Let's Make a Meal!

If you know me well you know that I love food, and what is most enjoyable about food is creating your own dishes.  I like to always say that there's nothing new under the sun (according to biblical scriptures) and when it comes to food (or anything else for that matter) someone somewhere may have already done it.  However, this Thursday, I had the urge to cook, which is something that's not a frequent feeling but whenever it comes, it's usually a pretty awesome meal.  

Whole wheat bread 'long bread' as we say it in Grenada

For quite some time, my mom has been BEGGING me to buy some more vegetables.  Being away from home means mom isn't around to do all these things that she loves doing for me.  Steaming vegetables is one of them! But of recent, I went to the market with Crystal and I decided that I was going to get some vegetables and cook a mean dish this week.  After coming from my Thursday morning class, I decided that I was going to just bake bread; however, if you ask me how I moved from baking bread to a full meal for four, cleaning, preparing for classes the following day AND organizing to attend a town hall meeting, I don't have a clue! (God's grace and strength maybe?)

Anyway, I decided to share my conjured recipe with you.  I havent quite decided on a definite name so in the event of me giving it a fancy name and not just calling it my favorite, food, I call this the Vegetarian Chicken (how unreal is this?!)😹

You will need:

1 Carrot

1 onion

2 tomatoes

1/2 seasoning pepper (large)

3 potatoes 

Chives

Thyme

Clove

Cinnamon

Paprika

Garlic butter

Pepper Sauce

Black Pepper

Other green and powder (packet) seasonings 

1 small packet chicken wings

Salt to taste

Ketchup and/or bbq sauce

Bottled/packaged green seasoning 

1 baking sheet/tray

Aluminum foil

Directions:
1. Cut chicken wings in half (separate the drumstick from the 'flap')

2. Cut and dice carrots, potatoes, onions, seasoning pepper, chive, thyme and any other green seasonings

3. Add packaged seasoning to chicken and season and lay aside to marinate (I like using Bajan seasonings sometimes because the flavors are pretty good most times)

4. After approximately 10 minutes of marinating, put the chicken on the stove with half of pot of water. Add potatoes along with a few head of cloves and other seasonings.

5. Allow the pot to come to a parboil for approximately 10-15 minutes then remove from stove.

6. Preheat oven at this moment at 150-180 degrees

7. In your baking sheet/tray, cover entire surface and edges of the tray with aluminum foil.  This allows the sauce/juices to go through your mixture much easier when compared to it being hit by direct heat. Not forgetting to mention, when you're done, there's less cleaning to do! Remove it when it's cool and then presto!

8. In a small container, pour a medium amount of the chicken stock and place chopped onions. Allow that to sit until.

9. Remove chicken from pot and place into a container. Remove potatoes as well and put in a separate container. Add ketchup and/or bbq sauce, packet seasonings, salt and bottled seasonings. Mix well and allow to sit.

10. At the bottom of the tray, you're going to coat the foil with garlic butter. Lay out half of your carrot slices, cinnamon pieces, clove and other green seasonings slices. Your other half will be placed at the top so share them equally!

11. You're now going to place half of your chicken mixture on the top of your vegetables and seasonings. Place parboiled potatoes on top and around chicken. Put the other chicken mixture and then put the remainder of your potatoes on and around your chicken again.

12. Do NOT put your container that your chicken was in in the sink just yet! Pour your onion and chicken stock into that container and mix the remaining sauce in that container together well. Allow this to sit for just a few seconds-minutes

13. Put the other half of your vegetables etc over your chicken to cover it. You are now going to pour your onion, sauce and chicken stock mixture over your entire dish that you're about to bake! Yum yum!

14. Cover your tray with foil again and ensure that it is properly sealed.

15. Place it into the oven for 20-30 minutes.  This can vary so keep checking your oven to ensure it doesn't burn. Time and temperature can change for different individuals and ovens so 

USE YOUR DISCRETION 



















This will serve 3-4 people which depends on how much your family or friends eat.  I'm sure if Kenny is reading this, he might say that this can fill him alone 😲😂

So this is what yours may look like; the flavours from the top, bottom and the sauce on the chicken should give you a burst of flavours! I enjoyed every bit of it.  If you're like me and not a fan of biting cloves, remember to remove them (and also the pieces of cinnamon)


NB: In the Caribbean (Grenada to be specific) we say green seasonings which means the plant and not necessarily the colour. Green seasonings are basically the actual plant and not the dried or powdered form of the plant.  Just thought I should clear that one up!

Happy eating guys, and if you've tried this, please be sure to share a picture in the comment section down below! Have an enjoyable weekend!!

Baked vegetarian chicken, curried black eye peas and white rice simmered in coconut milk

Red & Pink Beans Soup

In 2014, I began inventing my own recipes.  It was the beginning of a new journey for me on this island and I couldn't call my mother to take the boat or the plane to come make me breakfast, lunch or dinner - I had to do it on my own.

