Mom never swayed from the ‘traditional’ way of cooking curry chicken (as done in the Caribbean) when she would sort us out with a good curry and dhalpuri roti on the occasional Sunday morning. While nothing can compare to such a classic method of cooking curry chicken, I’m always looking for ways to change things up a bit. In this recipe we’ll marinate the chicken in a rich yogurt curry marinade, before roasting it in the oven.
I may have mentioned before that while growing up on the islands mom never made any sort of curry dishes with pork, so I credit my aunt Victoria (I speak about her in my book) for passing the basics of this recipe on to me, when I lived with her during my early years in Canada. Her version included a bit more cooking (I like my beans with a slight crunch) and a little heavier on the curry, so this version of curry pork with green beans is personalized to my liking.
I grew up with he mindset that tofu could NEVER taste appealing. My mom’s cousins were vegetarians and I would always hear them speak about using tofu and soya chunks in different ways and though we were close.. I don’t ever recall ever having tofu until my adult years. Caribbean culinary culture is not remotely centered around tofu as most Asian countries and quite understandably so. We don’t produce tofu, so why would be be interested in it. If we were to speak about sea food, fish and ground provisions, then we could definitely shine!
Curry channa and aloo (chickpeas and potato) is a classic vegetarian curry dish hailing from the Caribbean… with a strong Indian influence. Due to the fact that Indian indentured laborers where brought in from India after slavery was abolished to upkeep the sugarcane industry. I started adding chicken to the mix as a means of adding more flavor and added texture to the mix. Plus it’s a great way to use chicken breast, without it going dry and bland. I may have mentioned that I’m no fan of chicken breast – more a dark-meat kinda guy. In this recipe we’ll cut back on the overall cooking time by using canned chickpeas (Channa) and in an upcoming post, I’ll show you how to use shrimp instead of chicken.
When you grow up in the ‘country’ areas on the islands, you’re sure to have a kitchen garden where most of the vegetables, herbs and peppers you use in in the kitchen, comes directly from. My brother and I were gardeners from a very young age (not by choice.. especially when we wanted to run football and not tend to plants). Looking back, it seems we always had some sort of beans planted in that small plot of land at the back of our home. Maybe this is where my love for beans of all types originated? In this recipe we’ll use two of my favorite ingredients, string beans and shrimp along with that lovely curry base, this will definitely be delightful.
This recipe takes me back to my childhood days when my brother and I would go scavenging for conch (small and large black snails) in the rivers and ravines surrounding our small village. So to be clear, these are not the ocean conch that’s turned into salads, soups and stews, especially in the Bahamas. It was like a treasure hunt for us, looking between roots, rocks and all the debris in the water to find these. Good Times!
If you’re looking for a way to add a wicked punch of flavor to boring cauliflower, look no further. Along with the wonderful flavors of a good Caribbean style curry, this recipe is also vegetarian and can be done gluten free (check your curry powder to ensure there’s no gluten-flour additive in it). Based on…
Looks interesting, but I’ve never heard of ‘Curry Oxtails’… a comment left after I posted a pic of this “Ultimate Curry Oxtails” on the facebook fan page earlier today. With the natural toughness and sort of gamy finish of oxtails, it would be a natural fit for cooking in a rich curry sauce. The bones will…
If you’re looking for a quick and tasty way to prepare curry goat with a Caribbean signature, look no further. I remember my aunt starting her curry goat on the stove top, then the last couple hours she would place it in the oven to slowly do it’s thing in the oven. Falling off the…
Very much like the ‘Curry Lobster” recipe I shared a while back, Mussels is not something you’ll find normally being prepared in the Caribbean, unless it’s at one of the many high end restaurants we have catering to a mainly tourist clientele. This curry mussels recipe is basically my take on a shellfish which is…
One thing you’ll quickly notice about the cuisine of the Caribbean is that we ‘doh waste”. This usually means that things like necks, backs, feet.. even pigs ears, trotters and snouts are used to perfection in many of the dishes throughout the region. We never had turkey necks (or turkey as a matter of fact)…
A coworker had invited me out for lunch many moons ago saying that the restaurant in the mall where we worked had the best liver with onions on special every Thursday… I still recall his enthusiasm when he spoke about how delicious they were. I also recall other coworkers having a sort of disgusting look…
