Arepas

Ingredients
 

4 cups cornmeal

1/2 cup flour

2 teasps salt

water to bind

2 tablsps butter

2 tablesps lard

3 tsps baking powder

Filling
 

• 1/2 lb ground beef ( or lean pork or chicken, minced )
• 1/2 teasp salt
• 2 tablsps oil
• 1/2 hot pepper, minced
• minced garlic,onion,pepper,salt,chive,thyme,- to taste

Method

1) Season ground beef, then brown in oil  ( or other minced meat)

2) Cover and stew for about 1/2 hr - then mince again finely

3) Sift flour, salt, baking powder and cornmeal together

4) Add butter and lard and mix thoroughly with  fingertips until mixture resembles  bread crumbs

5) Add sufficient water to make a soft dough
Knead lightly, then cut into pieces the size of a golf ball, flatten to  2/8 " circles

6) Place about 1 tablesp of meat mixture on one  1/2 of the circle, dampen edge and fold over the other 1/2 of the circle to form a crescent. Squeeze edges together

7) Fry in hot oil until golden brown

8) Drain on brown paper and serve hot

N.B. If you don't want to fry the Arepas right away you can  store them in an air tight plastic container and freeze them until you are ready to  fry them.
 

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Pig's Foot Souse

Ingredients:
 

• 4 lbs pig's feet, cut into small pieces
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp black pepper chopped
• hot pepper to taste
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• juice of 2 or 3 limes
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2-3 tsp salt
• 2 large cucumbers, peeled
• sliced watercress or chopped parsley for garnishing

Method:

1. Cook pig's feet in water and salt until tender, or pressure cook.

2. Drain well and rinse in cold water

3. Combine in a large bowl, 4 cups of water, lime, sugar, black -ish with watercress.

Serves 8 people.
 

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Black Pudding from Scratch

This recipe was submitted by a chef  of
Food Etcetera Limited

Ingredients:
 

• 50 lbs Black Pudding
• 1 Pail Blood -
• 1 Golden Ray (that's cooking margarine )
• 50 Hops Bread
• 3 Bundles Chive (those are large bundles - a standard size in the market in Trinidad - approx. 30 head in a bundle)
• 3 Bundles Celery - standard bundle
• Pepper as desired
• 5 Bundles Shadon Beni, if available -
• ( substitute with coriander leaves)
• 1 Pk Ground Spice
• 1 Pk Ground Clove
• 1 Bottle Cooking Oil - 26oz
• Pork Belly for Blood (Intestines)
• Beef Belly for Beef Blood ( Intestines)

Method:

1) Chop all seasonings very fine and add spices and bread to the blood. The bread should be cut into small pieces.

2)Add oil, Golden Ray and salt to taste.

3) When all the ingredients are well mixed, use a funnel to fill the belly.

Cooking:

1) Place the pudding in water and bring the water to boiling point but do not boil the pudding, because this will cause the skin to burst.

2) Cover and allow it to simmer in the hot water for about an hour.
 

N.B. You can freeze the pudding. When you cook it, defrost it almost completely, then steam it for just a few minutes, not longer. If you like sweet pepper, tomatoes, onion and chive with it, fry these separately, because they take longer to cook. Spoon over steamed pudding and decorate with watercress. Serve with hot pepper sauce.
 

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Ingredients
 

• Cleaned crab meat ( take out all the shell pieces)
• Onion, chive, thyme ( broad leaf type if possible, otherwise dried), fresh oregano, garlic cloves, stuffed olives ( everything cut very small,)
• 1 hot pepper, cut very small
• salt to taste
• butter
• chicken stock
• Kellogg's corn flakes bread crumbs , or similar
• parsley, cut finely
• 1 leaf chadon bene, cut up very finely (optional)

Method

1) Melt butter in large frying pan and sauté vegetable mixture on slow fire for a few minutes

2) Add salt and hot pepper to taste

3) Add crab meat and heat through, add a little stock and take off the fire

4) If you have empty crab back shells, you can use them to fill in the mixture, otherwise use flattish oven-proof baking dishes , such as those in the shape of a shell. Top mixture with a little parsley, then breading and a dot of butter

5) Bake in pre-heated oven or under a grill for a few minutes ( not too long so that the crab backs will not get too dry

Serve with garlic bread
 

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This is a "Portuguese" dish and mostly cooked at the Christmas season, but there actually should be no reason why it could not be cooked at any time at all.

Ingredients
 

• 5 lbs lean pork, no bones, cut up into 1.5 inch pieces
• white vinegar to wash pork in ( don't use any water to wash pork)
• 1/2 lb garlic cloves, crushed ( no need to peel )
• 2 oz salt
• 2 small bottles malt vinegar
• same amount of boiled and cooled water
• large amount of fresh oregano leaves ( fine leaf thyme)

1) Squeeze the white vinegar from the pork after washing it, then rub meat with salt, garlic and oregano leaves

2) put malt vinegar and cooled, boiled water into a large glass jar
( without any metal cover ) , add garlic, salt, oregano (thyme) and the pork

3) Marinate pork for about 5 days in this mixture

4) Heat a heavy iron pot, then drop about one to two tablespoons of the marinade into it, add a few pieces of pork per person to fry at a time and lower the fire. Fry until tender on a slow fire, about 1/2 hour.

Serve this at breakfast time or as an appetizer.

