Week 39: Grenada

I feel like it’s been forever since we soaked up some Caribbean rays, so I was pretty excited to see where we were headed this week. Little did I know, if you head about 150 km north from Venezuela (where we went last week) the next country you’ll encounter is… Grenada! What are the odds of getting next-door neighbours 2 weeks in a row!

…Well, actually it’s about 3%. I couldn’t help myself… Venezuela has 5 neighbours and there are 158 countries left in my jar, so maybe it’s not that astounding after all now that I sit back and think about it.

I didn’t know much about the place in all honesty, and still don’t. Columbus spotted it as he sailed by and decreed it property of the King of Spain, but it doesn’t sound like he (or any Spaniards) ever landed or settled there, so that’s a little flimsy if you ask me. The French invaded and then ceded it a century later to British, who ruled for a good 200 years. It was part of the short-lived Federation of the West Indies for a period, but has been independent since 1974.

As a string of tropical volcanic island, it’s a mountainous, verdant little place with plenty of stunning landscapes to offer. The foodie side of me pricked up his little ears when he heard the demonym “the spice island” and started to think this was going to be a fun one! Then I found out that nutmeg is literally the national export, depicted on the flag and responsible for a good chunk of the country’s economy. Must cook something with nutmeg in it. Noted.

Now I was getting excited. Keywords for me in terms of thinking about the food became: Tropical, Caribbean, spices, nutmeg. Think of these as the four boxes I wanted to tick. A quick bit of Googling taught me that the national dish is called “oil down” which made me pull a face if I’m being honest. I kept looking for some other alternatives and found a nutmeggy chicken stew/curry which sounded nice, but just so pedestrian. Just because it’s got nutmeg doesn’t make it Grenadian enough, so I circled back to where I started and rolled my sleeves up to get stuck into a good ol’ fashioned Oil Down… whatever the hell that may mean. Turns out it’s a stewy sort of concoction based on coconut, breadfruit, salted meat / fish and a couple of vegetables. Interesting, but not exactly mouth-watering upon first inspection. Happy to be proven wrong of course (and I was, because we LOVED it), but because it just didn’t satisfy my need to feel all spicy and tropical we went for a dessert as well – just a simple one but a good one nonetheless. Sorted.

Oil Down

First little caveat: breadfruit is a bitch to find. You can try your Asian or Polynesian grocer but that might get you nowhere. You can substitute with Jackfruit (which by the way is an AWESOME meat substitute because you can end up with the texture of pulled pork or pulled beef) or potatoes if you want to give the dish a go but need to work with what you’ve got. When you first start eating this you think “it’s OK, but a bit weird”, but then as you go you get into it and you wish you had more on your plate. Great little find!

• 500g salted pig’s tail (good luck) OR salted cod (bacalao, bacalhau) OR 200g jerky if you’re desperate
• 1 large breadfruit, or 2 tins young green jackfruit, or 2 large potatoes – peeled and largely diced either way
• 200g spinach or taro leaves
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 3 small carrots, sliced
• 1 green capsicum, diced
• 3 small onion, diced
• 2 gloves garlic, crushed
• 2 habanero (or milder) chillies, diced
• 3 Tbsp chives, chopped
• leaves from 2 sprigs thyme
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced or grated
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 2 Tbsp parsley leaves, chopped
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• salt and pepper
• 1 Tbsp oil for frying

1. Soak your choice of salted meat/fish/jerky in cold water for 24 hours in the fridge, changing water as often as possible to de-salt (and/or re-hydrate it somewhat)
2. In a heavy, preferably cast iron pot, heat the oil up and soften the onions over a low heat until translucent.
3. Throw in the chillies, garlic, chives, ginger, thyme and parsley, and cook for a minute until fragrant.
4. Add the breadfruit/jackfruit/potato, carrots, capsicum, celery and spinach/taro leaves, mix well and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat until slightly softening at the edges.
5. Add the coconut milk, cream, nutmeg and turmeric to form your sauce.
6. Carefully immerse the salted meat/fish/jerky in the sauce, season well. Cook for 25 minutes over medium heat, 25 minutes over low, or until the sauce has reduced riiiiiiiight down and there’s literally a thin coating of oily sauce on the outside of the meat and vegetables.
7. Serve with potato salad, salad, rice or just on its own! We did a Caribbean-esque potato salad with peas, cayenne pepper and lemon juice throughout.

Sweet potato pudding

I sort of thought this was going to be a cake, but it was soft and moist like a pudding. Funny that, considering it’s called “pudding”. It sort tasted like uncooked carrot cake, which was a bit weird, but I liked it, especially with all the trimmings we threw on the plate to accompany it.

• 5 cups grated, raw sweet potato (we used orange) – substitute up to 1 cup grated taro in there if you like (I did)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups milk or coconut milk
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp allspice

1. Preheat oven to 190^oC
2. Combine all ingredients well (I used the batter paddle on a stand mixer) and pour into a greased springform tin.
3. Bake for 60-90 minutes, opening the oven every now and again to stir the mixture and get the crusty bit that forms on the outside to incorporate through the mixture.
4. Can be hot or cold, served as is or with cream / ice cream (or with cinnamon fried fruit if you like – which a dessert in its own right but whatever).

Cinnamon Fried Bananas (and/or pineapples)

• 2 bananas, halved lengthwise and/or some pineapple chunks
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar (or to taste)
• Big pinch cinnamon
• Big pinch nutmeg
• Small pinch allspice (optional)
• 1-2 Tbsp white rum
• 1 Tbsp butter

1. Melt the butter in a fry-pan over high heat. Toss the sugar in, combine it and it will start to dissolve. Before it’s fully dissolved and starts turning foamy, lay the bananas (cut side down) in the pan and sprinkle the spices over the top.
2. After 2-3 minutes, when the bananas are nicely brown and caramelised on the bottom, flip them over and tip the rum in the pan.
3. Working quickly (otherwise all the alcohol will evaporate in no time), spoon the cooking liquid up over the top a couple of times to let it drip back down into the pan.
4. CAREFULLY tilt the pan to the side so the liquid pools close to the rim. Set it alight with a match, lighter, or your gas cooker and let it burn the alcohol off the rum. It will flare up quite high in quite a spectacular fashion (my flames were an amazing blue) but you should still be safe to hold the handle and give it a jiggle to coat the bananas while it’s flaming.
5. Once the flames die out, remove from the heat so you don’t turn the bananas into soggy mush or make a crunchy toffee out of the sugar.
6. Serve the fruit, and pour the cooking liquid over the top. Goes excellently with a little sneaky nip of iced white rum on the side FYI ;)