Sunday, July 6, 2008

Who dont like it, lay down side it!

The title for this blog comes from a Trinidadian saying where a mother will cook food for her family, and any member of the household that is not pleased with the day's offering could very well not eat but lie next to the food!! (I never got it either)

The idea for my blog entry today came from a fellow blogger from Jolly old England Squared Off I read of some of the food that England had to offer and some of it looked really gross and some not so gross! Surprisingly some of it I thought was Trinidadian owned like the black pudding! I know pudding is popular in England but that particular type I thought was strictly Trinidadian! Live and learn. It is however really interesting to see what some countries consider every-day fare.

I would like to introduce to some of my local dishes and delicacies, and give you some idea of what goes into it and how it is prepared.

I must add that our population is roughly 1/2 Afro-Trinidadian and the other 1/2 East Indian-Trinidadian. So that Indian food is commonplace as well as African food!

My first dish is called 'doubles' it can be a snack, breakfast or even lunch! It is bought only on the street and is made up of two flat bread filled with curried Channa or what you guys may know as chick peas or garbanzo beans. What makes it delicious is the fillings like mango chutney and pepper!!


Another is calalloo I spent a long time looking for a picture of calalloo online until I remembered that I cooked calalloo today!! Pardon the pic though I used my camera phone as a friend borrowed my regular camera. Calalloo is made from a green leaf that has as it's root a ground provision called dasheen, so the dasheen grows in the ground and the calalloo bush grows above the ground and it is all used! To the calalloo bush you add okras, pumpkin, chive, celery, garlic and salt to taste you can throw in a few pieces of crab and even some salted pig tails for the extra flavor! It is a traditional Sunday dish that has it's roots in Africa.
So this is the dasheen 'bush' that grows on top of the dasheen that we use to make our calalloo.
And this is the ground provision that grows in the ground underneath the callalloo bush, we boil this 'dasheen' and eat it as a starchy part of any meal. It is usually blue when it is boiled and it tastes great with your Sunday meal or in a soup!


Coo-coo is another African dish that is very popular and goes well with calalloo, it is made with okra, carrots and seasonings and corn meal is added, it is somewhat like a bread, maybe similar to cornbread! (btw I made coo-coo today as well!)




Another immensely popular Indian dish is Roti, similar to doubles except the wrap is firmer kind of like a pita bread but softer and the wrap has split peas in it. In the wrap you normally have the chick peas as well as curried chicken, or beef, or goat! as well as curried potato. It is heavenly and very filling and fattening! (but all the good stuff are!)




I hope you enjoyed a taste of Trini cuisine, and I was also glad i could share 2 of my home-cooked local dishes with you guys today!!




29 comments:

Penny said...

What a fun post. I like trying new foods. The foods are close to what I'd call southern style. Southerners like okra, root veggies, corn meal breads, beans and greens. And what southerner doesn't like pork? I've never had pig tails, but pork flavor is pork flavor! The mango a curry kicks this up a notch from plain southern food. I bet it's all delicious!
Penny

Raxx - A day in the life said...

Penny I alway thought our foods sounded a bit southern, particularly after watching 'Esscence of Emril' on food network, our calalloo resembles gumbo...........sort of

Anonymous said...

Your post sounds yummy. Is it spicy? hope not, I can't do spicy gosh darn it. The first one sounds good though. How do you make Mango Chutney? Love reading your posts. Have a good week...

Hugs;
Alaura

Life on the Edge said...

I'm not sure if I could find most of those ingredients where I live, but boy they sure sound good!

If my brothers or I ever complained about what Mom had made for dinner, she would say, "I don't run a restaurant. If you don't want this, fix yourself a peanut butter sandwich." That has been my philosophy with my own kids too.

Kady

Deb said...

Well Raxx when I was coming up if you didn't like it you had to eat it anyway. I spent endless hours as a child sitting looking at my plate because I wasn't allowed to leave the table until I had finished. I hated that, but I don't think I would have liked lying beside it either. :O)Deb

Tootsie said...

great...now I'm hungry

Buffie said...

Fasinating! I've never heard of any of the dishes you mentioned...man, I gotta get out more, my life is TOO sheltered!! lol They all sound delicious though.

Lisa (aka) French said...

Roti is awesome!!! Ohh now i want some! Now I can't let you think I still look like this ~~so first that picture is almost 3 years old and I have since put on almost 20 pounds which is why I didn't post a more recent picture! But Justine wanted to see a close up of it so may have to show the real me now (yikes)! French;)

Justine said...

