By Shelly-Ann Thompson, Freelance Writer
Paella, a zesty one-pot meal, is a favourite of Spanish-speaking people. This version was prepared courtesy of Bullseye Steak & Seafood Restaurant, Knutsford Boulevard, New Kingston. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
ONE-POT meals are a bellyful. In one pot it is easy to create a nutritious, tasty, and satisfying meal. Turned cornmeal, for example, can be 'married' with red peas, coconut milk, saltfish and chicken for a delectable feast. Then, of course, there are soups think a robust red peas soup with corned pig's tail, dumplings, other food and spiced with scotch bonnet pepper.
Seasoned rice is another traditional one-pot meal that can be modified in so many different ways. Team rice the essential ingredient with carrots, pumpkin, coconut milk, cabbage and legumes for a tasty vegetable dish.
One-pot meals were popular with our African ancestors who were enslaved. They often created a meal in a pot using plenty of ground provisions and very little meat, which was hard to come by. Meats and fish that were used were often cured by salting.
These days, frozen foods and leftovers are being combined with bits of vegetables and pieces of meats to make sumptuous breakfasts, lunches and
dinners.
Kingston nutritionist Dr. Heather Little-White notes that a one-pot meal is an answer to a busy cook's desire to prepare a healthy meal that requires little effort. It's also a cost-saving way of cooking that draws on a cook's
creativity.
"It should contain a wide range of items with all the nutrients packed into that meal," advises Dr. Little-White.
Oh, another thing, with only one pot, washing up is far easier.
Food has gathered a variety of one-pot recipes, including Pelau from Trinidad, and Paella, popular in the Spanish-speaking world.
Callaloo Seasoned Rice
4 cups chopped callaloo
4 cups coconut milk or coconut
cream
1 packet Cock Soup Mix
1 sprig thyme
1 small scotch bonnet pepper
1 tbsp. soft margarine
1 clove garlic
1 stalk escallion
1 packet salami or Bologna
1 kg. (2 1/4 lbs.) rice
METHOD
1. Strip, wash and finely cut up callaloo.
2. Put callaloo to boil in coconut milk or cream.
3. Add cock soup mix, thyme and pepper. Cook for 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, melt soft margarine in skillet and saute garlic and escallion, add salami or bologna and fry lightly.
5. Remove Grace Salami or Grace Bologna from skillet and add to the callaloo liquid.
6. Add rice to the callaloo mixture.
7. Cook over low flame until all the liquid has been absorbed and rice is cooked.
Serves 8.
Fish, Vegetable and Banana Casserole
2 kgs.(4 1/2 lbs.) fish fillet
1/2 can whole kernel corn
1 1/2 dozen green bananas
1 sweet pepper
1 carrot
1 medium onion
1 tbsp. white pepper
1 tbsp. all-purpose sauce
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. corn starch
2 tbsps. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup water
METHOD
1. Drain whole kernel corn. Boil and crush bananas. Cut sweet pepper and carrots into strips. Chop onions.
2. Cut fillet into strips. Season with all-purpose sauce, soy sauce, garlic powder, white pepper and salt.
3. Allow to marinate for 15 to 20 minutes. Heat oil in frying pan. Add fish strips and fry, turning occasionally until cooked.
4. Add 1/2 cup water, sweet pepper and corn. Allow to simmer. Dissolve cornstarch in a very small amount of water and add.
5. Correct seasoning. Turn out into a casserole. Cover with green bananas.
6. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until slightly browned.
Serve hot. Serves 4.
Beef, Rice and Vegetable One-Pot
3 cloves garlic
1 large onion
2 small carrots
1 small zucchini
250 g. (about 8 ozs.) ground beef
1 tsp. white pepper
2 tsps. salt
2 tsps. vegetable oil
4 cups water
500 g. (2 cups) rice
1/2 cup red kidney beans in brine
METHOD
1. Finely chop garlic and onion.
Cut carrots in desired shape and cut zucchini in cubes or rounds.
