Oil Down
Grenada’s National Dish
This is a recipe that the whole family can get involved in and spend the day together!
Ingredients:
2 lbs. chicken
1 sprig basil
1 sprig fresh thyme
2 sprigs of celery leaves
5 Caribbean seasoning peppers (or sweet peppers)
1/2 onion
6-7 garlic cloves
2 carrots
½ bunch of callaloo /taro leaves or 1 bunch of spinach
2 yams (not sweet potatoes)
8 green bananas (or 4 potatoes)
1 breadfruit or 1 large taro root
1/2 lb. salted fish or pork
4 fresh turmeric (or 1 tbl turmeric powder)
3 cups canned coconut milk + 3 cups water
1 cabbage
2 cups flour
Method:
Add clean, chopped turmeric (or powdered) to the coconut water, set aside
Rinse, chop chicken - place it in a stock pot
Soak salt fish or pork in water to get rid of the extra salt and preservatives.
Set aside.
Peel garlic, slice onions, seed and chop peppers, celery sprigs, thyme, and basil.
Throw everything into the pot on top of the chicken.
Chop breadfruit in half and let it rest for 15 minutes, rinse cut in quarters, peel and slice.
Layer over the chicken.
Layer the carrots and peeled green bananas (or potatoes) in the pot.
Remove fish or pork from the soaking water, rinse well.
Scrape off any skin, fins, or otherwise undesirable parts add to the pot.
Add coconut milk, reserving 3/4 cup of it to make dumplings. There should be enough liquid to cover the ingredients.
Place the pot on the fire, bring to boil, then turn down to a simmer.
Quarter cabbage leaving the core in place so the quarters stay intact, add to the pot.
While the pot is simmering make the flour dumplings:
Mix the coconut-turmeric liquid with 2 cups of plain flour.
Roll dumplings into long logs – pinch off 3 inch pieces and place over the cabbage to cook.
Lastly add rinsed and chopped spinach or callaloo in a layer, cover with a lid and simmer for 30 minutes to an hour.
There should be very little liquid left at the end of cooking.