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Ingredients

• 1 pack saltfish ( salted cod ), preferably without bones
• pepper
• a little sugar
• 1 hot pepper
• lots of lime juice
• vegetable oil
• onion
• tomato
• cucumber 
• 1 hardboiled egg
• chive
• sweet pepper
• 1 leaf chadon bene, cut up finely ( optional )

1) Boil salt fish in water to extract some salt, then drain and clean, if necessary. Cut up very small

2) While fish is boiling, cut finely the onions, tomatoes, cucumber, chive, swee
  t pepper and hot pepper, chadon bene and crush hard boiled egg with a fork

3) peel and remove seeds from cucumber and cut up finely

4) Add vegetables to salt fish and season with pepper, lots of lime juice and oil
( it takes several tablesps. of oil ), and a little sugar.
 

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Pastelles

Ingredients

2 cups ground corn flour ( this is NOT cornstarch )
1 ounce margarine
1 pot spoon  oil
2 teasps salt
2 teasps sugar
4 cups boiling water
Banana leaves ( you can use foil, but  pastelles taste better wrapped in banana leaves)

Filling

Ingredients

2 lbs lean meat- ground - ( this can be 1/2 beef, 1/2 pork - or only beef, or chicken)
6 red and green chilli peppers - cut up very small-  seasoning peppers, not hot
1 clove garlic- grated
2 tsps Worcestershire sauce
2 tablesps capers
2 tablesps raisins- whole
2 tablesps raisins- chopped
3 onions- minced
1 bunch herbs for pastelles ( Spanish thyme ( fine leaf thyme), French  thyme
( broad leaf thyme ), basil ( remove stems), -  use one teasp. of each, cut up very small
8 olives- cut into very small pieces
6 olives, cut up and added to one cup of water to make stock
a little tomato ketchup
 

1) Put  ground corn into a mixing bow
2) Cut margarine into small pieces and add to corn
3) Add oil, salt, sugar
4) Pour BOILING water over mixture ( use 3.5 cups at first ), then mix quickly with a round edged knife. Mixture must be smooth, but not sticky
5) Taste and add  more sugar or salt, if needed
 
 
 

Method

1) Heat oil, add  garlic- fry until golden brown- remove garlic
2) Add meat and sauté until light brown
3) Add ketchup and Worcestershire sauce
4) Turn heat low and simmer for about 5 mins
6) Add pastelle herbs, chopped olives, capers, raisins, chilli peppers and continue simmering until meat is tender
7) Add stock and continue to simmer until filling is tender and moist
8) Taste to see if seasonings need to be added

Assembling the pastelles

1) Prepare banana leaves - Wilt leaves in boiling water, take out and wipe dry- then cut up into sizes to wrap pastelles in
2) Rub leaves with oil ( you can colour the oil with roo-coo (Anatto) by putting the seeds into a piece of muslin, tied together, then soaked in hot oil ( not boiling oil otherwise the oil will turn black)- This is optional.
3) Place a small ball of corn mixture on the  oiled leaf, pat down
4) Place a piece of muslin over the patted down mixture and roll out thinly, using either a rolling pin or pastelle press
5) Place a tablesp of meat filling in the centre, ad a little cut raisins, olives and capers
6) Fold half of leaf over ( lengthways )  in such a manner that the corn mixture also folds  completely over the meat filling, then bring other half of the leaf over to cover . Use a second leaf on opposite grain, tightly fold in sides and tie up with a piece of twine. At this stage, you can also use a piece of foil instead of the second leaf.
7)Add pastelles to boiling water to which salt and sugar to taste has been added. Cook pastelles for 1   1/2 hours. Take out and drain, then place on a flat surface.
8) To reheat, steam pastelles just before serving.

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Ingredients:

6 fresh jalapenos (or as many as desired), split down the middle, seeds removed (so they're left as 'jackets')

1 package Philly cream cheese- or other brand
 

1) Use aluminum foil to line cookie sheet
2) Using spoon, fill jalapeno 'jackets' with cream cheese
3 )Arrange jalapenos on baking sheet in single rows
4) Bake for about 15 mins or until peppers are cooked and cheese is crusted and browned.

Allow to cool before serving as appetizer or great with beer.

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Ingredients:

1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 lb. beef steak, minced or ground
1 lb. lean pork, minced or ground
1 small onion, minced
1 small bunch green onions, including tops, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
3 medium tomatoes, diced
1 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1/4 cup raisins, minced
2 tablespoons capers
10 green olives, minced
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
12 pieces banana leaf, each 7 inches square
vegetable oil
3 cups grated fresh corn, excess juice squeezed out

In a large pot over medium heat, heat the 1/3 cup oil.
Add the meat and cook until browned. Add the onion, green onions, garlic, tomatoes, vinegar, optional ingredients (raisins, capers, olives) and salt and ground pepper; Cook for 15 mins. The mixture should be fairly dry.

Coat the inside of the banana leaves with oil .

Divide the corn among the leaves and spread it about 5 ins. square and 1/4 in. thick on each leaf.

Divide the meat mixture among the leaves (about 2 tablespoons per leaf) and spread it over the corn layer.

Fold up the leaves into envelope-like packages and secure with cotton string.

Cook the pastelles for 1 hour, either in a large pot of boiling water or by steaming them on a rack over boiling water.

Serve hot and either eat them right away or freeze them and they will stay for months! To re-heat just steam them until heated thoroughly.

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