Spreading The Culinary Culture Of The Caribbean – Ramin Ganeshram.
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!
i love food on the whole and i love to experiment on new dishes especially local caribbean dishes, i search the internet for recipes to try an many of them failed sometimes i wonder if the persons posting the recipe tried it them selves so it would be really great if i get my hands on this prize 😀
Ooooh, sounds like a very interesting read even if ur not a teen. Love reading stories such as this.
I love the salads!
Hello Chris,
I look forward to the newsletter and the recipes. The jerk wings were delicious. I would like the recipe for Chinese chicken if you can post it.
Thanks a million for keeping me in touch with my Caribbean roots.
Ok, Thanks.
Hi Chris, just to say that Food has played a major part in my life. Having one parent from Trinidad (half indian)and one from Dominica, I guess I could say I had the best variety of food from both worlds. Food plays an important part in life as it gives us the nutrient to enhance and sustain our bodies.. I Definately had the best start ever.. Wouldn’t change my mix for the world!!
Flying fish with peas and rice is right up my alley.
Hi Chris I haven't been on the computer for a while and now saw your e-mail, I'm one day late can I still win a book, I really do love the way you cook.
Love the site! Adore the food! Keep up the great work, Chris!
I Looooooove your recipes n ur website n videos…my fiancé is Brooklyn born n raised n I’m west coast all day so I had no idea how to cook Caribbean food…so to make my soon to be husband feel more at home I am tryna learn caribbean cuisine from scratch…I have no previos experience in this cuisine n I find ur website extremely helpful…much more so than anything else I have found on the Internet….thank u so much…
I love your delicious recipes. I need one for rice and peas.
u r a blessing
I love the step-by-step guides to help you with different recipes. I never followed a cook book out of fear that it could never come out the way it looks in the book. I followed your recipe for beef bone soup and was so shocked!!!! It came out great. I never made dumplin before and everything turned out great. I had my IPAD in the kitchen and followed all the steps and now I am a PRO!!!!!
thanks Chris for giving m the opportunity to explore he different kinds of foods, as i love to eat good tasting foods you are the best.
Just ate some rice with herring in tomato sauce. Tasted great!!!
Good evening Chris,
Thank you for the recipe, keep them coming please.
thanks for the recipes i love cooking an i enjoy trying new stuff
I've a weakness for good prepared , attractive ,tasty food. I love to try new and exciting dishes as most caribbean people do. I love your dishes, I get some great ideas form the dishes. Keep the recipes flowing. I love it
We have a group of friends who meet every wednesday night for dinner. Our themes change weekly . This week is carribbean night. I would love to have the book of recipies–Judy Hanley
Hi Chris, I first learned about you on Youtube while flipping through videos to learn how to make stew chicken. From there I followed you to your site here and spent hours going through your recipes. Anyhow I followed your instructions on the stew chicken. I needed help in cooking because I am trying to improve my marriage and put a sparkle back into hubbys eyes for me. Well, that night I made the stew and I listened in the other room while hubby ate anyways, I heard something I have not heard before. Hubby was scraping the plate! He ate it all and then went back for more! He, Heee! Well you have taught me how to spice up my cooking which has spiced up my marriage! Thanks.
The jerk sauce recipe was a delight to see. My mom and I love jerk shrimp!!
hey Chris!!
great site as always:)!!
keep them recipes coming!! my wife and i try,love,send some to my daughter in Germany.
chris thanks for the wonderful recipies i live in trinidad so i can associate with a lot of them, some a bit different , a lot of new ideas for when i cook by the river or beach lime , wating to try out some pork recipies for christmas !!!! thanks again
my children and I enjoy your recipes alot they love seeing the pictures of your dishes on facebook and we visit your facebook page almost everyday in the week and they will choose one of your dishes and we'll try it together your recipes have bring the joy of cooking into our household thanks alot
I haves lived in the Caribbean on 2 different time o two different Islands, Trinidad and Tobago and St. Thomas, I am very familiar with this excellent food and look forward to more and more information from you Chris ! Great site Excellent job Well done
Mark
Not to disparage my own mother who I love dearly, but I think the food of my childhood made me want to learn to cook so I could taste something other than glue and styrofoam, especially when it comes to meat and poultry. It was enlightening to discover that beef tasted better when the inside didn't have that same grayish hue as the outside. The more I learned to cook, the more I loved learning about different flavors and the spices and herbs that helped create them, which turned into curiosity as to where they came from. At some point I remember I tried jerk chicken and my mouth didn't know what to do. I eventually met someone, who is now a friend for life, from Jamaica and went to his parents house numerous times to try every dish his mother and grandmother could make. Goat? Really? I don't think my mom even knew that goat was edible, and there I was feasting on jerk goat, peas and rice, plantains, johnny cakes and washing it down with rum punch. Why did my mother not tell me about these things?!?!