All I can say is Ewwwwwwww Ewwwwwwwww Ewwwwwwwwwww! That Calalloo... how do you eat it? Just spoon it up like soup? And what's with the garbonzo beans in everything? Blech! Why would anyone want to eat a bean sandwich? And GOAT? Egads woman! It's the 21st century! Beef, chicken, fish, pork. That's all you're allowed to eat, ya hear? ROFL!

Justine :o )

Anonymous said...

Hi Raxx! Oh, the food looks so delicious and sounds pretty healthty too using so many veggies. I have never heard of these dishes either - I'm a little chicken in trying new things, but if you made I'd take tiny bites! Thanks for coming by today to see Chloe Dawn. Come back tomorrow for the tea party.
Be a sweetie,
Shelia ;)

Bridget said...

Hey there Raxxy, How's it going? I've enjoyed reading about your local cuisine! I'm not much for indian food, not a lover of curry but the foods you've featured here look pretty good. I do see a little southern touch there by golly!
I noticed the photo of your baby girl in her Easter dress. I remember it from your post on RMS! I just loved seeing it, I'm glad you've added it to you side bar. Hugs, Bridget

Anonymous said...

Sounds very tasty but I have to say the bowl of callaloo looks a little dodgey!

I like chickpeas & beans but I have a bit of an intolerance to that sort of thing so tend to avoid it if I can.

I would love to try more foreign food though.

artis1111 said...

Raxx you have to have a desert somewhere!!!Please! Kathy

Raxx - A day in the life said...

Alaura, mango chutney is easy, just grate a green mango, add salt and as much pepper as you can handle!

LOL!! Deb &Kady,I was a nerd, I ate all my veggies as a kid!

Toots I wish I could send you some food!

Buffie I like your adventurous spirit!

Lisa tell Justine just how great roti is!
Sheila dont worry I'm a great cook so you would like my cooking!
Thanks Bridget!
Tismee2 what the heck does 'dodgey' mean?
Kathy I hardly ever have dessert, but maybe I'll whip up some mango ice cream just for you!

SG said...

Hey! I'm just trying to catch up on blogs!

I remember Calalloo on The Cosby Show! The dad was making it and he kept saying Calalloooooo! Calallooooooo! Over and over.

Nice to finally see it. Not that it looks appetizing. lol. No offense. Pig tails? I had one in my soup in Barbados. I tried the soup but not the tail. I just couldn't! I won't say what it looked like in my bowl but it was close to the tail at one time. Yikes.

It was a very interesting post and although I don't like curry or chick peas I'd still be willing to try most of it. Can you FedEx overnight? lol.

Raxx - A day in the life said...

LOL!! Becky there I was choosing the most famous and sought after foods on the island to present and some of you think it's yucky!!

Belive me, if I describe some other foods, you guys may really be grossed out!!

Anonymous said...

Dodgey means it looks a bit suspicious. When you say it you should curl your nose up a little to get just the right facial expression too.


I bet you all just did that didn't you? ha ha ha.

damnemptynester said...

I want to hear about the dogs return, you dodgey character- and i do not mean suspitious

Penny said...

You've been tagged Ms. Raquel. Please come to my blog for details!
Hugs,
Penny

Anonymous said...

Raxx, I've missed you and was just popping in to say "HI"! I'm sure you're busy with your little family.
Be a sweetie,
Shelia ;)

Bridget said...

Raxx, I haven't seen you around Blog Land. Is all well with you and your family?

damnemptynester said...

raxx went west of the island to our mothers house, she will be back next week.

Lisa (aka) French said...

I miss you Raquel come back;) Safely though! French;)

Braincoral said...

Hey wah happen you eat too much food and too lazy to blog? I think the saying means you will lay down and die of starvation next to the food! Oh and my facebook calalloo looked way prettier! Why yours lookin so country? LOL!

Anonymous said...

Hey, pretty girl! I figured you were busy with your family. Hope you had a great time! Sometimes it's good to get away from the intenet. Thank you for your sweet comments. I don't really punch Mr. Precious in the stomach - I just say that because I'm a silly.
Be a sweetie,
Shelia ;)

Justine said...

Helloooooooooooooooooo! anybody home? Raquel, you've been SO quiet the past few days. What's up girl?

Justine :o )

Bridget said...

Hey, I'm so glad to hear you are well! I was getting worried! Take care of yourself and don't work too hard.

Justine said...

Hey girl, I don't know where the heck you are (or why you think you can just disappear on us!) but come to my blog, 'cause I've got an award for you!

Justine :o )

Anonymous said...

Hopefully you will post a recipe or two!!! :) I love to cook..& eat! LOL.

Donna