Hello my dear Raffies,
Today is Antigua and Barbuda’s turn with their national dish: Pepperpot with fungee.
Unlike with fufu, I had already made fungee and since I so happen to be Italian, I had the luck to grow up with polenta, which resembles fungee. As for the pepperpot, it was an interesting mixture and the flavour happened to turn out more harmonious and delicate than I had previously expected.
Up until now, I have only been cooking dishes I had never tried before nor cooked before and I have liked every single one of them so far!
If you are curious on how to make this dish, here you can find a nice recipe I used as a guide for my version.
Ingredients for the fungee:
2 cups corn meal
3 cups of water
salt
2 tbsp butter
Ingredients for the pepperpot:
500g pork meat
2 onions, sliced
1 kg spinach, washed
200g bacon (optional)
10 okras
4 cups chicken stock
1 habanero, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
salt
pepper
thyme
peanut oil
For the fungee:
Bring 1 cup of water to the boil with salt. Add the cornmeal. Now with the help of a wooden spoon, stir the corn meal, folding it continuously towards the centre. Add water gradually when necessary. You are going for a thick consistency, much like porridge or polenta. When the mixture can be shaped into a ball, remove from the heat. Stir in the butter and serve or set aside.
For the pepperpot:
In a large casserole, heat some oil and brown the bacon, if you are using it, and the onions. Remove when crispy and browned and set aside.
Cut the meat into bite sized chunks and season with salt and pepper. Add to the casserole and cook until lightly browned on all sides. Add the garlic, habanero, thyme, bacon and onions. Stir and cook for a few minutes.
Now add the sliced okra and the broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer.
Time to add the spinach and let it simmer over very low heat for about 2 hours. The meat will be incredibly tender and soft and the stew will have developed a rich flavour. Season with salt and pepper and habanero, if necessary. Serve hot with fungee.
Serve hot.
Hasta mañana!
Love,
Raffi
