Metemjee--hearty Guyanese soup.....

Metemjee/Metem is a traditional Guyanese dish. However,everyone has adjusted it to suit their palate and taste. It is basically a thick soup with ground provisions in a coconut milk broth.

Originally, it has meat and as Vegetarians, naturally we made it to suit our taste. My Dad loved to cook Metem and it was always in demand especially when we went picnicking either at Hope Beach, our farm at Ruby or on one of our boat trips. It is a one pot dish and once everything is prepared, it can be placed into the pot and taken along when you are going on a picnic. Mom and Dad made all the preparations at home and all that had to be done was to get a fire going if it was on land or put it on the stove when it was on the boat.

We use only freshly grated coconut milk always as it is readily available in these parts, however, one can use the shredded coconut that you can find in the frozen section of any supermarket especially the Indian, West Indian and Spanish ones.



The ingredients are basically what we call ground provisions--root vegetables---cassava/yucca, eddoes/taro and green plantains. Dasheen which is also from the Taro family is sometimes used as also Potatoes, not sweet potatoes though as this can make the soup taste sweet. Vegetables like ochros, any kind of spinach,carrots and celery. Thyme, shallot and any other seasoning can also used--you can try anything that you like and see how it works.




Dumplings are also one of the special part of this dish and while it can be a bit tricky at first, after a while you will get the knack of it. The main thing to remember is to not over work the dough or else you will end up with heavy/fall down dumplings.



Ingredients:

1 coconut grated and mixed with 4 pints water.
1 medium onion chopped
1 lb cassava, peeled sliced into 4" lengths
1 lb eddoes, peeled and cubed into 1" pieces
2 lbs green plantains
2-3 young ochroes, top and tail removed
1 cup of chopped spinach
Salt to taste.
Any hot pepper of your choice( optional).

For Dumplings:

4 cups all purpose flour
4 level TT baking powder
1 1/2 cups water



Method:

1. Soak the grated coconut in the water and then extract the milk.
2. Pour the coconut milk in a pot and place it on high flame to come to a boil.
3. As soon as it starts to boil, add the salt, stir, then place all the vegetables, minus the ochroes and spinach; into the pot.
4.Add the onions,peppers and whatever other seasoning of your choice.
5. Cover the pot loosely or else it boil over. Turn down the heat to medium low and allow the veges to cook.
6. When the veges are almost done,add the ochroes and spinach.
7. It is now time to make the dumplings. Do not make them before hand or else they may become tough/fall down.
8. In a deep bowl, add the flour and baking powder. Mix together with a fork until incorporated fully.
9. Add the water a little at a time and stir. When it all starts to stick together,using your hands, break off lemon sized pieces and shape into hot dog shapes. Please do not overwork the dough or else it will give you tough dumplings.
10.Immediately place the dumplings into the pot and make sure that they are covered with the soup. Cover the pot at once.
11. Cook for 2-3 minutes-- test by sticking the dumplings with thin sharp knife.If it comes out clean, the dumpling is done.
12. Remove at once from the heat and allow to rest for a minute or so.

13. Serve hot with a splash of hot pepper sauce on top. Enjoy!!

Fry Ochros/Stir Fried Okras

Fry ochro is the term that Guyanese and Trinidadians use to call the dish- Stir Fried Okras. Have Googled to see the various stir fried okras recipes and apart from Guyanese's and Trinidadian's, every other recipe has a host of ingredients in their dish.

My recipe here, is the way that my ancestors have cooked ochroes. It is so simple and yet very delicious. With just a few ingredients, most of all it allows the taste of the ochros to shine. It is easy to cook too-- the only points to note are:
1. Make sure you wash and dry the ochros thoroughly before cutting them or else you will have a mess of very slimy vegetables.
2. You have to use a little more oil if you want nice crispy ochroes. You can put the ochroes in a colander/strainer and allow the excess oil to drain off after cooking. This oil however has a very tasty flavour that is especially delicious when eating with rotis.
3. When cooking, do not stir too often as you will end up with slimy mush.
4. Add salt towards the end of the cooking.

Fry ochro is delicious with rotis or with dal and rice.










