Trinidad Currants Roll

A flaky pastry dough, ram filled with currants. The perfect afternoon snack.

I am so happy to finally be able to share this all-time favorite with you. Finally. This currants roll recipe has been a labor of love, or more so patience.

This is a flaky pastry crust that is ram packed with currants.

A roll of messy goodness!!

So let's discuss this flaky pastry making.

Oh before I even get to that. My aunt who owns a bakery, makes big batches of this to sell. So when I decided to make this I reached out to her to get her take on it. She gave me some measurements but they were imperial measurements. So there I was trying to convert and re-measure and running back to my computer to research. After all that frustration, I decided I had to have something close by in my kitchen, and I made a pretty conversion chart to print and save.

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Now back to the goodies. Making flaky pastry calls for patience, something I don't really have much of. Baking is usually on the lower end of the ladder for me because of the waiting period. I get fidgety lol. So wanting this to be flaky meant I had to put in some work and then fridge it for a bit.

But it's worth it for that messy, falling everywhere crust.

And then those currants. You can also easily use raisins instead.

This dough can also be used to make cheese rolls and coconut rolls. Yummy

But, you Mr. Currants roll would always be my favorite.

Yield: 4 logs Author: Renz @ HomeMadeZagatPin it

Trinidad Currants Roll

A flaky pastry crust, filled with an abundance of currants. A popular snack in Trinidad and Tobago. This can also be filled with cheese or coconut filling

Ingredients:

For Flaky Pastry Dough

4 cups flour
3/4 cup margarine, cold and cut into cubes
3/4 cup shortening, cold and cut into cubes
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 cup ice cold water (approximately)

For Currants Filling

2 cup currants
2 eggs (beaten)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons softened margarine

Instructions

For Currants Filling

Combine sugar with currants and cinnamon

For Flaky Pastry

Blend together your shortening and margarine. Divide into four parts
Heat oven to 400 degrees
Add flour, brown sugar and one part of fat from step one and combine. Cutting into until mixture resembles breadcrumbs
Add cold water (a little at a time) until mixture holds together.
Roll out on a lightly floured board into a rectangular shape
Add another part of fat (step 1) to top 2/3 of the rolled out pastry.
Fold the top part of pastry 2/3 rds down.
Fold the bottom part of pastry over top
Seal edges with the rolling pin
Turn pastry so that the fold is now lengthwise
Roll out again to a rectangular shape and repeat steps 5 through 7
Do this another time (Total roll and fold with fat would be three times)
Roll out for the fourth time (do not use any fat), fold as above
Put pastry on a floured sheet and cover and leave refrigerated for 30 to 45 minutes.
Roll pastry out into a large oblong like shape
Brush the inside with softened margarine
Evenly distribute currants mixture over pastry
Roll up pastry lengthways
Place roll on a baking sheet with roll end at the bottom
Place some diagonal marks on top of rolled batter (or use a fork to punch some holes)
Place in oven and bake for approximately 20 minutes
Remove from oven and brush roll with egg wash
Return and bake for another 8 minutes or until golden
Cool and slice diagonally

https://www.homemadezagat.com/2018/03/how-to-make-trinidad-currants-roll.html

Created using The Recipes Generator

Catch some more snacks:

Coconut Bread Pudding

Pholourie Recipe

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Shrimp with a Spicy Curry Cream Sauce

This is an easy weeknight dinner dish with succulent shrimp served with a creamy, spicy sauce.

We are in February! Even though January took forever. And it's Black History Month (BHM) round these parts. And we are celebrating

You're getting a seafood lover's total delight today to start the month. This is an easy weeknight dinner dish with succulent shrimp and a spicy sauce with a mix of masala, turmeric, scotch bonnet and creamy coconut milk.

This is my contribution to this Black History Month and a virtual potluck with a couple of other amazing black food bloggers. .

We don't celebrate BHM really in the Caribbean. In TnT we have holidays to mostly celebrate religious groups/days, our varying ethnicities and well Carnival.

So I am quite honored to be a part of this gathering and sharing my recipe

I love that you can take shrimp and make it all kind of different ways. It can be made sweet or savory and not lose its appeal. But one thing I like is my shrimp a little spicy. My jerk shrimp has a kick; curry shrimp need a little pepper on the side. I even add some shrimp to my soups. We eat a looot of shrimp around here!

And I must say that this shrimp is also great the next day. Pour all the sauce over it and mix it up. Oh ma gosh!! Just delicious!