2. Season ground beef with onion,
white pepper, salt and garlic. Allow to marinate for 15 to 20 minutes.
3. Heat vegetable oil in a saucepan. Add ground beef. Fry for 5 minutes while breaking up meat pieces.
4. Add water and rice,
cover with a tight fitting lid
and allow to simmer until water
evaporates.
5. Stir in vegetables, reduce heat and allow to cook until grains are tender.
Serve hot. Serves 8.
Recipes courtesy of Grace Kitchens
Chicken Pelau
2 1/2 - 3 lbs. chicken pieces seasoned with salt, pepper, chives, thyme, garlic, parsley, 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce, 1 tsp. soy sauce, 1 tbsp. ketchup
2 cups rice, washed
2 cups coconut milk and 2 c.
water
1 large onion sliced
1 sweet pepper, chopped
1 - 1 1/2 cups pigeon peas or
1 tin pigeon peas, drained
2 - 3 tbsps. vegetable oil
1/4 - 1/2 cup sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
Hot pepper, if desired
METHOD
1. Heat oil in a large, heavy iron pot or skillet.
2. Add sugar and allow to burn until dark brown.
3. Add seasoned meat and stir until pieces are well coated
with burnt sugar; brown for
5 minutes.
4. Stir rice into chicken and turn often till well blended; cook for 3 minutes more.
5. Add onion, sweet peppers and peas and stir fry for a few seconds.
6. Add salt, pepper, coconut milk and water; bring to the boil, lower heat, cover and simmer until rice is cooked and all liquid has evaporated (25 to 30 minutes). Add more liquid if rice is still hard and continue to cook longer. Pelau can also be baked in oven. Cover pot with tin foil, place in oven and bake at 350 F. for 25 to 30 minutes.
In this way, rice is less likely to burn and is fluffy.
Recipe courtesy of the Trinidad and Tobago High Commission
Paella
Get your taste bud ready because with paella they will all be satisfied. A variety of meats mixed with seasonings and rice, the aroma alone of this dish is enough to make your mouth water.
The Spanish embrace paella as the national dish and endorse the various cultural variations. There are many variations of paella but Bullseye Steak & Seafood Restaurant, on Knutsford Boulevard in New Kingston, offers this version which uses the fish, chicken and shrimp combination. Managing director Steven Hudson notes, however, that the restaurant will make Paella to the specifications of its guests.
If you make it at home add or subtract from the ingredients based on your taste. Hudson says there is only one unique feature to true paella the seasoning saffron. The appetising dish is also best when accompanied by a glass of red wine, preferably Castillo De Molina.
"It's just a one-pot meal. After having it with a nice glass of wine, then you can tackle a dessert if you have space for it."
Paella
1/4 cup olive oil
1 chicken cut into 8 pieces
2 medium onions, chopped
2 tomatoes, peeled and
chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 green pepper, cut into strips
1/2 tin green peas
3 cups uncooked rice
3 cups fish or chicken stock
1 large pinch saffron,
dissolved in 2 tablespoons boiling water
1/2 lb. cleaned squid, sliced
(optional)
1/4 lb. ham, cut into strips
(optional)
1 Chorizo Sausage, sliced
(optional)
1/2 lb. shrimp, cleaned
1/2 lb. fish fillet, cut into
cubes or pieces
24 cleaned clams or mussels
(optional)
METHOD
1. In large shallow pan, heat oil and brown chicken gently for 10 minutes. Remove from pan.
2. Saute onions in same pan. Add tomatoes and cook until soft. Stir in garlic, green pepper and peas. Cook for 2 minutes. Stir in rice and cook over high flame until grains turn transparent. Pour in stock and saffron, add salt to your taste.
3. Immerse the chicken in the rice; place on top the squid, ham, Chorizo Sausage and clams (optional items) along with the shrimp and fish. Bring to a boil and cook over medium flame or in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes, or until rice is tender or clams open.
Serves 8.
