barbados soup Archives | CaribbeanPot.com

About 10 years ago I had my first culinary encounter with tomato and rice soup while visiting Caron’s grandparents and though I wasn’t (so I thought..silly me) a fan of tomato soup, the plump grains of rice in it got my attention. I could not believe I was asking for seconds even though my bowl was only half the way through. I had always reflected back to that dish, but for some reason I never ventured to ask Heddi (ma-mere) for the recipe. Somehow I’m glad I didn’t as when it came time to prepare it it this past summer when we had an abundance of vine ripe tomatoes in our garden, I decided to put my own twist on this tomato and rice soup I first fell in love with a decade ago.

Tomato choka is one of my favorite ways to enjoy ripe tomatoes, so I thought I’d mimic the same technique in making this rice and tomato soup for those rich roasted and spicy flavors. Basically, here’s my take on tomato choka soup.

You’ll Need…

3 large tomatoes
1 medium onion
4 cloves garlic
2 tablespoon olive oil
4 cups chicken stock (or veg)
1/4 scotch bonnet pepper
1 cup parboiled brown rice
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 tablespoon tomato paste (optional)
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
pinch ground coriander

* If you don’t have access to a grill as I did, toss the tomatoes in about 2 tablespoon of olive oil (not mentioned in the ingredient list) and roast them in your oven at 400 F for about 30 minutes or so. You will notice that I used chicken stock, but the recipe is posted in the vegetarian section. For vegetarians, please use vegetable stock and it will be a complete one-pot vegetarian meal. IMPORTANT: If doing this recipe gluten free do go through the ingredient list to ensure they meet with your specific gluten free dietary needs.

As with making traditional tomato choka I placed the ripe tomatoes on my grill, along with a whole green scotch bonnet pepper to cook. The pepper will take about 2-3 minutes (remove), but give the tomatoes about 20-30 minutes, flipping them so they char evenly. Yes, it’s normal for them to look burnt on the outside.

Remove the tomatoes off the grill and place in a bowl to cool. They will release a lot of liquid as they cool, thus the reason for having them in a bowl so you can save this lovely liquid to add to the pot later. When they’re cool enough to handle, remove the charred skin and give them a rough chop.

Heat the olive oil on a med/low flame in your soup pot and gently cook the diced onion, thyme and garlic for about 4 minutes. Then add the tomato paste and cook for another 2-3 minutes. By adding the tomato paste at this point the sort of frying will increase the natural sugars in the paste and give the dish a lovely sweetness.

Now turn up the heat and add all the other ingredients except the rice. Bring to a boil.

Wash the rice to remove any grit and extra starch. Do so by placing the rice in a strainer and run cool water over it while moving it around until the water runs clear. Or you can place the rice in a deep bowl, top with water, then massage the grains of rice. The water will get cloudy. Drain, repeat until the water runs clear. As the pot comes to a boil add the rice, then turn the heat down so you have an active simmer going.

Let it cook for 20-25 minutes or until the rice grains are plump and fully cooked.

Skim off any sort of reside off the top of the pot as it cooks and discard. Remember to taste for salt and adjust accordingly. If you used a whole scotch bonnet pepper as I did, you now have 2 options. Remove it so you don’t have that ‘kick’ or burst it open to reveal that Caribbean sunshine. WARNING! It will be live!

Top with some chopped parsley and get ready to serve with a thick slice of coconut bake or bread. This is not your typical Caribbean soup which is usually thick with ground provisions and salted meats (for the most part), but I assure you that this absolutely delicious, quite filling and a great twist on traditional tomato soup and rice soup.

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Gluten Free Meat & Poultry

Cow Heel (cow foot) Soup Recipe.

November 12, 2014March 31, 201318 Comments

Ladies and gents, I must confess that I’m not a fan of cow heel (cow foot or bull foot) soup and if it were up to me, this recipe would not have been found here as I normally don’t cook this. However, a fan on the CaribbeanPot.com Facebook page sent in a request and being the good boy I am.. I got the pot bubbling. Clevlan, this one is for you my brethren.

