Here’s another dish where the main flavor is heavily influenced by leftovers (food is never wasted in the Caribbean?). There are many variations of this eggplant recipe, but this time we’ll be using left over stewed pork to add another level of flavor and make it more exciting for our taste buds. Hot sada roti or rice is boss with this, but this day I had it with some buss up shut roti I had in the freezer. Tip: If you ever have extra roti (doesn’t work well for sada roti)or if you go to the the local Caribbean restaurant… purchase extra roti. Simply place them in freezer-proof bags and stick them in the freezer. I have roti for months in our freezer and when I’m peckish.. in the microwave and I’m set.

You’ll Need…

2 lb eggplant
3 cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 large onion
dash black pepper
1 cup water
1 large potato
1/4 scotch bonnet pepper (anything for a bit of kick)
2 tablespoon veg oil
leftover stewed pork (I had about 2 cups)

Notes: This dish is just as good without the pork. You can also use leftover stewed chicken or beef and adding some bits of salted cod, works well also. This eggplant  dish is also known as “baigan and aloo” – eggplant and potato and can be cooked as a curry dish. There are a few versions of this eggplant recipe posted here, in the event you’re interested.

The first thing we need to to do is peel and chop the (wash) eggplant and the other ingredients. You  can always refer to the video below to follow along. Using a sharp pairing knife (you can use a potato peeler also) trim off the stem, peel the eggplant, then cut into cubes about 1 inch or so. I’ve seen this recipe done with the skin on, so the choice is yours. Also peel and cube the potato and chop the scotch bonnet pepper, garlic and onion. This way we’re fully prepped!

Heat a deep saucepan on med/high heat and add the vegetable oil (a good option would be olive oil if you have no plans of adding meat to this dish – excellent flavor from that olive oil), then add the sliced onion and garlic. Turn your heat down as we want to slowly cook the onion/garlic for a 3 minutes, to release it’s flavor. After 3 minutes, turn the heat back up to med/high and add the scotch bonnet pepper and cubed eggplant. Give it a good stir, then add the salt and black pepper..stir. Now add the cubed potato and water and bring to a boil.

With the lid on the pot it should take a couple mins to come to a boil. As it comes to a boil, turn your heat down to a gentle simmer (lid on) and cook for 20 minutes. You will notice the eggplant will discolor and start melting down. That’s cool.. just remember to stir.

The eggplant will sprout it’s own juices, so with this and the water we added, there will be enough liquid to fully cook both the eggplant and potato. After 20 mins, add the pieces of stewed pork and give it a good stir. You will have a bit of liquid, so remove the lid and cook for about 5-7 minutes until is nice and thick. The dish is supposed to be mushy and to be honest.. not as attractive as other dishes I’ve shared.

Taste for salt as you’re tolerance for salt will be different than mine.. adjust and enjoy!

I urge you to give this eggplant recipe a try as many of us don’t give eggplant a fair chance and it’s quite tasty. That lovey sort of smokey undertones, spiced up with the scotch bonnet pepper and how could one miss the stewed pork.. Excellente! Below I’ve also included a video showing how simple it is to shop for the perfect eggplant. Do remember to leave your comments below.

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Growing up our dad was always at work (well at the time it seemed that way). But Sundays was our day. In the dry season he’d take me and my brother on long hikes through abandoned cacao and coffee estates to hunt and search out ground provisions. He was a master at finding yams of all description, size and shape. Not that stuff you find in the grocery store in North America. Yams with names like, “juba”, ‘finger” and “kush kush” and I can still remember the joy when we found a “patch”.

We’d leave early on a Sunday morning and be back in time for my mom to prepare lunch with the yam, dasheen and eddoes we found during our trek. So part of our Sunday lunch usually included ground provision and stew pork along with all the other dishes that a Sunday lunch is so famous for in Trinidad and Tobago. Yam connoisseurs would argue that nothing beats pairing yam with fried tomato and salt fish (salted cod), but I assure you.. stew pork is the way to go. But you don’t need yams or ground provisions to enjoy the amazing flavor of stew pork.

The principle and ingredients are very much the same as we explored with the “Stew Chicken” recipe a while back, except in this case we’re using pork.

You’ll need…

3lbs pork – cubed into 3/4 inch pieces
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon ketchup
2 cloves of garlic – thinly sliced or crushed
1 teaspoon fresh or bottled ginger – sliced. (use 1/2 if it’s ginger powder)
2 tablespoon vegetable oil (one that can withstand high heat)
1 medium onion – chopped
1 medium tomato – chopped
2 tablespoon cilantro (or 2 tbs Trinidad green meat seasoning)
1 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
3 cups water
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 hot pepper (only if you like your food spicy)
1 green onion or chive – chopped
2 sprigs of fresh thyme (1 teaspoon dried)
1 lime or lemon or 3 tablespoons of vinegar
1 small shallot

Prepare the seasoning mix by dicing the onion, pepper, ginger, green onion, garlic, cilantro, shallot and tomato.

Now lets prepare the pork. Feel free to ask your butcher to do this step for you. Cut the pork into 3/4 inch pieces, removing the majority of fat and skin. One of the reasons why Caribbean dishes are known as being heavy, is our love for fat and skin. In days gone by I’d keep some of that fatty pieces of meat and skin. With age comes wisdom, so we know that this is to be avoided.

Wash… squeeze the lime or vinegar onto the cubed pork and rinse with water.

After you’ve washed the cubed meat, squeeze any remaining water from the bowl and begin to season. Add everything except the oil, sugar and 3 cups of water. Mix well and let marinate for about 2 hrs in the fridge – covered.

Time to get cooking. In a heavy bottom pot add the oil over high heat. As the oil starts to smoke or move along freely in the pot add the sugar. With a long handle spoon (to avoid splatters onto your hand) move the sugar around. You’re looking for the sugar to melt, change color and get to the point when it’s ready to caramelize.

Quickly start adding the seasoned pork as the sugar starts looking like the picture above. Stir around to evenly coat all the pieces of meat. Then lower the heat and simmer covered for about 10-15 minutes.

Now uncover the pot and raise the heat to high. We’re trying to get rid of all the natural juices that formed while it was simmering. In the meantime, add the 3 cups of water to the bowl that had the seasoned pork. We’re trying to pick up any bits of seasonings that were left behind.

As soon as all the liquid is gone and all the pieces of pork is evenly browned, add the 3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat, cover and let simmer for about 40-45 minutes. We’d like to get a nice thick gravy and have the pieces of pork as tender as possible. If after the 45 minutes you have too much liquid, be sure to turn up the heat and let some burn off.

Questions? Leave me a comment below or use the contact link at the top of this page. I’d love to hear from you.

This day I didn’t have any yams, but I did enjoy a nice plate of brown rice with this exciting way of preparing pork.