Ingredients:

1 lb ochroes, washed, dried and chopped.
6--8 TT oil
1/2 cup onions chopped
6 pegs garlic


Method:

1. Heat oil in karahi/heavy bottom pan.
2. Add the onions and garlic and stir fry for 1 minute.
3. Add ochros and stir to coat with the oil.
4. Allow to cook until the underside is brown, then stir to allow the other sides to brown.
5. When both sides are brown, add the salt and carefully stir to incorperate.
6. Remove from heat when you see that it is nicely browned and crispy--not burnt mind you!
7. If necessary, drain off the excess oil by placing in a colander/strainer.
8. Serve hot. Enjoy!!

Karhi/ Kadhi.....

Karhi is one of the dishes that came with our Ancestors from U.P/Bihar. Its method of preparation is similar to the Kadhi from the other states but ours do not have dahi, we add green mangoes or tamarind to give it its sour taste.

Karhi/Kardi is a dish that many are hesitant to make. It has a bad reputation as being something
that is very difficult to make however it is not. This recipe takes the complication out of making karhi even though it is from scratch. Some people make their karhi with readymade ground split peas and the taste is very different from the one made from scratch. Mangoes are used here but you can also use dried tamarind. Add as much as you like as the main reason for their addition is to give the karhi a sour flavour. This is what makes karhi unique.

Karhi can be served with rice or rotis. It is also very important to sprinkle some hot pepper sauce on top before eating--this really adds to the flavour/taste.

Pholouri is another name for pakoras. www.wiwords.com/word/ calls it--"Savoury fritter made from seasoned split pea flour." It is the balls that we make for the karhi as you will see below:

Ingredients for the pholouri:

1 pint split peas dal
1 medium onion, chopped
5 flakes garlic
1 tt haldi powder
1 TT jeera powder
Oil for deep frying.


1. Wash and soak dal overnight or at least 12 hrs.
2. Drain off all the water and blend with the onion and garlic in a food processor. Do not add any water at all. Blend into a paste. The texture must feel smooth and not grainy.

3. Place the dal into a bowl.
4. Remove 1 1/2 cups and place into another deep bowl and keep aside.
5. To the larger quantity of dal, add the 1 tt haldi, 1 TT ground jeera and 1 1/2 tt salt. Mix with a fork until it is evenly incorporated. The mixture will be light and fluffy.
6. Heat oil in a karahi or frying pan. Oil must be medium hot so that the pholouri/balls of dal would not burn.
7. For those who cannot make pholouri--dip out a tablespoon of the dal mixture and use a teaspoon to make the ball smooth and then place the ball into the oil. Place as many as your pan can hold but do not over crowd. Do not turn until the balls start to turn light gold. Turn the balls now to make sure that they are evenly cooked. Remove with a slotted spoon. Put the balls on the place that has been lined with a paper towel. Wait until the oil is heated again and fry the rest of the mixture this same way. Keep aside when all is done.
















For the gravy:

1 TT oil
5 flakes garlic chopped
1 TT whole jeera
1 TT haldi/tumeric powder
3 TT jeera powder
2 tt salt or to taste
3-4 green mangoes, peeled and sliced, do not discard the seed/ tamarind
5 cups water

Method:

1. Take the bowl with the 1 1/2 cups of ground dal and add the 5 cups of water to it.
2. Also add the haldi and 1 TT of ground jeera.
3. Heat the 1 TT oil in a very deep pan/karahi.
4. Add the whole jeera when it starts to splutter add the chopped garlic and fry until lightly brown.
5. Add the liquid mixture to the karahi . Stir until it is thoroughly mixed.
6. Turn the heat to the highest. Keep and eye on this as it can easily boil over.
7. As soon as it starts boiling, add the pieces of mangoes--seed and all or the tamarind.

8. Turn down the heat to medium high and cook until the mangoes are 1/2 cooked.
9. Add the pholouri/balls now. Stir until all the pholouri are saturated.

10. Cook for 5 minutes more and then sprinkle the remaining 2 TT jeera on top.

11. Remove from heat and serve at once. Enjoy!

If you want to serve it later, remove the pholouri from the gravy or else it will soak up all of the gravy. When ready to serve again just put them back into the gravy and reheat again.