thank you chris for making my weekend bright. I made both the banana fritters and pepper shrimp. talk about delicious. I added a little more pepper to might shrimp (i love heat) talk about good good good.
I WANT THIS!!!! 😀
thanks to you,im getting better at cooking.love the recipes.
Hey Chris thanks for taking time out of your love for cooking to bring us these great recipes I have made quite a few and it was very delicious. I would like to get one of these books because I love to cook and also to try different dishes should my wishes come true that will be my best Christmas gift from you to me.
i use this site almost all the time to make my sunday dinners 🙂 Thx Chris!
This would be nice to win…
i live in chicago and i am from trinidad. being away from home, this book will be an amazing opportunity to feel at home. i remember the good old days when mummy would make pelau or dhalpori and curry chicken and potato :))
Good Day Chris….I just love the recipes you post. I've tried making a few……….Umm Umm GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love the variety of recipes available on this site! It has given me the opportunity to really amp up my cooking skills 🙂
i love your recipes, especialy those cabibbean ones. you make it look all so simple. thank you.
Great recipes, great food;-)
keep up the good works Chris.. your recipes have come in quiet handy at impromptu events when i'm lost as to what to do
I love all your recipies i have tried them all and they r delicious
Chris,
Your recipes are simply delightful; I've tried many of them and to my great surprise they are not just good but extremely tasty. May times I run out of dishes and when that happens- I just access Caribbean Pot for a little assistance. Thank you for this site.
THANK YOU FOR YOU RESPONSE,CHRIS. I AM KEEPING MY EYES OPEN FOR NEW THINGS I MIGHT LIKE. I ALWAYS LIKE DIFFERENT THINGS. THANKS AGAIN. NANCY
love west Indian food I am English by birth but west Indian by blood and "food" your recipes brings back childhood memories have tried many of them even took food to work Americans love all the flavor.keep up good work and recipes.
I have just starterd cooking caribbean food thanks to this site, and I´m in love!!! green bananas are now a part of my life ! =) At first all I wanted was a hot sauce recipe, but found a world of delicious food that I hadn´t tried yet! Thanks!
I love the recipes you send… Iwould love to add a Caribbean cookbook to my collection.
Chris thanks for all your help.
I would love to have this book! having all the recipes in one place!!!!
Great Recipes, easy to follow.
fantastic receipes
I am Guyanese and couldn't cook any kind of roti. First of all I hated kneading dough, maybe that was why. Thanks to your recipes, my husband and 6 year old daughter who love roti can now enjoy any kind of roti, even dal puri and since they started turning out good, I don't mind kneading the dough anymore. In fact, it is the fastest thing to whip up now roti and whatever.
I like my caribbean food because there is such variety and it is not bland. It taste good!! None can compare. Thanks so much for all your posts. I i have been to trinidad like 10 times and not beign from there i love it all aspects food ppl the life and you really help me to master some of these dishes that i so love. I really enjoy cooking. Thank again and keep up the good work.
All the recipes are exceptional. I try a new one virtually every week. Without these recipes and your excellent ways of presenting them I would never have experienced such god quality food of my motherland. Thank you, thank you, thank you and god bless you brother.
Dear Chris:
Please pick me for this cook book, I cannot wait to try out some of the recipes.
Judy
Thanks for all the recipes.
The best site, so simple to follow. This is the only site I use now for my daily cooking. Great work Chris.