In the beginning, I was so scared to cook in a dorm full of ladies.  Coming from a different culture (1) and (2) not being accustomed to cooking all on my own, I used to always be concerned that my food would be laughed at or I would be made a laughing stock because of my difference.

I remember the very first time I decided to stew chicken.  Unlike some Trinidadians, we do not buy browning in the supermarket; Grenadian make their browning to stew chicken by burning sugar.  Imagine, this little Grenadian young woman having a craving for stew chicken at around 10pm and going to burn sugar to stew chicken.  I woke up the ENTIRE dorm and everyone ran downstairs to the kitchen thinking the dorm was on fire, only to realize the new student called Amy decided that now was the best time to burn sugar to stew chicken.

It took me months before I was comfortable again to cook and when I actually found myself in the kitchen, it was very late at nights.  For that, I have always been conscious about cooking around other people.  I consider myself to be an average cook - my boyfriend seems to disagree and he says my cooking is the best (bet he can't say that around his mother 😂) Oh well.

But when it comes to experimenting with meals, homegirl here is a pro.  I think it's a learnt behavior as a student, more so a foreign one - there always comes a time when you experiment with food because you're simply trying to survive, so you start mixing all sort of things together to get a meal.

I heard stories about egg and rice, ramen and boiled eggs, tuna, sardines and rice, and the list can go on and on until thy kingdom come.  So when it comes to experiments, I believe I have been in the race a while now.  Today's menu however, is a meal I have had home countless times but mine is with a twist: Red & Pink Beans Soup with Chicken.

Ingredients:
"Cut up chicken" (it's just a local way of saying chicken pieces)
Pink beans
red beans
1 pkt coconut milk
sugar to taste
salt to taste
onions 1 onion
black pepper to taste
white vinegar or limes
spices
powdered seasonings
ohhh and the most important ingredient ------ water (duh) 😅

Preparation:
1. Soak pink and red beans overnight in a large container filled with warm water.  I learnt from

someone on dorm (can't seem to remember which one of the girls showed me this) but you can put baking powder and a small amount of baking soda in hot water then put the beans. This reaction will speed up the process if you don't have the time to wait an entire night for your beans to be properly soaked. (Trust me, it works! It took me about 15-20 mins to get the beans the texture I wanted them before cooking).

2. Next you're going to clean all excess fat and skin off your chicken cut ups and soak them for 2-5 mins in white vinegar or lime and salt.

3. Cut half of your onion and chop it up fine fine fine 😂😂😂😂 (Side note: if you haven't heard of Lord Zenn, now is the perfect time to check him out).

4. After your chicken has been washed with the vinegar (or lime), rinse thoroughly and add a small portion of salt again.  You are going to place your chopped onions along with your black pepper, spices and powdered seasonings into the container with the chicken and allow that to marinate until you're ready for it.

 NB: if you are going to leave your beans to soak overnight, DO NOT put onions into seasoning mixture for your chicken. Onions tend to ferment and spoil your meat when left overnight.  They are not meant to be left overnight in seasoning if you do not have a freezer.  I had a bad experience with this once. Yuck

5. Okay so if you used the baking powder method you're going to be doing this soup now, if not, and you're doing the old time way of leaving your beans to soak overnight, you're going to be using your chicken the next day (absolutely no onions; you can put these in when you take them down to taw out in the morning).  You will need to put that into some ziplock bags and place it into the freezer.

6. After your beans are soaked to your desire (baking soda method or overnight), throw out the water and give your beans a nice wash.  What I like to do is do that a few time then fill the container half way and put some salt into that water.  Mix them around for a few seconds and head over to the stove.

7. Fill your pot halfway with water and pour your beans (along with the water) into the pot.  This is going to continue to boil until they are at your delight.  It's difficult to tell exactly when to end the boil because everyone likes their beans a different texture.

8. In the mean time, you're going to take your coconut milk packet and mix it in a cup of warm water.

9. Right before the beans are boiled to your delight, put your well marinated chicken into the pot and stir so that the beans do not burn at the bottom of the pot.  Allow your chicken about 25 mins to boil until it is almost cooked.  You're going to pour half the milk into the pot and stir.

10. About 15 minutes after, you're going to put the other set of milk and stir again.  After you taste your pot and you say, "hey! this tastes real good!" you're going to turn the stove off and wah-lah! Red and pink beans soup!!





I had this today and I can assure you, if my directions were not too complicated and you followed it well, yours is going to taste good too.
My apologies to the cooks who follow directions to the T sometimes I do, MOST times I don't ! Good luck and all the best with your meal.  Send pictures!

The Sweetness of a Refreshing Coconut

In Grenada, we refer to coconut as jelly; we even call the liquid inside the coconut jelly water.  Apart from the flesh found inside the coconut, there's nothing else that is jelly-like but I have no idea why this entire fruit is referred to as jelly.

