Bahamian twist
DINING & ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE - JULY 2004
Bahamian twist
Made with native ingredients
Conch (pronounced ?konk?) may be the quintessential Bahamian dish, but there?s much more to native cuisine than this large ocean mollusc.
The menu in any truly Bahamian restaurant will likely also feature fried chicken, pork chops, lobster, steak, snapper and grouper. These may not sound like ?native? dishes, but how many other places in the world serve such dishes with a side of plantain, peas n? rice and macaroni and cheese?
Desserts are equally unusual and include such tasty treats as guava duff and sapodilla pie, both made from exotic fruits grown right here in Nassau.
In the raw
Whether picked from the tallest tree or plucked from the depths of the sea, local ingredients can transform the blandest recipe to a sweet or savoury Bahamian treat.
Tamarind is one such ingredient. It is used to enhance dishes from salad dressings and sauces to soups, drinks and desserts.
?Tamarind is great,? says Chef Jeff Billone of Reggae Café. ?We use it a lot in steak sauce, barbecue sauce, salsa, jerk seasoning and for flavour in soups.?
Tamarind is distantly related to the carob plant, a member of the legume family that is grown around the world and widely used in cooking as a substitute for cocoa.
Although native to tropical Africa, tamarind grows throughout The Bahamas and is recognized by its long, brown, irregularly curved pods. When fully ripe the shells become brittle and are easily broken. The seeds are not edible, but the pulp, which has a sweet and sour flavour, is high in acid and sugar and is a favourite ingredient in jams, jellies, fruit drinks and for preparing barbecue sauce and Worcestershire sauce.
?Tamarind can be used as a dressing for cheesecake,? notes Alex Peterson, sous chef at Compass Point, adding that it is also commonly used to flavour the sauce served with rack of lamb.
Pick a dilly
As tamarind has a distinctive taste, so too does sapodilla.
Jasmine Young, executive sous chef and culinary trainer for Atlantis, explained in an interview for Welcome Bahamas that sapodilla, commonly known as ?dilly,? is used to create dessert dishes.
?Dilly tastes like custard, it tastes like a dessert by itself so it?s easy to use,? she said.
Sapodilla is grown all over The Bahamas and is recognized by its round shape, roughly two to four inches in diameter. When ripe the skin turns brown and fuzzy, but appearances can be deceiving; the fruit can range in taste from a pear-like flavour to crunchy brown sugar. Dilly is highly versatile as an ingredient for desserts.
Another well-known Bahamian fruit used to create delicious desserts is the soursop, which has a pleasantly mild, sweet taste and a creamy, smooth pulp.
Soursop is an odd-looking elongated fruit. It can grow up to 12 inches long and six inches wide. The fruit bears a thin, leathery green skin covered with small knobbly spines.
?Soursop is great to use when making ice cream,? says Billone, who adds that it is also used when making jellies, jams, smoothies and drinks.
Love that duff
Another fruit that is widely used in Bahamian cuisine is guava.
Characterized by its pale green skin and pink flesh, guava is pleasantly sweet and contains hundreds of edible seeds.
Guava is the chief ingredient in guava duff the dessert of choice for many Bahamians and visitors. Almost every native restaurant in The Bahamas serves guava duff, but the desserts may not all be exactly alike.
?A lot of restaurants have their own ways of making guava duff,? explains Wayne Farrington, head chef at Café Johnny Canoe. ?Some will result in different tastes.?
At first glance, guava duff looks like a simple enough concoction, resembling a jelly roll drenched in a whitish rum sauce. Preparing guava duff, however, is anything but simple.
Depending on the recipe, guava duff can take two hours to prepare, usually when the recipe calls for the duff to be boiled.
The following recipe is courtesy of The Shoal restaurant on Nassau Street.
Guava duff
Dough
1?2 cup margarine
3?4 cup water
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1?2 cup sugar
Cream together the margarine and sugar. Mix in the flour and baking powder, then add the water and mix well. Knead dough and roll until flat.
Guava mix
2 cups of guava (chopped)
1?2 cup sugar
2 tbsp water
Blend chopped guava with the sugar and water and spread the mixture on the dough. Roll the dough and wrap it in a cloth. Tie the cloth at both ends and place in boiling water for two hours. Remove dough from cloth and cut into slices.
Sauce
1 lb butter
2 cans evaporated milk
1?2 cup sugar
1?2 cup chopped guava (blended)
2 tbsp rum
Blend all ingredients until smooth. Pour over sliced dough to serve.
All about conch
Highly versatile conch has long inspired some of the most traditional and delicious Bahamian recipes and is a staple of Bahamian cuisine.
?Bahamian people love conch,? says Farrington. ?It?s a part of the Bahamian diet.?
Conch can be found in the warm waters of the Atlantic from the coasts off southern Florida to as far south as Brazil. It is characterized by a shell of overlapping whorls with bright pink and peach tones and can reach a length of up to 13 inches. The conch lives in the shell and has a powerful claw-like foot which it uses to pull itself along the ocean floor. It is a plant eater and can live up to 25 years.
Conch meat has a clam-like flavour and is mildly sweet. It is firm and chewy and is tenderized or marinated, usually in lime juice, before it is eaten.
In The Bahamas, conch is prepared in a variety of ways. Some of the more common dishes include conch salad, conch chowder, grilled, stewed or blackened conch, crack? conch (tenderized, battered and deep fried) and the ever-popular conch fritter.
At Goldie?s Restaurant at Arawak Cay on West Bay Street, Melanie Munnings is responsible for preparing tasty ?Conchy Conch Fritters.?
?I?ve been doing it so long that I don?t need to measure anything,? says Munnings.
Her recipe includes flour, onions, sweet peppers, tomato paste, hot peppers, baking powder, thyme and conch, which she mixes together and leaves ?to settle? for five minutes. Then the mixture is spooned into hot oil and fried for five minutes. It is served with a dipping sauce.
The following recipe for conch fritters is courtesy of Anthony?s Caribbean Grill on Paradise Island.
Conch Fritters
2 lb conch, finely chopped
3 cups flour
4 oz chopped celery
4 oz chopped onions
4 oz chopped sweet bell pepper
1 tsp thyme
2 tsp tomato paste
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups water
Combine all ingredients to form a smooth batter. Refrigerate.
Roll spoon-sized amounts of batter into about 16 balls. Deep fry at 375ºF, rotating to cook all sides evenly, until golden brown. Serve with conch fritter sauce. See page 40 for recipe.
Heavy on the carbs
In The Bahamas, side orders are traditional and substantial. What some would consider a high carbohydrate meal, many Bahamians eat along with their main course.
Macaroni and cheese, coleslaw, potato salad, plantain and peas ?n rice are sometimes all served to accompany a homestyle meal of crack? conch or steamed snapper.
Farrington explains that the wide variety of sides has long been a Bahamian tradition.
?It?s been like this since back in the day,? he says. ?I?m sure our ancestors had macaroni and cheese, coleslaw, peas ?n rice? it?s important to keep up that tradition.?
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