I found this site a few weeks ago because I was in a food rut. I was eating and cooking the same things using the same methods and I was bored. I am truly happy and grateful to have found this site. Please continue doing the awesome work you are doing here Chris. Thanks for sharing.
I love reading your blog, because it reminds me of food I ate as a kid. Somehow those dishes were lost from our menu as I grew older, so I like re-introducing myself to some of them.
I love this site!
Love caribbean food. My husband is from Trinidad and I’m from Poland so I’m always looking forward to new recipes on your page.
Hi Chis. Just love your recipes! We are never stuck for something to cook! Keep up the great work!!
I wan it, I wan it, i need it. Please.
Love, Love, LOOOOOOOVE your recipes
Hello Chris,
I love your recipies so much I am printing them and making my own recipie book so I can share with my family. We will enjoy! Thanks so much. Elizabeth
I am cooking the beef stew today for dinner. It really looks good. Will let you know how it turned out.
Deborah Willis from Philadelphia – Chris, I do so much appreciate you taking the time and effort to make these videos showing the steps in preparing the many carribbean dishes. I know that I love watching them it helps me explore other foods that I enjoy eating. And if I happen to come across an item or even a terminology that you have used in explaining the preparation of a dish, I know that I can write you and you will certainly get back to me with an answer. So, I thank you again.
Deborah Willis on Facebook.
I really love site its great
keep it up
Having grown up in St. Croix where food has influences from west Africa, Europe and other Caribbean Islands I love everything about the traditions, the smells and of course the tastes. It is always fun to learn how to expand and build on recipes to put a personal stamp on what was handed down through generations.
I love these recipes.
llove your recipes and the videos are really helpful with them you cannot go wrong, thanks for all the help
Absolutely love these easy to prepare meals.
Great site Chris, everytime I go to make alocal dish I check to see if you have a recipe for it and there is always some tip I can use to spice up the pot
Bonjour de la France, where I'm getting prepared to open up my Caribbean restaurant! Thanks for all the pointers!
During the holidays,my mother and I would love to try new recipes for the rest of the family to try. Adding new spices and herbs. This book would be an awesome additional in continuing this Traditions in our household. Adding new recipes and new ways to cook some of our old Caribbean favorites!!!!
love all your recipes …greatt taste always.xxxx
i'm a visual person, so the photos are really helpful.
as usual chris amazing Caribbean & TNT Recipes.
Cliff here m8 i have enjoyed your recipes for quite some time i try many different ways of cooking using parts from almost all your recipes, i get quite creative nice one Chris.
I have tried a lot of recipes from the Caribbean Pot and each and everyone so far, has been authentic and very tasty. We have a mixed household of bajan, jamaican and British and appreciate the recipes that you email out to us Chris :o)
I want the bbook I want the book I want the book!!…please. Can’t wait to try some recipes
Would love to have this book, tHe recipes sound fabulous….can’t wait to try…I hope I win the book!
€I would love to read this book. I'm a Trini living in Toronto too long. Chris, when i discovered your site it$ was a delicious treat. Thanks man, much respect
I dont know about you all but I can say that Caribbean Pot is the best thing ever since KFC's BBQ Wings…LOL
Chris, do you have a recipe for Trini (not Jamaican) beef patties?
Enter text right here!Learning to cook at the tender age of eight taught me a very valuable lifelong lesson. Coming from a multi-culinary island Caribbean cooking inspired me to appreciate other foods once given the chance to travel. But as the saying goes there's nothing better than a good home cooked meal. now Cariibbean pot gives me the chance to burn again
My grandma raised me and was always in the kitchen, I had my own stool to watch over the sink, work top and the stove. When she passed I took over the position in the kitchen as young as I was and up until today cooking is and always will be my passion.
oh i so love your site its trully helpful to me,,i was never a cook back home but here i hvae to get up and get doing a great job thanks to your recipies…..hope to win…
Very unique recipes !
I received less calls for recipes and cooking tips because of your site – Thanks maybe 🙂 Glad you are here for alot of us.
I remember my aunt coming by with half a pig's head, the trotters, and the tail. In the end? A delicious serving of Bajan souse and spicy black pudding. As a child seeing the pig heading was a bit daunting but I did love and continue to love this dish.
