TRINIDAD CORN SOUP

TRADITIONAL TRINIDAD CORN SOUP

PREP TIME: 15 MINSCOOK TIME: 50 MINSTOTAL TIME: 65 MINS

A traditional corn soup recipe for this popular Trini street food. Made with split peas, corn and dumplings this soup is commonly an after fete snack especially around carnival time

INGREDIENTS:

• 6 ears of fresh corn

• 2 cloves garlic, chopped

• 1/4 cup onion, chopped

• 1 celery stalk, chopped

• 1 large carrot, sliced into discs

• 1/2 cup diced green bell peppers

• 1/2 cup diced red bell peppers

• 2/3 cup yellow split peas

• 1 scotch bonnet pepper

• Pepper sauce (to taste)

• Salt & Pepper (to taste)

• 1 1/2 cups coconut milk

• 1 med tania (or sweet potato), diced

• 2 sprigs thyme

• 2 cups stock + 1 cup stock

• 3 cups water + 3 cups water

• 2 leaves shado beni, chopped

• 2 tablespoons oil

For Dumplings

• 1 cup flour

• 1/2 cup water

INSTRUCTIONS:

1 Cut 5 ears of corn into about 2-inch pieces and set aside.

2 Shave off corn kernels off of the remaining corn cob

3 Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan, over med-high heat.

4 Add onions, garlic, and celery to oil and saute till onions are opaque.

5 Add split peas and shaved corn and stir well

6 Add thyme to pot and saute another 2 minutes

7 Add 3 cups water, 2 cups stock, tania and shado beni to pot, and bring to boil.

8 Lower stove to a low boil until split peas is cooked (about 30 minutes) Note: add more water if split peas is not soft enough and more boil time is needed

9 Once split peas are softened, use back of a spoon to mash them up a bit.

10 Add coconut milk, scotch bonnet pepper, and 3 cups water and bring to a slow boil

11 Make dumplings at this point and break into balls or roll into logs

12 Add corn discs, dumplings, carrots and bell peppers to pot

13 Add salt and pepper and pepper sauce to taste

14 Boil until dumplings are cooked (about 15 minutes)

For Dumplings

1 Knead water and flour together

2 Shape into balls

CORNMEAL DUMPLINGS

This is a simple recipe for making cornmeal dumplings (boiled) as it is traditionally done in the Caribbean.

PREP TIME: 15 MINSCOOK TIME: 15 MINSTOTAL TIME: 30 MINS

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/2 cups flour

• 1/2 cup cornmeal

• 1 teaspoon brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon salt

• Salt for water to boil

• 4 cups water

• 1/3 cup water

INSTRUCTIONS:

1 To a deep pot, add 4 cups of water and set to boil

2 Season with a little salt

3 In a separate bowl add cornmeal, flour and sugar

4 Add water in increments to flour mixture and mix to a ball. Let sit for 5 minutes

5 Separate ball of flour into smaller balls

6 Flatten either by using your palm or using a rolling pin

7 Add dumplings to boiling water and give it a stir

8 Bring to boil for about 10 minutes (dumplings will float to top of water)

9 You can strain dumplings or leave them in water until ready to serve.