Taste of Guyanese Cuisine: Caribbean Cuisine, #1

Table of Contents

Taste of Guyanese Cuisine (Caribbean Cuisine, #1)

Appetizers

Snacks

Salads

Soups

Stews

Main Dishes

Seafood Dishes

Vegetarian Dishes

Side Dishes

Breads

Desserts

Beverages

Sauces

Taste of Guyanese Cuisine

To understand a country, start in the kitchen: Collection of over 200 Delicious Guyanese Recipes

by

Goce Nikolovski

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Copyright © 2017 by Goce Nikolovski

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher.

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ISBN  978-1-365-83818-7

Contents

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Introduction

Guyanese Cuisine

Traditional Food of Guyana

Guyanese Recipes

Appetizers

Snacks

Salads

Soups

Stews

Main Dishes

Seafood Dishes

Vegetarian Dishes

Side Dishes

Breads

Desserts

Beverages

Sauces

Table of basic foodstuffs in kJ/kcal

Glossary

Cooking Measurement Conversions

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Introduction

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Guyanese cuisine is an amazing combination of the flavors of the Caribbean and South America. The name Guyana is an Amerindian word meaning Land of Many Waters. It’s not only a country of many waters, but also of many various tastes.  Guyana’s cuisine is incredibly similar to Caribbean cooking and incorporates African, Creole, and also East Indian cooking traditions. A rich combination of meat and various spices are often usually offered in a variety of stews, fricassees, and curry dishes; hot dishes being a natural adoption of locals to the humid climate.

People in Guyana typically cook three full meals on a daily basis. Favorite recipes include Pepperpot, roti and curry, chow mein, meta gee (dumplings made from cornflour, eddews, yams, cassava and plantains cooked in coconut milk and grated coconut), and cook up, a one-pot meal that can include any favorite vegetables or meats. Their popular homemade drinks are mauby made from the bark of a tree (said to enhance potency), sorrel made from a leafy vegetable used in some salads, and also ginger beer.

This Guyanese Cookbook contains over 200 delicious Guyanese recipes, which will bring to your table some of the best and the tastiest dishes from the typical Guyanese cuisine. And the list of tempting foods could go on and on! You will enjoy preparing and tasting every one of the meals!

Enjoy and Bon appétite!!!

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Guyanese Cuisine

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Preparation Methods for Guyanese Cooking

Guyanese cuisine uses components that are borrowed from their neighbors and are developed through their own traditional dishes. While there aren't any specific or distinctive preparation methods for Guyanese cooking, we must point out that attention to details is very important in the Guyanese cuisine. Using the proper quantity of spices, for example, is crucial either for spicing up the taste or for coloring the dish. The variety of vegetables and grains found in Guyana is also detected in the delicious dishes that belong to their cuisine. The visual attractiveness of the dishes is also important, and a balance between colours and proportion is essential. Each traditional recipe has a special cooking directions, which is more or less general in all of Guyana’s regions. Meat is one of the main ingredients of most Guyanese dishes and also cured and smoked hams are often very important parts of delicious dishes.

Cuisines of Guyana

There are a lot of influences on Guyanese cuisine, as a result of the country’s location and historical background. The most important cooking styles have been adopted from the Caribbean, East Indian, African, and Chinese cuisines, but there are also a lot of European influences, as Guyana is basically a harmonious mix of many races. Most of these cuisines are prepared from seafood which includes of Guyana's traditional stew Pepper Pot, which contains cassava juice, meat, hot pepper and various seasonings. The Guyanese cuisine also includes a lot of curries and this characteristic belongs to the Indian cuisine and people, which have roti and various spices. In the Guyanese region of Demarara, there are a lot of sweet local delicacies, as this region is known for the sugar that it produces and also traditional rum. In the capital, Georgetown, the diversity of available foods is wide, as all Guyana’s influences from numerous countries can be found in this town.

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Traditional Food of Guyana

Guyana, formally British Guyana is located in the northern part of South America where it situated between Suriname, Venezuela, and Brazil.

It is a state with many diverse cultures including the descendants of the original Amerindians called the Warrou’s, Africans, East Indians, Chinese, Portuguese, and British, all of whom have left their mark on the culture and cuisine which is enjoyed by the people in Guyana nowadays. However, the Creole cuisine created by the African has been adopted and widely consumed by all the other ethnic groups living in Guyana.

Although Guyana is firmly located on the South American continent, its history and diet are very similar in many ways to the Caribbean islands. Ground provisions consisting of plantains, green bananas, yams, sweet potatoes cassava, pig tails, rice, peas, callaloo (spinach like a vegetable) roti, and curry dishes are all commonplace inside the whole region.