I love Caribbean food,and the website is just amazing… love the trying the diffrent recipes,flavors …it always takes me back to the best vacation I ever had.
My co-worker recommended your site and said that the recipes where great. I am looking forward to trying some of them.
I love me some saltfish and bakes
Mealtime was always important growing up. It was quality time for the whole family to
spend together
Chris….THANK YOU FOR THE GREAT FOOD IDEAS!!
I grew-up in a large family and everytime one of us had a birthday we got to pick the menue for the day. My favorite was alway meat pie! I have continued this tradition with my children, who are all growen now and with all the new recepies I have gotten from you I can start an all new menue for my grandchildren!! THANK YOU! 😀
i truly enjoy the challenge and adventure of cooking Caribbean style dishes. The flavors, spices, and techniques are just a wonderful inviting experience. Sometimes i wish I was just one of the originals, but I’m glad I’m able to have a piece of such a wonderful culture. Thank you!
Submitting my comment because I like books that focus on the Caribbean American experience and they're few and far between. Also, this site has become my new Caribbean fav (esp. since Caribbean Vegan's site folded) and I'm slowly becoming hooked to Trini food:-) so keep up the good work!
My grandmother, could make a feast out of a bucket of sand. She had a gift when it came to cooking and I remember her always ensuring that we had something to eat even though we were heading to our own houses. To me, every time we visited, she always had more than a bellyful.
Food brought the entire family together at my Grandparents home. I remember the fun and love that was shared by everyone. It was a time to get up-to-date with everybody and even though my grandparents are no longer living, food still pulls us all together.
Got my shado beni growing in the windowsill .. Now I just need some new recipes to use it in.. You have helped my culinary abilities soar to another level.. Look forward to all your posts..
I love everything about cooking for as long as I can remember. As a child my sister and I would plan little lunches and dinners in our backyard play area w/each of us preparing dishes our mom made for our family…fried chicken, greens, mac n' cheese (and the usual mud pie!) Now as an adult I enjoy exploring different cultures through food and travel. Love your recipes!
Ready to cook and introduced my husband to some trini cooking, I need this book
I look forward to what next you will be posting to us. I love the recepies and you are doing a
spectacular job.
Thanks.
My husband is from caribbean & I try to make Caribbean dishes he can enjoy. Thank you for helping me do that, since I'm from Pennsylvania & didn't know how to make any of this yummy food. Plus my kids get to enjoy it to :0)
Makes me Hungry kinda food, and so easy to make. Always a simplied version
I love your recipes Chris. They all work and have made my friends mum wonder where I have got the recipes from! Lets keep her wondering eh? Got a big thumbs up for the curry goat recipe, thanks!
I'd like a copy of this Book… reading your receipes makes me hungry and your how do videos makes Me wanna cook Trini food everyday
Hi Chris,
Thanks for the wonderful recipes. They bring back some wonderful childhood memories. Soup/Pelau on Saturdays to Sunday food after church on Sundays. Keep up the good work!!
Looking forward to trying the Caribbean Black Rum Cake. Sounds delic……..
Chris,I am a sucker for tasty foods and a collector of recipes ,being a winner of this book will make me more appreciative of the fantastic Caribbean cuisine . I PRAY that i will be a recipient of this book.
Just came back from Super H Mart…my international grocery store here in Atlanta.
I love all your recipes! I was the oldest of 5 girls on a 1280 acre farm, and meal times were a big deal for our family. We all were at the table, and everything on it, we had raised or grown. The recipes you share are those kinds of foods, now my sons and I sit around the table and eat heartwarming food!
I pretty please let me win this book. I am ready to cook:)
Love Caribbean food and trying new recipes.!
I would this cook book and make great use of it!
Thx for the opportunity
all the recipe that has been posted looks good and taste good too. love it thanks for the recipe you are posting that gives me a lot of clue how to make w.i food. Power to you
love your site, your recipes are so helpful! Thanks for all your great work and for sharing with us all! 😉
Well all the people in my family that can cook – All Trinidadian born and bred – can cook and very well. It seems that I am the one that's lacking. These recipies are a godsend because I can finally make my favorite – Stew chicken with peas and rice!
