{"id":377,"date":"2017-01-14T07:53:20","date_gmt":"2017-01-14T12:53:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.culturallycaribbean.com\/?p=377"},"modified":"2017-01-14T08:00:57","modified_gmt":"2017-01-14T13:00:57","slug":"callaloo-in-the-mix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.culturallycaribbean.com\/?p=377","title":{"rendered":"Callaloo in the Mix"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Callaloo\"<\/a>I woke up on\u00a0New Year’s\u00a0Day\u00a0with callaloo on my mind.\u00a0A Sunday staple in many homes in T&T and across the Caribbean,\u00a0it is often cooked with crab and\u00a0shares space on the\u00a0plate with rice, stewed chicken, macaroni pie, plantains, and ground provisions. Somehow,\u00a0I managed to\u00a0reach age 37 without ever having tried my hand at it—despite the fact that\u00a0my grandmothers\u00a0used to prepare it regularly, my mouth waters whenever I\u00a0even think of my Aunty Sue’s\u00a0version, and one of my\u00a0friends\u00a0simultaneously gave me a\u00a0lesson and\u00a0a meal when she whipped up\u00a0a tasty pot on a visit years ago (thanks again for that, Anna!). None of these spurred me into action, however, and looking back I can acknowledge that I have made some\u00a0interesting\u00a0<\/span>excuses over the years for my lack of attempts:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“I can’t find\u00a0dasheen bush up here”; <\/span>“I don’t have\u00a0a heavy-duty wooden swizzle stick”; “Ochroes?!\u00a0What to do with those?”; and\u00a0“I don’t know\u00a0anything<\/em> about cleaning and cooking crab. No crab, no callaloo!”<\/span><\/p>\n

Actual excuses,\u00a0I kid you not, that would make anyone with even a passing knowledge of callaloo preparation let out a long and watery steups. Why?\u00a0Because spinach\u00a0is a widely\u00a0used substitute for\u00a0dasheen bush; a whisk or blender\u00a0can\u00a0stand in for\u00a0a swizzle stick;\u00a0there’s no magic to cutting up ochroes\/okras; and yes, you can still\u00a0cook a tasty callaloo without crab.<\/span><\/p>\n

So anyhow, on the first day of this brand-spanking-new year I cast aside the excuses and decided that it was high time to finally make one of my country’s main dishes. There was already an impossibly large container of baby spinach (which\u00a0was bought with the best of intentions a couple weeks prior) sitting\u00a0neglected in the fridge right next to two packs of similarly languishing ochroes. I did a Google search\u00a0on\u00a0how to make spinach-based callaloo and went with the\u00a0recipe\u00a0from CaribbeanPot.com<\/a>. Happily, I\u00a0saw that\u00a0not only did I have everything I needed (minus\u00a0the crab), but the process didn’t seem\u00a0that intimidating after all.\u00a0So many\u00a0signs pointing towards callaloo for\u00a0New Year’s Day lunch couldn’t be ignored.<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ll spare you the\u00a0culinary details of the process, but will say that I resorted\u00a0to using the blender when I thought my arm was going to fall off from all the whisking. When it was finished, a curious Little L who prides herself on tasting everything at least once, came into the kitchen, took a look at my callaloo, and made a face.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Try it,” I encouraged, holding out a teaspoon.<\/span><\/p>\n

She dipped\u00a0it\u00a0in the pot, took a tentative taste, said ‘yummy’, and asked for a bowlful to tide her over until it was time for lunch.\u00a0Littler B, on the other hand, wouldn’t let\u00a0it pass his lips and\u00a0looked genuinely\u00a0offended\u00a0that I would consider offering him a spoonful of\u00a0thick green soup.\u00a0Oh well,\u00a0I guess it’s\u00a0a tall order to\u00a0win them\u00a0both over on the first try. Although, perhaps\u00a0adding crab to the next attempt\u00a0may generate\u00a0enough\u00a0interest for him to\u00a0reconsider and take a teensy taste. We’ll see.<\/span><\/p>\n

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