This recipe can also be made with prawns, which are somehow hard to find in South Florida at this time. But I was quite happy to get some pretty huge shrimp.

So go ahead and grab your serving of shrimp, then head over and grab some more food from the table with the links listed below from the other food bloggers.

Yield: Serves 4 - 6Author: Renz @ HomeMadeZagatPin it

Prawns in Spicy Curry Cream Sauce

This is an easy weeknight dinner dish with succulent shrimp served with a creamy, spicy sauce with a mix of masala, turmeric, scotch bonnet and creamy coconut milk.

ingredients:

2 pounds jumbo shrimp
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
3 scotch bonnet peppers, chopped
1/2 teaspoon marsala
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup coconut milk (make your own)
2 ripe mangoes, peeled, pitted and sliced thin (optional)
1/4 teaspoon saffron

instructions

Heat oil
Add shallots, pepper, marsala, turmeric, saffron
Saute for 2 mins
Add wine, lemon juice, and shrimp
Simmer until cooked through (about 4 mins)
Remove shrimp with slotted spoon
Lower sauce to simmer until reduced to half
Add milk and simmer until thickened. DO NOT LET MILK BURN
Serve shrimp with mangoes over rice and a serving of spicy sauce.

https://www.homemadezagat.com/2018/02/shrimp-with-spicy-curry-cream-sauce.html

Created using The Recipes Generator

Black History Month Virtual PotLuck

Desserts:

PIN ME FOR LATER

Chicken and Shrimp Chow Mein - Guyanese Style

A Caribbean twist on a traditional Asian dish of noodles, ram packed with chicken and shrimp and a host of vegetables. A delicious one-pot dish that is great for any weeknight dinner.

Recipe to make chow mein with chicken and shrimp

There are some dishes that are just stand out dishes even if they are simple ones. And I think chow mein is one of those dishes. Simple and delicious.

This versatile dish can be made with vegetables only, with chicken, with seafood or with them all. A one pot of goodness that is bursting with flavor.

There is something about Asian food from the Caribbean that is different from the "Chinese" we eat here in the United States. Most people won't think of Chinese food and Caribbean, but they sure have had some influence on our food when they came in, creating a unique twist to what was their traditional meal.

The stand out dishes for me, that I always have to get are chow mein, pow, and roast chicken. My staples with chow mein being the number one.

If you remember a few months back I shared on my Instagram stories that I had found cassareep. While hunting for some dasheen bush to make some callaloo, I found this little Guyanese supermarket that not only had the bush but also had a lot of Caribbean sauces and snacks. Casareep was there and I decided to grab a bottle.

A chow mein recipe with noodles and vegetables

Cassareep is a sauce made from grind cassava and some other spices. It is commonly used to make Guyanese Pepper pot. I would compare it to soy sauce but with a lot more flavor. Cassareep is made from cassava root. It's a thick black liquid which has added spices for more flavor. When I saw it on the shelf I knew I wanted to get a bottle and make something. I then spotted some chow mein noodles like the one I grew up eating and then knew exactly what I was going to mimic.

Occasionally I grab food from a Guyanese restaurant here in Florida that makes great Caribbean Chinese food. Tropics Restaurant and lounge is the business!! It's dark, and little scary but the food is delicious. Did I mention that they are 45 minutes drive away? Am I greedy for wanting to drive 45 minutes to get some chow mein?

So making a chow mein at home was a no-brainer. I opted to make a delicious chicken and shrimp mix.

Chow mein recipe with chicken and shrimp

How do you like your chow mein?

I love mine with the noodles nice and al dente and the vegetables with a little crunch. If there is cabbage, I also want that crunchy. I hate sappy vegetables and sappy noodles. I also like to get the fat noodles.

I also weirdly, don't like green peas in my chow mein. I'm getting picky right? haha. I would usually pick those out when I'm eating if they are there. So what's the great advantage of me not having to buy it? I'm quite able to put whatever I want in my meal.

So bring on the bell peppers (or sweet peppers if you're from the islands), carrots, celery, and cabbage. Mushrooms are also a great addition or spring peas. Have frozen vegetable packs on hand? Those are perfect too.

And don't eat this standing up like I do. I serve dinner in the kitchen and somehow think I need to start tasting it before it gets to the table. Then I end up tasting a little more and a little more.

The flavors are just so delicious. The hint of ginger adds a nice kick.

Tropics sorry, I now no longer need to drive 45 minutes to get your chow mein. You may still see me though, for those wontons.