I CAN EAT AGAIN! 🙂
I'm not from the Caribbean but I'm married to one from T&T W.I. I love Caribbean food from Roti to all kinds of curried veggies and meat its tasty wiyh all the spices in it that's why I Love to learn how to cook.
Awesome recipes! Keep up the good work! 🙂
Being an at home mom, I would love this book for some new recipes!!!
As a home economic teacher will be a good piece to add to our caribbean dishes
In my house, the kitchen was the centre of life. My grandmother was always there cooking up a feast.
so,i am from the other side…germany. i got in tor caribbean cookin when my son startet planting orange habaneros…havent tryed verry many but we love jerk chicken..the spices thats beeing used and the difference to the german cooking.thanks for the great work here
sincerly,carola from germany
Droppiitng in on my Jamaican neighbours as a kid was amazing–their kitchen was rich and spicy with ginger so unlike my own home's european smells. I think that is why I love ginger to this day!
Yes the book reach just in time to sample new recipes before christmas.
Ready to try some new recipes…I want that book please.
Love the page Chris, I have been sending the link out to all my friends. Christmas a commin, time for garlic pork and pepper pot, hot bakes and always punch a creme.
I was raised by my Grand Mummy who loved cooking and still enjoy it today. I remember pots and pans banging in the early morning and being awaken by the smell of food cooking before she went to work. My favorite was Sunday lunch and when she baked bread.
Tasty west Indian food…..
U r an amazing cook!
I love to eat good food and u sure know how to make em, thanx for publishing recipes, makes life so much easier!
I love your cooking:)
Love to win book..I'm a fan(:
For me, Caribbean recipes are a taste of home – after being away from eating it daily, it's a comforting thing to enjoy a caribbean recipe. What I love about your site, is that your recipes quantify things that I've seen done by eye. So, I can recreate meals that I grew up with easily. I really love your site; thanks for all you do!
i will really lik one of your book as i am from Trinidad and i love to cook
I would really love one of these books…am from the caribbean and I love trying new dishes and brighten up old ones..thanks for the ideas.
Don’t like to cook much, but when i read ur recipes i just have to try it and the food comes out tasting delicious
Hey Chris how bout a recipe for some chicken or beef patties they make great snacks and beat the hell out of fast junk keep up the good word mon..
hi chris love your recipes. curry has always been my favorte fods and still love it. my mom used to always cook veges in soups, and salads and never love them then, but now i cannot do without them.
I must admit, I like the name of the book! Would love to win a copy!
I stumbled upon your website while looking for Caribbean recipes to cook for my Haitain husband and his family. LOVE LOVE LOVE what I've seen and tried so far. And so does he. Thank you and keep up the good work! Many Blessings!
I would love to have a copy of this book. I did not grow up in the Caribbean, however, I LOVE Caribbean Cuizine! I love cooking various caribbean recipes. I did marry into the caribbean lifestyle and that has made my love for the cuizine even stronger.
i would love to have a copy of this book, when growing up I loved when my father cooked stew chicken he would carve my initials on my meat so that no one else would get it, it made me feel special. What dinner time was de best cause it was when everyone in the family would get together and be at that one place at that one time
I love everything about Caribbean cooking
Ok Chris when are you going to do a cookbock tierd of getting food on my laptop lol love your food so puit out there all of theese other people are doing it and your recipies are better than most please please put out a book thanks Tom..
Hey Chris! I thank you for every recipes that you have send to me I so much appreciate of it keep up the good work God bless.
i'm enjoying trying out some of these recipes.
My fiance, who is from Trinidad moved to Montreal recently. this website has been absolutely amazing in helping me make him feel comfortable, thank you!!!
Dear Chris:
You are tantalizing me this great cook book and every time I enter my name, I await in suspension that I will win this cook book. I love to cook.
Hope that you choose me this time
Judy
Hey Chris..enjoying the recipes…love the healthier channa… Yu can also do peanuts with or without skin in the microwave.. Remember Shadon Beni and Pimiento are the most important seasonings to use.
Love trying all kinds of different foods and love the spices of Caribbean food – especial like the easy step by step instructions you offer each week – happy I found this link!