The food consumed in Guyana is mostly produced in this country. Rice was brought to there by the Indians and every one of their requirements are met by their own production. Meat and fish are an important part of their diet and it is cooked in various inventive and interesting ways, reflecting the multi-cultural nature of the country. Their recipes include the use of hot peppers, exotic herbs, and spices, used to give flavor, color, and character to their food.

One dish that's exclusive to Guyana and extremely popular with the locals is a dish called Pepper Pot. This is prepared with a combination of fresh and pickled meats combined with various peppers, herbs, spices, and cassareep (the caramelized bitter sweet root of the cassava plant) that is essential to the recipe. The ingredients are stewed together till the meat is tender, then served hot with rice. Soups and stews are also common place in Guyanese cuisine with meat and various vegetables as the main ingredients.

Rice and pigeon peas have its roots in Africa and really popular, mostly eaten as part of their Sunday dinner, mainly because it takes the time to prepare. The green or dried peas can be stewed and consumed as a side-dish or it can be mixed with rice, cooked in coconut milk and served with stewed meat and maybe a salad, to prepare a very tasty meal. Ground provisions such as plantains, either boiled or fried, breadfruit, sweet potatoes or any of the various other ground provisions can be served as side dishes.

Roti and curry is a dish brought to the Guyana by the East Indians and has become a firm favorite with the people of Guyana as a whole. In its simplest form, it is a flat unleavened bread cooked on an oiled griddle, similar to a pita bread or tortillas and served with curry. However, there is another variation, whereby the roti is prepare with a central pocket into which dhal puri, (split peas that are cooked and minced) is added to enhance the flavor.

Guyana is the biggest producer of sugar cane and rum is one of its many by-products. Needless to mention it is a very popular alcoholic drink, which can either be enjoyed as a standalone drink or mixed with a many of fruit extracts to make rum punch and many other delicious and refreshing drinks. Mubey is another very popular drink prepared from the bark of the Carob tree (Colubrine Reclinata). The bark is harvested, boiled, cooled with sugar added and drank throughout the Guyanese people and Caribbean by both men and women as an aphrodisiac and in recent times referred to as natural Viagra.

The final list of food indigenous to Guyana, along with those brought to Guyana by the various cultural groups is extensive. However, what is interesting is the way in which the food has been combined and merged to invent and create new and interesting dishes which enhance and complement each other effortlessly.

Guyanese Recipes

Guyana foods are an exotic fusion of ingredients from the four sides of the world and from Guyana itself.

These are handed over through generations of Guyanese ancestors; African, American, European, Chinese and Indian.

Over the years the dishes have been adapted to suit native and local conditions. Time brought natural changes in taste and preparation methods of cooking which has become distinct and unique Guyanese.

Nowadays there is a multitude of recipes for fish, meats, etc. What is pronounced is the effectiveness of the imagination of a nation of different cultures, to provide a unique variation of some product to ensure that an individual has many opportunities to enjoy the imagination of a nation.

E.g. here you will find an example of the Cassava prepared in a few appetizing and mouth-watering ways.

Another good example is the coconut that has been used in Guyana to create marvelous creations, coconut biscuits, coconut yeast bread, rich coconut buns, coconut cream, coconut custard, coconut pies, beverages, ice creams, mousse, and also coconut water punch.

Appetizers

Baked Eggplant Recipe

Ingredients:

−  1 lb (454 g) eggplant

−  1 oz (28 g) butter

−  Salt and pepper to taste

−  1 small chopped onion

−  Bread crumbs

−  1 tbsp tomato ketchup

Directions:

First you need to boil eggplant in skin till tender.

Now you need to skin, then crush to a pulp with butter, salt, pepper, onions, and ketchup.

Then sprinkle with bread crumbs.

Finally bake in a moderate oven till brown.

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Cassava Pone Guyanese-Style Recipe

Ingredients:

−  2 medium sweet cassava

−  1 small dried coconut

−  2 tbsp butter or margarine

−  6 oz (170 g) sugar

−  ¼ tsp spice and black pepper

−  ½ tsp essence

−  ¼ tsp salt

Directions:

Heat oven for 350°F (180°C). Then peel, wash, grate and combine the cassava and coconut along. Now you should work in the butter with a fork.

After that add the other ingredients and enough water to bind stiffly. Then put the mixture into a greased dripping pan, where it ought to be approximately 1-inch thick.

Now bake in a moderate oven till crisp and brown on top.

Finally cut into 1½