You’ll Need…

2 lbs cow heel *
1 teaspoon salt
1 scotch bonnet pepper
2 carrots (cut in big pieces)
3 potatoes
1 cup yellow split peas
4 sprigs thyme
2 scallions
1 tablespoon veg oil
Okra (about 8-10)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
4 pimento berries (optional)
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
12-16 cups water
1 cup diced pumpkin

Dumplings
– 1 cup flour (all purpose)
– pinch salt
– water

Notes: Make sure the cow heel is clean and cut into small pieces for easier cooking. Keep the scotch bonnet whole or burst open at the end if you want the kick from the heat it possesses.

Heat the vegetable oil in a deep pot on medium heat, add the diced onion, garlic, pimento berries, thyme, black pepper for 3-5 minutes and then add the cow heel. Stir well, then add the yellow split peas, salt, carrots and cover with water.. raise the heat to high and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook for about 2 hrs or 1/2 hr if using a pressure cooker. Drop the scotch bonnet pepper whole as it simmers.

As it simmers you’ll notice stuff gather at the top of the pot, skim and discard. After 2 hours the peas should be tender to the point where it will melt away and start thickening the soup. The pieces of cow heel will now be tender (and go gelatinous) , so it’s time to start adding the other ingredients. You can certainly add yams, dasheen, eddoes, green bananas etc, but I tried to keep this soup simple.

After adding the okra, potato, chopped scallions and pumpkin, it will take about 30 minutes to finish. So in a small bowl prepare the dumplings.. the flour, pinch of salt and enough water to form a soft but firm (to touch) dough. Let that rest for 15 minutes (cover with plastic wrap). Then the last 10 minutes of cooking, pinch small pieces of dough and roll between your hands to form a small cigar. Add to the pot and let cook for the final 10 minutes.

You will definitely need a large pot as no matter how hard you try.. when making any Caribbean soup, it always turns out to be a huge feast. There will be enough here for at least 8 people as a main dish. Taste for salt the last 4 minutes and adjust accordingly. Remember you can personalize this soup with the addition of yams, sweet potato, cassava, dasheen and cooking bananas, so get creative. If you want to add additional flavor you can always add a soup mix (Grace or Maggi) to the pot the final 30 minutes of cooking, but this is really not necessary.

At the end fish out the sprigs from the thyme and don’t forget to get the scotch bonnet pepper out. I like the kick from the pepper, so I usually burst it in the soup and enjoy the explosive flavor. But proceed with caution as it will be live with that Caribbean sunshine.

IMPORTANT – Do not add flour dumplings if doing this recipe gluten free as it will not meet with your gluten free dietary needs.

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Seafood

Using Salted Cod As A Base For A Delectable Caribbean Soup.

March 5, 2012October 29, 201024 Comments

trini food soup recipe (11)

Soup is a common Saturday meal throughout the islands that make up the Caribbean and it’s one of those one pot meals that truly brings family and friends together. When we first immigrated to Canada there were but a sprinkle of people with Caribbean heritage in Hamilton. My little group of friends included a fella from Jamaica, one from Dominica and how could I forget my good friend Carlos who was from Barbados. We did just about everything together, especially since when you’re new to a country you tend to latch on to anything which gives you the slightest security and comradeship of “home”. I love my Trinbagonian food and it’s something I could never repeat to my mom or grandmother, but this soup was the best I’ve ever had. Between Carlos, his sister and I, I think we ate the entire pot – no joke! The last time I was in Barbados I searched in vain for a restaurant in Bridgetown hoping to find a spot where I could sample some home style soup… no luck.

This soup cannot compare to that soup which is forever stuck in my mind from all those years ago, but when my grandmother would make this we’d eat bowlfuls.