Hey Chris i am from the caribbean and this site has really help me prefect my cooking which is made so simple and easy with the ingredient that we have here, thank you
Fantastic novel! I love that it includes recipes. Very well written, I recommend it fot adults as well. Somebody should make a Movie or show about Anjali’s journey.
If I should win, please donate my copy to a local secondary school’s library.
Nice review Chris!
Hey Chris! Thank you for helping me learn how to make some great Caribee food! Dinner time is family time! My family loves trying a new dish every time I make it! Keep up the good work!
I love your recipes Chris. Keep em coming.
Thanks
one of my favourite childhood memories is watching my grandmother make a stack high pile of sada rotis for the family, anxiously waiting to spread fresh butter and take a bite of mouth watering hot deliciousness. all love…
What is there not to love about Caribbean Food? Good Food make me tap my feet!
I was looking for an easy recipe for roti, I found it when I came across your website. Great job….I told all my friends that LOVE to cook fab Caribbean foods.
I love love love this the spices used in Caribbean cooking!!
Great job, really enjoy the step by step and pics.
Is there fry bake and salt fish (trini style) on here?
Would love a copy just returned from a visit to Tobago, my god you guys know how to cook
hi chris …… i think this is a great thing your doing ,thanks
Hi Chris just found this site we have a Jerk Hut in Tpa Fla the only place I can get Island food very good am going to try you versions hope they are as good as the Hut can already taste the oxtail gravy thanks for the site..
The recipes here are great and the pictures mouth watering.
I will be making masoor dhal today. I really love all the recipes you send through Sizzle and I enjoy reading and learning about the cooking of the Caribbean! I plan on trying a couple of the roti recipes soon. I know my son and his girlfriend are going to love it!
Love receiving your emails Chris…… I keep most of them…..keep them coming.
I would love a cookbook to put my Caribbean skills to the test!
Great recipes!
i never liked cooking when i was young and really learned when i met my husband…you know "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach" blah blah….and guess what…it worked!!!
I have a love for cooking and experiencing new dishes. I so enjoy cooking Caribbean dishes, they have a unique flavour and aroma.. Thanks Chris for sharing it is so appreciated..
Thank you for sharing your recipes with us. Your posts are very helpful and easy to follow. Now I can impress my husband by making my own Roti ; ))
Love Caribbean food, seems to be much healthier and not too much salt or fat used…Love it.
I love ox tail soup. My mom used to make it for us when we were sick.
As soon as we came back from the Caribbean we have cooking the food regularly – wonderful flavours!
Great site! Love your recipes! I made the Heavenly Curry Chicken Mmmmm!
Great site! Love your recipes! I made the Heavenly Curry Chicken Mmmmm!
The book sounds interesting. In lieu of the book, I will accept a year's worth of roti skins (delivered monthly). <smile>
Chris, I love the recipes. You help me duplicate the dishes my great grandmother used to make – a few ingredients have been lost along the way as the recipes were handed down, and you fill those gaps in our knowledge. Thanks.
I went to Antigua and experienced Caribbean food for the first time. It was extraordinary. I love Tamarind and found out how to make the juice! It was very lovely! I did not grow up on Caribbean food, but I wish I had. Thank you!
The pommecythere amchar was easy to follow. It was quite tasty and tangy with a little more pepper added along with some chaddon beni, black pepper, fine thyme and a maggi cube. Thanks. Keep them coming.
Your fish recipes are great. Thanks.
my book now lol
I really enjoy the different recipes thats here. Been eating Caribbean food for years. Thank to your recipes i'm cooking them for myself now. Wonderful!!! Thanks Again!
I recently just discovered this web site and am excited to start cooking some authentic Caribbean dishes – thanks Chris for taking the time to do this
I will love to get this book because i am not good in making Roti
Love this site.reminds me of home.
