/caribbean soup (Page 4)
Meat & Poultry

An Alluring Caribbean Chicken Soup.

trinidad chicken soup (10)

The first batch of this soup I made about a month ago and it was just enough for me as I never thought anyone else in the house would care for it. When everyone else in our house think “Chicken Soup” they think about this recipe “A Hearty Chicken Soup For The Soul.” So when Tehya (middle daughter) asked to try it, I was quite pleased and a bit vex that I didn’t have more to share with her. The one thing she did say though… “dad, why is the chicken so white?”. Yup, Caribbean people hate seeing broiled or colorless meat and I guess I passed that on the her at some level.

So when she came and asked me to make another batch of this chicken soup, I was only too excited to abide.  Hey, not only is my girl liking my food, but  I was secretly craving a huge bowl as well.

You’ll Need…

3 lbs chicken (cut into portions)
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 potatoes
3 green bananas (cooking banana)
1 lb sweet potato
2 cups cubed pumpkin
1 onion diced
3 cloves garlic sliced/crushed
1 hot pepper (scotch bonnet or habanero)
1 tablespoon salt * Check at the end to add more if necessary
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
3-5 sprigs fresh thyme
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 carrot
1 tablespoon tomato paste (or 1 teaspoon Caribbean style browning)
1 lb cassava
1 scallion
2 packages of Grace Cock Soup

* If you can’t get Grace cock Soup, a great substitution would be the Maggi pack soup or any chicken noodle soup that’s a bit spicy. For a richer body and taste to this soup, you can also add some Goldenray butter the last 5 minutes of cooking. Remember that butter is heavy on salt, so adjust accordingly.

* Add whatever ground provision you may have or like in your soup. * You’ll need a large pot. BTW, this can easily feed about 6 adults.

I like using dark meat for this soup as it’s cooked  for a long time and I find the flavor is a bit more pronounced than if I use chicken breast. However you can use white meat if you so desire. Cut into serving size pieces and wash with lemon juice (I didn’t mention this in the ingredient list) and water, then drain. Now add the oil to a large pot and heat over medium heat. Start adding the pieces of chicken to the pot. Yes, I know my Trinbagonian people are probably saying “you eh season the meat man”. We’ll get to that a bit later. Brown as best as you can for a few minutes, turning each piece periodically.

trinidad chicken soup

After a few mninutes of browning (trust me it will never really get brown), add the black pepper, scallion, onion, garlic, thyme and parsley to the pot. Give that a good stir.

trinidad chicken soup (4)

Allow that to cook on low/medium heat a bit. So we can have time to peel and cube the other ingredients (potato, carrot, sweet potato and green banana, pumpkin and cassava) . Give those things a rinse under cool water and drain. Now add it all to the pot and stir.

trinidad chicken soup (2)

trinidad chicken soup (3)

trinidad chicken soup (5)

trinidad chicken soup (9)

Also add the tomato paste and/or the Caribbean browning. Cover with water and bring to a boil on high heat.  As it comes to a boil, add the cock soup, salt and the hot pepper. Leave the pepper whole and at the end you can either burst it to release the heat or you can fish it out to have things a bit milder. Now reduce to a simmer and allow to cook for about 30-40 minutes. Basically until the potatoes etc starts melting away and form a nice rich and thick broth. You can cook with the lid off or slightly ajar.

trinidad chicken soup (6)

trinidad chicken soup (7)

trinidad chicken soup (8)

trinidad chicken soup (11)

trinidad chicken soup (12)

If you’re lucky enough to have some Goldenray butter, add the last 5 minutes or so of cooking and give it a minute or 2 before you check to see if there’s enough salt. As the Goldenray is a bit salty as well. If you’re using a basic chicken noodle soup mix to add instead of the cock soup, try to get one that’s low in sodium. so the overall dish is not salty.

You can be creative with this by adding other ingredients you like in soup, like.. dumplings, macaroni, beans or peas and other ground provisions. Some pieces of corn on the cob would probably work well in this soup as well.

Don’t forget to join us on Facebook as we chat about this and other recipes. You can also look up the cooking channel on youtube and if you’re on Twitter, you can always add me to know when new recipes etc are posted.

Seafood

Using Salted Cod As A Base For A Delectable Caribbean Soup.

trini food soup recipe (11)

Soup is a common Saturday meal throughout the islands that make up the Caribbean and it’s one of those one pot meals that truly brings family and friends together. When we first immigrated to Canada there were but a sprinkle of people with Caribbean heritage in Hamilton. My little group of friends included a fella from Jamaica, one from Dominica and how could I forget my good friend Carlos who was from Barbados. We did just about everything together, especially since when you’re new to a country you tend to latch on to anything which gives you the slightest security and comradeship of “home”. I love my Trinbagonian food and it’s something I could never repeat to my mom or grandmother, but this soup was the best I’ve ever had. Between Carlos, his sister and I, I think we ate the entire pot – no joke!  The last time I was in Barbados I searched in vain for a restaurant in Bridgetown hoping to find a spot where I could sample some home style soup… no luck.

