For those of you familiar with the blog know that the only time I stray from posting actual recipes is when I feel it necessary to  acknowledge the work others are doing to promote the rich and diverse culinary heritage which comes out of the Caribbean. Though today’s featured work is not necessarily a cook book as I’ve done in t he past, the author is not only a published author, she’s a best seller on Amazon.com as well. You may best know Ramin Ganeshram from her hugely successful ‘“Sweet Hands – Island Cooking From Trinidad And Tobago”” which I gave away on the post I did on making dhalpuri roti (see the bottom of the page) a few weeks back.

Ramin sent me a copy of her latest work “Stir It Up”  back in late spring of this year and if you look closely at the image above you’ll notice that I got one of the copies before the final editing (says not for sale). Besides getting free stuff in the mail, I also appreciate it when others acknowledge my passion for food and everything Caribbean with small tokens like this. I finally got around to reading it about a month ago and I thought it should be something I should share with you guys. And though “Stir It Up” is a novel with teenage readers in mind, I found it to be inspiring, especially since it dealt with the struggles of immigrant families when their traditions and values are threatened by those of their new homeland.

“Stir It Up” is the inspirational story of Anjali, the teenage daughter of a hard-working  immigrant family from Trinidad and Tobago who lives in Queens NY, who’s dream is to one day have her own television show on the Food Network. Her real struggle begins when she gets accepted as a challenger on a reality show on the Food Network to determine their next teen star, but the main audition is the same day as the entrance exam to one of the most prestigious academic schools in NY. Without giving away too much… the story shows the inner struggle not to disappoint her parents, but at the same time follow her dreams.

Though “Stir It Up” was meant for teenage readers I found it quite captivating, since I could identify with the characters in the book. Ramin portrays the true mentality of the average immigrant from the Caribbean who sees everything other than academics as hobbies and our hardworking nature which we use to make a “life” in the new country we call home. I especially like the way actual  recipes are blended seamlessly into a novel as I’ve never seen it done before. Recipes you can easily duplicate in your kitchen with the step by step instructions.

You can certainly tell that you’re reading the work of someone from the Caribbean, but when you come across words like “hockey puck” and “softball” in describing situations, you can tell that the author is also trying to accommodate all readers with words they can identify with. Tracing the route Anjali would take from school to her dad’s roti shop in Queens, was like listening to my mom and dad speak after they go visit my brother who live sin New York. The street names, the buses and subway… it’s as if I’ve been there before.

A wonderful piece of literature which could easily double as a mini recipe book with it’s inclusion of tasty recipes. Hard work, determination and creativity is certainly the recipe for success and the story of Anjali highlights this.

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— Winner Wanted!—

It’s that time again – with the kind consideration of Ramin Ganeshram we’re giving away two copies of “Stir It Up” That’s right, two lucky readers will have a chance to win a copy of this fantastic novel.A ll you have to do is leave a comment below saying what part food played during your childhood. Maybe it can be a favorite memory or  a dish you’d look froward to.

There are two bonus ways you can have your name entered in the contest, giving you 3 chances at winning. Along with leaving a comment below, go to the Facebook fan page and/or the Youtube cooking channel and leave a comment  there. I don’t care what your comment is, but it would be nice if you could tell me what you like about Caribbean food and if the recipes I share are helpful.

Here are the rules pertaining to winning the copy of “Stir It Up”…

- contest is open to everyone globally

- there are 3 ways to enter your name (see above)

- 2 winners will be chosen at random (if you left 3 comments, your name will be entered 3 times)

- contest is open from October 28 – to midnight November 15.

- winners will be announced within 1 week of the official close date.

- the winners will have 1 week to contact us with mailing address

- we will cover all shipping expenses (standard mail)

I hope you take a moment to enter your name as I’d really like to mail this book out to you. It’s simple, free and would make for a great Christmas gift to a teenager in your house or someone you may know. If you’re like me, you’ll even find it interesting.

Good Luck!

As kids growing up we (brother and sisters) went to school in “town”, which meant leaving home very early as it was a fairly long drive every morning. This usually meant a quick breakfast that we could grab and go. But on the weekend it was a different story. Yes, we still had to wake early and get chores done if we wanted to be on the good side of our mom for the day, but she would spoil us with some hearty food for breakfast. One of my favorite things to eat on the weekend was tomato choka and roti. My mom is tops when it comes to making roti, something I still have to learn to make. But her tomato choka was phenomenal.

She still makes a mean choka, but I do find myself craving my own simple version.

You’ll need…

3 medium to large ripe tomatoes (leave on your kitchen counter to really ripe)

2 cloves of garlic

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1/4 of a small onion (depends on how much you like onions)

2 tablespoon olive oil

1 hot pepper (to control the heat, don’t use the seeds)

Note: There are several ways you can prepare the tomato for this recipe, but in this version we’ll use the grill. You can also boil in water, place in the microwave on high for a few minutes, roast in your oven or roast in a frying pan on your stove top. If you’d like more info on any of these other methods, leave me a comment or use the contact link above to send me a message.

Wash and remove the stems from the tomato, then place on grill (BBQ). Try to keep the temperature set at about 400C and rotate a couple times to cook evenly. Try not to play with them as they cook as they are delicate and can crush and be of no use to you. I also roast my pepper for a couple minutes as well. Don’t ask me why… it’s just the way I saw my mom do it.

In a bowl add the garlic (slice to make this step easier), salt,  hot pepper and get a pestle or something to crush everything with. The salt will assist in breaking things down since it’s abrasive.

With a little bit of force, try to crush everything into a paste.

After about 10-15 minutes on the grill, remove the tomato. It will look charred and you’ll almost think you’ve ruined it. Nope.. that just brings out the natural sugars in the tomato and it’s exactly what we’re looking for. The burnt skin should easily fall off.. try to remove as much as you can. Then add the tomatoes to the bowl with the already crushed garlic and pepper.

Crush everything into a nice thick sauce. the tomato will let out a bit of liquid (depends on the variety of tomato you use). You’ll probably find that around the stem area of the tomato will be a bit tough to crush. You can remove that from the bowl.

Final steps…

Slice the onion very thin and place on top of the now crushed mixture. Then in a small frying pan, put the olive oil to heat on high. In a couple minutes you’ll start seeing the oil starting to smoke. Try not to keep it on the heat fro much longer as olive oil cannot withstand too much heat. Take the oil over to the bowl and gently (be careful for oil splatters) pour onto the onions. Act fast – stir the entire lot around so the crushed garlic, the salt, pepper, roasted tomato puree and the onions get’s mixed evenly. You’re done!

TIP : I try to use a “sweet” onion instead of a normal cooking onion so it’s not as bitter when eating. In the past I’ve also roasted the garlic before crushing but I’ve found that I missed that true garlic flavor that I grew up with.

Overall a very simple, but tasty side dish that’s just perfect for roti or worst case.. pita!