “kenkey” is probably the origin of the local word, conkie. In Ghana, Kenkey refers to similarly prepared corn meal dishes." That excerpt is taken from this week's column that looks at this dish that is made throughout the Caribbean.

On Friday, November 30th, Barbados will be celebrating 41 years of Independence from British rule and one of the foods often made and eaten around this time is conkie! Prior to its independence, the eating of conkies in Barbados was associated with November 5th – Guy Fawkes night.

The primary ingredients are pumpkin, cornmeal, sweet potatoes and coconut along with spices etc. It's a sweet dish and can be eaten at any meal or as a snack. Labour intensive because of the grating, the gift of a conkie is highly prized.

Conkie mixture

I enjoy making the foods of my adopted home and learning about them. So for this Independence I made conkies for the first time. Feedback from my Bajan friends has been very positive.

Conkie before steaming

Cooked conkie

Here is a step-by-step slide demo how to make conkies. If you cannot get banana leaves where you are this mixture can be placed in ramekins and steamed. This is also my entry to Meeta's Monthly Mingle, the theme being, Traditional Feasts.
Happy Independence Barbados!

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I did it! I made Paneer!

A few months ago when Richa blogged about another of her favourite paneer recipes, my comment included the fact that I had never had paneer. That same day, I received an email with a how-to-make paneer guide. Richa, said, “I cannot let you go on and not try paneer.” She even sent me a link which I filed away. As I continued to visit many other blogs including non-Indian bloggers, I heard them raving about paneer. And then more recently, Jugalbandi and Soul Food gave demos and instructions on how to make this Indian cheese, Paneer. So, I thought that it was time to make paneer and this week’s column is about my findings as it relates to paneer making. You can read all about it here.

Among the things I found interesting is how different milks offer varying degrees of whiteness and the difference in taste when salt is added to the milk when making it and not. I followed the recipe from here for 1 litre of whole milk.

Another thing discussed in the column is how I preferred to use the paneer in a manner that was familiar to me before venturing out. Will I venture out and make paneer again and try the more popular dishes such as mattar paneer (paneer & green peas) and palak paneer (paneer & spinach)? Find out.

Here are the ways I had the paneer I made.

Cubed & Fried

Drizzled with honey

Dressed with cilantro-lime dressing

Dry-curried eggplant & paneer

I also cooked it sauteed with okras, tomatoes, onions and fresh herbs and if you want to know what I thought of these dishes, I discuss it in the column.

As I was making the paneer and watching the milk curdle, it remined me of a sweet my Aunt Betty would make whenever she had curdled milk. She'd add cinnamon, cloves and sugar to the curdled milk and let it boil until reduced. This was such a treat. She called it "paynuse" I am not sure of the spelling this is how the word sounded :)

By the way, have you noticed the spoons in the pics? Guess what? They are gift from a friend down under, Kiriel of Papillon Pantry. I first saw her post of tea noodles and the spoons in which she served them. I merely complimented her on the good tableware find and yes, the same day (see, there’s a theme here today) I received an email from her requesting my address so that she can send me some spoons and so I have spoons! I love them very much. Thanks again, Kiriel!

Speaking of noodles, please don’t forget to CLICK and send in your entries for this month’s theme. You still have time to CLICK and submit here.

Have a good week, everyone!

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What's for breakfast?

I'm going to make a statement here and then I'll probably be bombarded with emails and comments about why I should have this important meal but before you do, please read the column right through to the end, then let's talk :)

I do not like breakfast. There, I've said it. I have a variety of quirks about this meal such as the time I want to eat it, what kind of dishes I should be served and when I want to have it. You can read all about it here.

What I will say here is that I only like savoury dishes for breakfast, keep the scones, jams, jellies, marmalades, tea-rings, buns, muffins and sweet breads for afternoon tea. (lol) Here are some of the foods I enjoy whenever I decide that I want to have breakfast-which is not often.

Breakfast sausages, bacon, eggs and homemade hashbrown potatoes rule the day!

I always attack the sausages first.

Then there are times I just like to opt for fried eggs but they must come served with lots of green onions and hot chilies!

Bakes, I love the bakes made in Guyana and known as floats in Trinidad & Tobago. They can be stuffed with anything, but are most frequently eaten with fried saltfish cooked with lots of tomatoes and onions.

Sada roti for breakfast is another favourite of mine. I like it hot, sliced in half and buttered! Or served with tomato choka or eggplant choka.

You can email me for any of the recipes for the dishes featured in this post.

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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!

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