Haha…got so carried away in the present that I forgot the part about childhood food memories – my favourite memory -and about the earliest food memory I have – was breadfruit balls which I was introduced to at about 6yrs old – right after my family moved to St. Lucia many years ago…still love these little simple gems today and they always bring back good memories 🙂
It’s great having all these recipes. My first encounter with west Indian food was at 16 when I waitressed for a carribean restaurant in Kilburn and I fell in love with the food. It wasn’t so easy to get the recipes back then however. So thank you for sharing Chris I really enjoy cooking and sharing this beautiful food with my family and friends. : )
I found your site when preparing for a West Indian cook-up with my sister in Holland – I'm from Saint Lucia and my regular pool of friends includes a Trini, Jamaican, Guyanese, Lucians and off n on a Bajan…we all love to share our home-nation's specialites on the beach on Sundays with rum n coconut water…tough life eh! But it's not so long ago that each island would not know much at all about the others' specialites – sites like this and more recent books are making a massive delicious difference! Keep it up!
I spent 25 years in the Caribbean, and when I read and try your recipes it is like going back. keep up the good work! I would love to have this book!
I am still trying to find a cooking stone (twar?, I know that is spelt wrong). Can anyone know where I can buy one online?
I am a Chef and i just love to try new and interesting things whenever i get the chance to…but one thing I love most is Spreading my culinary culture Jamaica to the world…Thanks Caribbean Pot and thanks Chris…
When I was younger, food, more specifically Caribbean food, connected me to the past. Recipes and stories that were been passed down from generations were infused with enriching tales from the US, flavors from the Caribbean and the spicyness of Africa. Today, when I make a batch of codfish cakes or cook a pot of curry goat for my family, I keep the family legacies alive and the smiles on their faces lets me know how appreciative they are.
Hi Chris
Love the recipes you send have only been cooking Carribean
Food for a couple of years but all my family love it
Thanks for all your help
I like the channa recipe Chris.Didn't know you can use olive oil and better yet bake it in the oven.
Chris…I enjoy the recipes you post on your site. Although I am quite familiar with T&T cooking, I still enjoy reading your recipes. It refreshes my memory. Please enter my name in the 'book' contest. I would sure like to be a winner.
Today i had corn soup i ate like i were in an eating marathon, i remembered only eating this around carnival or any festival in trini so i never understood how to make it. Since leaving Trini i had forgotten about it but trying these recipes i bounced up on it and i decided to tried it wow i am eating well, i even put on some weight which my friends on fb are proud of i am the type of person who can eat whole day without putting on a pound i believe its the richness of the food or i am happy eating my homeland food. Thank you Chris for this site.
I look forward to your emails!!!
Chris you have me on a roll from timing eggs to boil, now i am currying and stewing i got so bold i tried dhalpuri roti, curry chicken, dhal and curry Pommecythere which trust me i used to pray for anyone going back home to buy it for me. I feel so good now i can make these delicious friday and saturday lime food instead of sending for it and freezing it. Please keep sending me updates. Friend and family who eat together stay's together.
Nothing brings a family together like home cooking. Some of my most cherished memories consists of all we women in the kitchen making rotti, drinking rum while soca or chutney music playing. The men in we family are great cooks as well, not grill masters but real cooks lol. T&T food is real soul food. The one thing to always look forward to in any trini wedding or lime is the food. Now I cooking with my own children passing down we culture. I’ve tried many different types of food in my travels and nothing can compare to we flavor. Is hot like peppa lol. I would like this book for my children who will pass on we tradation.
how can one eat mash potatoes or lasanga after eating your recipes
Love and appreciate the recipes!! thanks alot!!!
This book sounds really interesting. It sounds so much like the struggles we go through everyday. Whether it is to accomplish our dreams or fulfill those of our loved ones and what we "think" that society expects of us. Really would like to get a copy of this one.
Thanks Chris
the very first recipe on youtube.com i searched for Caribbean pot video was due to a co-worker telling me how to make my most beloved dish was ROTI i most love the true fusion of Caribbean/India a kind of universal SOUL FOOD so my friend tried telling me about DHALPURI ROTI i thought when my friend transferred from my locale that would be the end of me learning how to make roti,shreading the cabbage, using cilantro to replace shadowbenni, etc. iwas sssssoooooo happy to find Caribbean pot videos i love very spicy west indian cooking i consider myself an honorary west indian this book would bring such ggggrrrreat!!!! tidings to my american diet it would literally add some spice to my life!!
great site love your recipies
Iam living back in the USA after years overseas and have always enjoyed cooking.I love spice and flavour and have used your recipies many times since using your site.(tonight had fish (cod)curry) Keep it up.