You’ll Need…

1/2 lb salted cod (any dry salted fish)
1 carrot diced
8 ochro (okra) diced
3 medium potatoes cubed
1 lb yam cubed
1 lb eddoes
3 sprigs thyme
4 green cooking bananas
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 hot pepper (scotch bonnet or habanero)
1 large onion diced
3 cloves garlic sliced
1 can coconut milk (about 1.25 cups)
salt to taste (see note below)
1 cup split peas (dry)
8 cups of water
1 tablespoon veg oil

* In the recipe I have 1 cup split peas and this is what’s traditionally used, but I opted for a dry peas mix. Which to be honest didn’t work as well as I planned.

* In the recipe you’ll notice that I also mentioned green bananas. However my pot wasn’t big enough and I didn’t have room to add it at the end. I’ll be using those for another recipe.

* To help quicken the cooking time of the split peas, feel free to soak them in cool water overnight, then drain when you’re ready to put into the soup.

Since I had to deal with the small pot issue, I couldn’t put the star of this soup – dumplings. If you need the recipe for making the flour dumplings, do let me know in the comment section below. They’re added the last 10 minutes of cooking.

trini food soup recipe

Start off by soaking the dry salted fish in water for a few minutes (normally when using salted fish like this we either soak overnight then boil or soak in boiling hot water for an hr or so, but there’s no need with this recipe) then rinse off and strip into smaller pieces.

trini food soup recipe (2)

In a large pot (be smarter than me) heat the oil on med to high heat and add the pieces of salted fish to the pot and cook for about 5 minutes (until it starts to brown and stick to the bottom of the pot) then add the garlic and onion. Cook that for a few minutes on medium heat as we don’t want to burn the garlic.

trini food soup recipe (3)

trini food soup recipe (5)

After the onion starts to go soft and translucent, add the peas (remember to wash it before adding) and sliced carrots and give it good stir. (in the pic below you’ll see the dry peas mix I used and regret. Should have stuck to the split peas instead – lesson learned.

trini food soup recipe (4)

trini food soup recipe (6)

Add the coconut milk, thyme, black pepper, hot pepper, ochro and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook covered until the split peas is fully cooked. Takes about 45-50 minutes. As it cooks it will start to thicken.

trini food soup recipe (7)

trini food soup recipe (8)

While this does it’s thing, peel and cube the ground provisions (yam, eddoes, green bananas and potato), please try to cut them all the same size so they cook uniformly when we add them to the pot. In a previous soup recipe I posted, several people said that they parboil the provision separately. Wash the pieces off under cool water, then place in a large bowl and cover with water to prevent them from going discolored while we wait for the peas to fully cook.

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The peas mix I used, took about 1 hour to get soft, this is when I added the provisions to the pot. Bring to a boil again, then turn down the heat to a simmer (with pot covered) and cook for about 15 minutes (until the provisions is fully cooked). If you’re adding dumplings to the soup do so the last 10 minutes or so, of cooking. IMPORTANT! You’ll notice that I didn’t add salt. This is because the salted cod that I used is packed with tons of salt and after tasting at the end I noticed that I didn’t have to add any. I recommend that you taste the soup to see if there’s enough salt for your taste.

* If you’re worried about the hot pepper in the ingredients list, add it whole and fish it out when the soup is done cooking. For that extra kick, burst open the pepper near the end and it will blaze-up this dish.

trini food soup recipe (10)

trini food soup recipe (11)

Be prepared to fall asleep after eating a good bowl of this. I had a good nap then when back for 2nd’s! Maybe I can get someone from Barbados to share their classic soup recipe with me, as through the years Carlos and I have drifted apart and I don’t have that connection any longer. Wait! Securing that soup could be a good reason to visit Barbados again, especially when it gets nasty-cold during the winter months 🙂

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barbados soup

Roasted Tomato And Rice Soup, Memories of Tomato Choka.

Cow Heel (cow foot) Soup Recipe.

Using Salted Cod As A Base For A Delectable Caribbean Soup.

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