I have a hard time staying still.
Sometimes I post the things that I cook.
If you show me majestic facial hair and I'll show you my heart.
I've always wanted to be an Addams.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
“Can you make me the green stuff?”
Okay, so, maybe I like making weird-looking things. Deal with it.
This is one of my favorite foods ever. It’s a Caribbean dish called callaloo.
Traditionally, it would be made from callaloo leaves (which it is in the photo below, thanks to a family friend who just came in for a visit), but I learned to make it with spinach (being ‘merican, and all), so that’s how it’s written here. Tastes amazing either way.
Callaloo is one of those Caribbean dishes that varies by the cook. People from different islands and different races make it different ways. That’s just how it is and it’s something that I love. My mother, an Indian/Portuguese/French mix from Trinidad & Tobago, learned it from her Indian mother (also born and raised in Trinidad).
This is best eaten over rice! I’ve read recipes where it’s decribed as a soup… which kind of weirds me out. The okra gives it a kind of goopy texture. It feels fine on rice, but I don’t think I’d eat it alone.
What you need:
- 1 package of chopped okra
- 1 bunch of spinach
- 1 bell pepper (color of your choice), cored & sliced
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- dash of basil
- 1 tomato, chopped
- 1 cup or 6 sprigs of parsley
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- salt to taste
- 1 can of coconut milk (unsweetened! don’t get that dessert stuff!)
- 1 can of water (I say can, because after I pour in the coconut milk, I use the same can to pour in water)
- 1 whole green pepper (w/ stem, must not burst!)
- 1 tbs butter
- pumpkin, fresh handful (optional… but delicious and great for texture!)
- green onions, chopped (optional)
- crab, shrimp, or chicken (optional)
What to do:
1. Boil all ingredients except the butter in a large stock pot until soft or until okra is mushy. Cover the pot and cook for another 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Now, your callaloo should be soft, but, uh, it’s kinda chunky, right? Pour it in your blender and ‘pulse’ it for a few minutes until it’s blended.
3. Smooth as it’s gonna get? Pour it back into your pot and stir in the butter.
Serve over rice!
Since you’ve made this in a stock pot, you might have a lot of left overs. Callaloo can be frozen for a little while and thawed out later.
Enjoy!
Not the most appetizing photo, but I made hummus this morning! It’s one of my favorite foods to snack on and it’s so easy to make.
This isn’t really a descriptive recipe, because I do a lot of cooking by taste and I didn’t think about posting this until after… but this is super easy and there aren’t a lot of steps!
Here’s what I did:
1 can of chick peas/garbanzo beans (drained)
1/2 lime (squeeze it for the juice)
1 tsp chopped garlic
a bit of olive oil to blend the beans with
Toss it all in a food processor and blend until it’s creamy.
Garnish with cilantro if you’re fancy and pop open a bag of your favorite pita chips!
Enjoy!