Earlier today, Kenny went to get his morning dose of coconut water

and I asked if I could get a drink too.  I handed him a cup and not long after he came back with the cup full of water.  As I sat on the step and sipped my coconut water from the cup and watched as my boyfriend worked hard to let the cutlass cut the skin of the coconut, it finally hit me - what kind of madness was I engaging in?

What kind of inside house country girl was I?  Since when does a country girl from Grenada sit on a step and sip coconut water from a cup.  I don't know who I was trying to fool, maybe it was myself, but it definitely was not working.  I went into my room and geared up for the battle I was about to fight.  I was about to enter into a war zone between my skin and the sandflies that frequently terrorized us on this part of the island.

But this time, I came prepared.  I douched my skin in Odomos, put on my socks and a very long pants  and my shoes and headed out the backdoor.  I have lived too long in St. Clouds to underestimate the madness sandflies brought.  Their bites left a different kind of sting, the kind that was worse than mosquitoes.  It was a kind of burn that made you want to tear off the top layer of your skin and find that stinger lodged in your body.

As I stepped out into my backyard, I admired the trees; although it looked a lot like a jungle, I remembered the amount of fun my sister and I had while we played in the backyard when we were younger.  My father hooked up a swing on the cashew tree and we used to pick the cashew and take turns on the swing. 

I looked around and I saw the pen where we once had chickens and goats and the small cage where my brother used to care for his rabbits.  The coconut tree was growing not too far away from where the carambola tree once was.  I stood for a minute and remembered the last time I vowed to never come to the backyard again.

I was about ten years old and a friend of my mother came to visit.  She brought along her two daughters and we decided we would go to climb the trees in the backyard.  Mind you, I was not much of a tree climber because my parents always wanted me safe and sound inside.  However, I could not allow strangers to come to my home and climb trees higher than me! So I started climbing looking for Carambolas (commonly known as 'Star Fruits' or five fingers as we call them here).  I was going up and up and up (scared for my life of course) but I kept climbing.  

"Allu look ah bird ness!" I said to my new friends as their eyes lightened up with excitement 

"Take ah egg fa me!" One of the sisters shouted

I went higher again trying my hardest not to look down at how far away the ground was from me.  I reached towards the nest - I kept reaching and reaching until my hands were close enough to put my finger inside to feel around from the eggs.  I was about to push my hands in completely when I noticed this beautiful orange colour inside the nest.  Da muss be one nice bird egg, eh! I thought to myself.  That was until the bird egg moved.

"Is ah serpent allu! Is ah serpent da dey inside de ness!"

The girls were screaming their lungs out and I was rushing to get down.  I didn't care about looking down anymore - in fact, looking down as I made my way down the five finger tree meant that I could see how close I was to getting off that tree!

But could you believe after all that fear we couldn't leave the snake alone in peace? One of the girls decided that we would kill it in the most unorthodox way.  One of us would jook it down, the other would spray it with Baygon and the other person would set it a fire,  and that, my friends, is exactly what we did.  The snake slithered and hissed at us but eventually met an untimely death as the Baygon (being a flammable substance) was introduced to fire as I struck the match.  The flames torched his body and he scorched until he slithered away in the bushes to eventually die. (I guess my parents will be first hearing about this story when they read this blog.)

Kenny handed me the coconut water and I snapped out of my nostalgia. As the water touched my lips and gushed down my chin, it somehow took me right back to the past as I remembered my brother picking coconuts for my sister and me.  I also remembered the task we had of trying to drink the coconut water before the sandflies started drawing blood.  Slurp slurp. Slap slap. Slurp slurp. Slap Slap.  I could still hear the sound of my mother calling out to Abbee and Amy trying to figure out where her girl children were.

I watched as Mr. Kenny drained the water from the coconut and proceeded to cut it open to participate in devouring the fleshy inside.  He pulled a silver spoon out of his pocket scooping out the inside. But who does do dat self? 

"Kenny, what you doing with that spoon? You're suppose to make a spoon from the coconut skin!"

"Yeah," this crazy young man said, "that's when you bouje but you (from the) country." 😂😂

We laughed as our stomachs were so full from drinking all the coconuts and eating all the jelly; there was no room from lunch as yet.  You telling me about the sweetness of that refreshing coconut? 

He's enjoying his vacation and I'm enjoying my time at home.  But, I guess it will be a little harder than I anticipated to leave home after my vacation ends.  Hopefully things don't change too much when I return at the end of the upcoming semester in mango season. 

**Inside person - someone who spends most of his/ her time indoors.

**Serpent - the Grenadian description of a snake.  Although it is not proven, Grenadians believe that there is an underlining difference between a serpent and a snake. Serpents are referred to as the ones which are larger and slow.  Snakes, on the other hand, are the ones which are swift and slither away quickly when spotted by humans.

**Jook - to poke

**Bouje - shortened form of the word Bourgeoisie referring to persons from higher social classes