Thanks,
Jerry
chris I look forward to ur emails especially learning how to prepare some of ur meals. I appreciate the time u take out and teach us.
great site
Chris I left Trinidad 48 years and sometimes forget some of the trini recipes but your fantastic "caribbeanpot" site have brought back so many wonderful memories of living in Trinidad and my mom's delicious food. Thanks so much and for the step by step you show us is amazing. I do need that book and hope I can win it.
Thanks.
I love the recipes that you send!!! Keep em' coming!
Love the recipes – keep 'em coming!
LOVE AND ENJOYS ALL THE RECIPES….I LOVE TO BE IN THE KITCHEN…ALSO THANKS FOR SHARING THE RECPES.
Hi:
I think you ideas are great. So many of the recipes have a touch one never thought of. I really enjoy reading them even if I don't cook them. It gives me additional ideas as to how to prepare the same ordinary food in a different way. Keep sharing
Food has been a big part of my life, as a Trini, I grew up with my mom always making our local treats for us. one that stands out in my mind is her cassava pone ..but for every occasion food was always a big part of the celebrations, Christmas was my favorite, My mom has passed now 6yrs ago , and I have tried to keep up the traditions she passed on to her kids, my kids now have fond memories of me making them all kinds of food, and they,
like me love christmas the best, They must come home and spend christmas with me, and we cook and have a great day together as a family..
curry curry and more curry – yummy!!
my wife, who is from panama does these type of dishes a lot.
we always look forward to the next issue!!
we both love the soups, and pigtail recipes.
the meats are always a hit;and so are the sides; keep up the great work!!
.
You just bring the Caribbean flavours out of our hearts and souls with your blelssed hands. Thank you always for improving my existence re food, cud do with some more veggie vegan dishes!
I love everything about Caribbean cooking. My childhood memories takes me back to Sundays especially, because it’s on Sundays when two different kinds of meats will be cooked; along with callaloo, rice and peas, macaroni pie,Provisions…memories~
Hi Chris…love the recipes. I tried the baked channa and turned out really nice. Thank you.
Caribbean food always give me the warmth I need in the cold months. Warm memories of my tanty cooking some pelau or curry with the sun beaming in through the kitchen window back in sweet TnT.
Hi Chris
I am not from the Island, however I just love Island food, so I signed up to get your newsletter and recipes to prepare my own Island food and it will take pratice a couple of times to get that zing but I love trying……………Thank you so much Belinda
No one cooks like my grandmother. or my mother. or my father. food connects people, by taste, by smell, by sight, by hearing the noises from the kitchen.
I like my caribbean food because there is such variety and it is not bland. It taste good!! None can compare. Thanks so much for all your posts. I left Trini when I was a teen and never did much cooking there, so you really help me to master some of these dishes that i so love. I really enjoy cooking. Every once in a while you will post some dish that that i had forgotten all about and it will just make my mouth water to look at it! Thank again and keep up the good work.
Chris I’m so glad I came across your site! Thanks for all your work.
Having left TnT 43 yrs ago, your recipes sure bring back pleasant childhood memories. My Mom's dhal recipe consisted of pigtail in the dhal, however being health conscious I do not include the pigtail. However, this book would be a nice gift for my daughter to experience and appreciate Caribbean food.
Food IS my childhood, my fondest memories of my youth are always surrounded by my moms cooking, best part is I passed this on to my daughter now we cook together sometimes distance is a problem but thats what ichat is for ….. if only I could taste what she made!!!
I love Caribbean food, especially oxtail with peas & rice.
Chris- I look forward to your emails. I love learning about Caribbean food and culture. Caribbean cooking is comforting, satisfying, and amazingly fresh & sassy. Keep the recipes coming!
Love the Recipes . its really simplified, even tho I am familiar with many of these, been outta the loop fora long time, so having these on hand has been welcomed. Have even forward this site and receipes to many of my non Trini friends… Would love a copy of this book… thanks Niala