Yield: Serves 4Author: Renz @ HomeMadeZagatPin it

Chicken and Shrimp Chow Mein - Guyanese Style

A chow mein recipe, with Caribbean influence, ram packed with chicken, shrimp and vegetables using Guyanese cassareep for added flavor.

ingredients:

1 lb boneless chicken thighs (cut into 1-inch chunks)
1/2 pound large shrimp
3 tablespoons green seasoning plus 2 tablespoons green seasoning
1 small onion thinly sliced
1 inch fresh peeled grated ginger
4 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 tbsp. dried thyme
1 tbsp. cassareep (Soy sauce can be used)
1 tsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 cup broccoli
1 cup carrots (julienne)
1 cup celery
2 scallions (chopped)
1 1/2 cups cabbage
3 tablespoons oil
1 1/2 cup sweet pepper (julienne) (different colors)
8 oz chow mein noodles

instructions

Season chicken with green seasoning, cassareep, black pepper, salt and set aside.
Season shrimp with green seasoning and set aside.
Add oil to wok or deep dish.
Add chicken and cook for about 15 minutes until cooked through. Remove from pot
Boil noodles according to package instructions
Add shrimp to pot and cook for no longer than 7 minutes (till shrimp is pink). Remove shrimp
Add more oil to pot
Saute onions and garlic
Add chicken to pot
Add carrots, bell peppers, scallions, celery, broccoli, ginger and cook veggies until tender (about 5 - 7 minutes) (add more cassareep/soy sauce if needed)
Add cabbage
Add shrimp
Add noodles (I add in batches) and mix everything together.

https://www.homemadezagat.com/2018/01/guyanese-lo-mein-recipe.html

Created using The Recipes Generator

Indulge in some more dinner options:

Dhal and Rice

Escovitch Fish

Saltfish Rundown

Tobago Crab and Callaloo

A flavorful dish using dasheen bush simmered in a creamy and flavorful coconut sauce with crab.

Welcome, 2018!!

A few days in but better late than ever. After a hectic holiday season with family, I am finally getting back into the groove of getting a recipe up. I am sharing with you an island favorite; a Sunday lunch staple. A delicious crab and callaloo.

This popular side dish is usually a must-have for Sunday dinner. It accompanies the stew chicken, the stew peas, macaroni pie and sometimes coo coo.

And as my aunt says "callaloo must have crab in it" and I was lucky enough to score some at the Caribbean market one day. Finding the dasheen bush was not so easy though. I had to call around to a few farmer's markets before finding a little Guyanese store with some bundles.

A substitute for dasheen bush (taro leaves) is spinach which is much easier to find. But trust me, if you can find dasheen bush at any time, grab them. It's also easy to chop and freeze and used to make the callaloo later. In fact, making callaloo packs is a great idea. Throw all ingredients, chopped, into a ziplock back (not the liquid items) and freeze until ready to cook.

This is one of those simmer down dishes. It's also weirdly, a dish that, even though the ingredients are simple and basic, tastes can vary from maker to maker.

My first experience with callaloo as a little child was not a good one, to be honest. I can remember it well. Haha. That meal that day, this was an over peppered, no flavor, mushy and a slimy blend of dasheen bush and ochro. I was convinced then that I would never eat that thing ever again. My mom would make it and I would avoid it like the plague

Then slowly I started taking a little taste here and there, from different people. The smell of simmering callaloo is to die for. So you just really want to take a taste of anything that smells great. So little by little I ventured back into the callaloo game, and it's such a staple for Sunday lunch that I really could not avoid it for too long.

So with my family's help, I've been back in the callaloo game. With a great consistency, just enough pepper, just enough ochro, just enough sweetness to enjoy some callaloo. We commonly eat this as a side, but having it in a cup as a soup is also another great option. In fact, if you make it and want it to be a soup, all you have to do is blend it to a thinner consistency.

And though you can omit crab from the recipe, it is a great addition to this dish. The seafood taste addition takes it's over the top. Blue crab is what is commonly used in Tobago, but any crab can be used.

So go ahead and amp up your Sunday lunch with a side of callaloo. Then use leftovers for Monday soup!!

Yield: Serves 4Author: Renz @ HomeMadeZagatPin it

Tobago Crab and Callaloo

An easy recipe for homemade crab and callaloo. This flavorful dish uses dasheen bush as the main ingredient and is simmered in a creamy and flavorful coconut sauce. Crab is a great addition to this popular Trinidad and Tobago side dish which is sometimes eaten as a soup.

prep time: 10 MINScook time: 40 MINStotal time: 50 mins