First, thanks to all of our guests at Caribbean Cooks here in St. Kitts. We've enjoyed all your comments, your suggestions and most of all your presence that makes every class different.
When my sister, Lorraine, and I first decided to start the cooking school we had no idea we'd be trying to tackle a monkey who was stealing guavas, walk down the street holding a shark, or find out you shouldn't cook guava jelly in the same pot you just made hot pepper sauce in. That batch of jelly was a bit on the fiery side! So now we have hot pepper guava jelly -- great with a little cream cheese on toasted baguette rounds!
We plan to use this forum to tell you what we're up to and hopefully entertain you a bit.
Yesterday was our big Saturday market day. Between the clatter of meat cleavers and the shouting of two vendors who apparently got in each other's way, it was a bit noisy for 7:30 a.m. (No limbs were lost in the fight.) Yesterday, I talked with the little elderly lady who has been politely selling me cassava meal (similar to yucca) the last two weeks. Her friend thinks it's hilarious for a foreigner to try cassava cakes, but my vendor lady keeps poking her to keep quiet.
Well, the cassava cakes were an odd but tasty success. A little water and salt is all that was added. After a 30 minute wait, they were cooked on a grill until lightly browned. Now, the vendor said to wait a day before trying them so they dry out some. But of course, I couldn't wait. So the next step was to soak them briefly in coconut milk and fry them, she told me. Wow! The coconut milk turns into oil so they fry up nicely and the coconut milk gives them a bit of flavor to go along with the slight spiciness of cassava meal. I'm not sure if I got it quite right, so I have to test it out on a local friend, but it was rather good and very tasty. I think they'd be great with stewed saltfish, our national dish.
