RECIPE #11: jAMAICAN CURRIED SHRIMP

Today when I got up my father offered to make breakfast.  He also told me he put a new battery in my computer.  These random acts of kindness are not all that random..I think he is just really just trying to butter me up.  He may be more exciting about my journey than I am.  LOL..  Grocery story shopping has become so interesting, now I am trying not to get the same meats over and over again. Then I realized we haven’t eaten shrimp in a while. Decided to see what the COOKBOOK had for shrimp.  Curried Shrimp yum! Curry is so good, and similar to jerk seasonings, you can curry almost anything. So curried Shrimp it is! Although, warning from now, ladies, If you just got your nails done you may want to wait before making this dish. You will find out why at the end.

Here is the recipe from the book:

• 2lbs fresh shirmp
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1fl oz oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 tablespoons curry powder
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 3-4 slices hot pepper
• 1 sweet pepper, chopped (optional)
• salt
• blackpepper
• 1 1/2 cups water

Shell the shrimps, then fry them gently in the butter and oil with the onions and garlic.  Add the curry powder, stirring it for a few seconds, then add the tomato, hot pepper, sweet pepper, salt and black pepper,  Pour in the water, bring to a boil, then lower the heat to medium.  The dish should be ready in 10 minutes or when the sac has reduces and thickened.

OK Here is what I did:

I followed the recipe almost exactly, I bought a pack of frozen shrimp already shelled and cleaned. I just rinsed them off.

I also added a some salt to the shrimp before I began frying.  I fried the shrimp with the onions and garlic in the butter and oil mix. The smell was divine!

I fried the shrimp slowly, and soon they  turned that gorgeous pink color.

Then, I added my curry. I have curry that I bought from a Jamaican bakery. They sell nice big bags that are made in Jamaica.  But they sell curry in almost every grocery story now.

Smelling good!! I added water, and then covered the pot to let it simmer.

Wallah!

I served mine up with white rice! It was so good dad went back for seconds, so did I. LOL

The only thing I would change about this recipe is adding less water.  I wanted my sauce to be a little thicker.  Besides that the shrimps were spicy and delicious. The only thing about curry is that it stains.  Curry will stain everything, your clothes, your hand, your skin, your nails. Look at my palm a day later from where I placed a drop to taste the sauce!

No worries, it will fade away.  Besides, it was all worth it!

Recipe #10: Jamaican Oxtails

If you are planning on a quick meal, this is not the one! Oxtails are delicious, but definitely take some planning. I’ve never had oxtails outside of a Jamaican bakery or restaurant, so homemade oxtails are an adventure. Lately, I hear more and more people in the states asking for oxtails, good to see people broadening their horizons!!

Here is the recipe from the book:

• 2lb oxtail
• 1/4 cup oil
• 5 cups water
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
• 1 spring thyme
• 3 slices hot pepper
• salt and black pepper
• 1/2 lb cooked broad beans

Wash and dry the pieces of oxtail and brown them in oil.  Add 4 cups of water, bring to a boil, then lower and simmer until the oxtail is tender, adding more water if necessary.  Reduce the sauce to a thick gravy by increasing the heat, then add the tomatoes, onions, garlic, thyme, hot pepper, salt and black pepper.  stir for a few minutes, then add the remaining water and broad beans.  Mix them in, lower the hear, cover again, and simmer for 10 minutes or until the water evaporates leaving a thick gravy.  Serve with rice.

OK here is what I did:

First of all, I decided to marinate my oxtails first. So I added the oxtails, onions, thyme, garlic, hot pepper, salt and pepper in a bowl and refrigerated it over night. I also added some browning to make sure that I got some color on my oxtails.

Next day, I went ahead and fried the oxtails. Got them nice and brown, I fried a few pieces at a time and  removed them from the pot.

Once my batch was browned, I added everything back and covered the meat with water.

Now this part takes a while, Oxtails are a pretty tough cut of meat. So I let them simmer for about 2 hours, to get the meat really tender. To the point that it was falling of the bone. Then I added all of the other ingredients. Broad beans are just another word for butter beans.  I got nervous about the flavor and also added a little more salt and pepper.

I let all of that go for about another hour and served it up with a fresh batch of rice and peas.

The oxtails were delicious.  If they cook for as long as I said then they come out nice and tender. Meat was falling off the bone! YUM!  Mom said she wanted it spicier tho! LOL.. always can be spicier!

Recipe #6: Traditional Homemade Jerked Seasoning on Pork Chops

YUMMY!! As promised, I said I was going to make a homemade jerk recipe.  I read a jerked pork chop recipe in the book, but I wasn’t sure because the ingredients in the book didn’t sound like the type of jerk seasonings that I know. This book actually doesn’t even have a recipe for jerk chicken, which is the jerk that most of us are used to.  The only recipe that it has is for those jerked pork chops.  Luckily, I took pork chops out of the freezer last night and they were ready to be cooked.

According to my parents, during the time that this book was published, 1985, jerk was mostly done on pork.  Jerk chicken didn’t become known as the popular jerk that we are used to until later when cooks would roll around on the North Coast attracting tourists to their fragrant drums, where they grilled Jerk chicken.

Jerk chicken became the popular jerked food, when actually, traditionally, jerk pork was the original jerk!  The recipe from the book is the traditional jerk.

Here is the recipe from the book:

• 4lbs pork chops or any other cut
• 2 oz pimento berries (all spice)
• 6 stalks escallion, chopped
• 2-3 hot pepper, chopped
• 4 cinnamon leaves, or bay leaves, chopped
• salt
• pepper

Wash and dry the pork. Heat the pimento berries in a small frying pan, stirring them for 5 minutes, then put them in a mortar and pound them until they are powdery.  Add the escallion, hot pepper, cinnamon or bay leaves, salt and pepper.  Pound these together until you have a thick paste.  Rub the paste all over the pork and leave it for at least an hour over night in the refrigerator.

When you are ready to cook, placed the seasoned meat on the grill of a barbecue or coal pot.  Life the grill to the highest notch on the barbecue and gently cook the meat over charcoal made from burning green pimento wood. Or you can throw pimento berries on the charcoal… Pork should be ready in an hour.

Here is what I did:

I followed the recipe for the jerk paste almost exactly. The fragrance from the roasting pimento (all spice) berries was amazing.

Now I don’t have a mortar (something I need to invest it), my mother had the nerve to hand me a toy one… smh. So  instead I used a wooden block and crushed up the pimento. The crushing the pimento part took a while.   I added all of the other ingredients, I used a bay leaf, and ended up with a great smelling paste.  *Probably was a little chunkier than it needed to be, but smashing those pimento berries was no joke.*

I went ahead and rubbed the pork chops with the paste, coating both sides.

Since it is also winter, I didn’t pull out the grill.  I just baked my pork chops.  I baked them for 45 minutes… my father likes his meat well done. Then I broiled it for 5 mins, just to get a nice color.

Sooo.. how did my traditional jerk seasoning turn out.?…Amazing! My mom loved it, the flavor was so good. So different than the stuff from the jar.  I can’t wait until summer time, I am going to pull out the grill and put that paste on everything!

Change? Time should be spent really grinding down those pimento berries, otherwise the pieces may be to big.  But they sell ground allspice pimento berries as well, so maybe I will try that.  Also, next time I will definitely marinate it over night and add another hot pepper, you know I love it spicy!!