Now. With that said, if you think you're interested in trying a dish that has eggplant, papaya, ketchup (ew), margarine (double ew), pumpkin, fish, and salted beef, boy do I have a dish for you.
The original recipe is here. I made some significant changes--namely that I didn't use pig snout because...well...where the hell do I get a pig snout in Baltimore? I also left out the "meat scraps", "4 cloves cut" (I'm not even sure what type of clove this is reference to), the okra (couldn't find it), taro root leaves (also couldn't find it), the peas (ran out of room in my pot), and of course, the pig snout.
I also made some substitutions--instead of margarine, I used canola oil, instead of pumpkin, I used acorn squash, and instead of salt beef, I used corned beef (which is supposedly close to the same thing).
Ingredients:
4 cups water (2 boiling, 2 cold)
2 cups cornmeal
2 cups cornmeal
butter, to coat
1 teaspoon salt, to taste
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
4 tablespoons ketchup
4 tablespoons oil
1 bunch thyme
1 bunch chives
1 lb spinach, chopped
1 lb eggplant, peeled & cut
1 lb okra, chopped
1/2 lb acorn squash, peeled & cut
1 lb corned beef, chopped
1 lb papaya, cut
3 small squash, cut
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt, to taste
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
4 tablespoons ketchup
4 tablespoons oil
1 bunch thyme
1 bunch chives
1 lb spinach, chopped
1 lb eggplant, peeled & cut
1 lb okra, chopped
1/2 lb acorn squash, peeled & cut
1 lb corned beef, chopped
1 lb papaya, cut
3 small squash, cut
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon pepper
1 lb of white fish
The corn meal piece is really easy--you just mix two cups of cold water with the corn meal (and mix slowly!). Then add this porridgy stuff to your boiling water until it's pretty stiff. Then mash this out into bowls to serve as a base.
The directions for the actual soup portion here were absurdly confusing...and had some nonsense about salting your leaf vegetables for a while before cooking. That seemed silly. I basically through everything around the same time and cooked for about 20 minutes and then added the fish in and cooked for another 10 minutes.
To the side, is a picture of the result. It looks ostensibly edible...and it is! But I can't say I thought it tasted very good. Some members of the household thought this was surprisingly good. I thought it tasted like day old trash. But hey...edible!
Next up is Argentina and Asado (basically ribs with Chimichurri sauce). Should be much more tasty!
Anyways, Gorby eagerly waits at the counter for something that tastes better...
Jeez. What do you expect when you leave out the pig snout? Also, the regular-ass supermarket butcher that I went to in Asheville regularly had pig feet, tails, and ears, so there were probably a few snouts laying around somewhere.
ReplyDeleteLol,Dude.. That is NOT pepperpot! The substitutions drastically change the dish. The margarine was for the Fungi, which is cooked until the cornmeal itself is firm enough to form balls, made by placing a potspoonful of cooked cornmeal into a buttered bowl and agitating the bowl in circular motions to form a fungi ball. The cornmeal starts out porridgy but thickens as it cooks. This is done in a separate pot. You can substitute the Taro root leaves with spinach but the OKRA is always in the frozen section (so is the spinach)and is a non-negotiable main ingredient. It also greatly contributes to the texture of the dish. If any ingredient must be left out consider the squash. The pigeon peas are essential to taste as well. Not sure if the original recipe clarified that the papaya must be green, but it should. Kudos for trying the dish. I know what the real thing tastes like, but I would probably prefer a simpler recipe...like callaloo.
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