This soup cannot compare to that soup which is forever stuck in my mind from all those years ago, but when my grandmother would make this we’d eat bowlfuls.

You’ll Need…

1/2 lb salted cod (any dry salted fish)
1 carrot diced
8 ochro (okra) diced
3 medium potatoes cubed
1 lb yam cubed
1 lb eddoes
3 sprigs thyme
4 green cooking bananas
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 hot pepper (scotch bonnet or habanero)
1 large onion diced
3 cloves garlic sliced
1 can coconut milk (about 1.25 cups)
salt to taste (see note below)
1 cup split peas (dry)
8 cups of water
1 tablespoon veg oil

* In the recipe I have 1 cup split peas and this is what’s traditionally used, but I opted for a dry peas mix. Which to be honest didn’t work as well as I planned.

* In the recipe you’ll notice that I also mentioned green bananas. However my pot wasn’t big enough and I didn’t have room to add it at the end. I’ll be using those for another recipe.

* To help quicken the cooking time of the split peas, feel free to soak them in cool water overnight, then drain when you’re ready to put into the soup.

Since I had to deal with the small pot issue, I couldn’t put the star of this soup – dumplings. If you need the recipe for making the flour dumplings, do let me know in the comment section below. They’re added the last 10 minutes of cooking.

trini food soup recipe

Start off by soaking the dry salted fish in water for a few minutes (normally when using salted fish like this we either soak overnight then boil or soak in boiling hot water for an hr or so, but there’s no need with this recipe) then rinse off and strip into smaller pieces.

trini food soup recipe (2)

In a large pot (be smarter than me) heat the oil on med to high heat and add the pieces of salted fish to the pot and cook for about 5 minutes (until it starts to brown and stick to the bottom of the pot) then add the garlic and onion. Cook that for a few minutes on medium heat as we don’t want to burn the garlic.

trini food soup recipe (3)

trini food soup recipe (5)

After the onion starts to go soft and translucent, add the peas (remember to wash it before adding) and sliced carrots and give it good stir. (in the pic below you’ll see the dry peas mix I used and regret. Should have stuck to the split peas instead – lesson learned.

trini food soup recipe (4)

trini food soup recipe (6)

Add the coconut milk, thyme, black pepper, hot pepper, ochro and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook covered until the split peas is fully cooked. Takes about 45-50 minutes. As it cooks it will start to thicken.

trini food soup recipe (7)

trini food soup recipe (8)

While this does it’s thing, peel and cube the ground provisions (yam, eddoes, green bananas and potato), please try to cut them all the same size so they cook uniformly when we add them to the pot. In a previous soup recipe I posted, several people said that they parboil the provision separately. Wash the pieces off under cool water, then place in a large bowl and cover with water to prevent them from going discolored while we wait for the peas to fully cook.

trini food soup recipe (9)

The peas mix I used, took about 1 hour to get soft, this is when I added the provisions to the pot. Bring to a boil again, then turn down the heat to a simmer (with pot covered) and cook for about 15 minutes (until the provisions is fully cooked). If you’re adding dumplings to the soup do so the last 10 minutes or so, of cooking. IMPORTANT! You’ll notice that I didn’t add salt. This is because the salted cod that I used is packed with tons of salt and after tasting at the end I noticed that I didn’t have to add any. I recommend that you taste the soup to see if there’s enough salt for your taste.

* If you’re worried about the hot pepper in the ingredients list, add it whole and fish it out when the soup is done cooking. For that extra kick, burst open the pepper near the end and it will blaze-up this dish.

trini food soup recipe (10)

trini food soup recipe (11)

Be prepared to fall asleep after eating a good bowl of this. I had a good nap then when back for 2nd’s!  Maybe I can get someone from Barbados to share their classic soup recipe with me, as through the years Carlos and I have drifted apart and I don’t have that connection any longer. Wait! Securing that soup could be a good reason to visit Barbados again, especially when it gets nasty-cold during the winter months 🙂

Please leave me your comments below and don’t forget to tell your friends about the website. One more thing… If you’re not already part of our facebook fan group, do so now by clicking the image below. It’s one of the largest groups on facebook dedicated to exploring the culinary culture of the Caribbean islands.

caribbean recipe on facebook