Trinidad
Our Posts about Trinidad
Pholourie/SBPR
A broad range of fried dough treats are prevalent in the culinary traditions of just about every Caribbean destination. My own personal favorite would have to be the Johnny Cakes I grew up with in St. Croix, a treat so special it inspired my all-time favorite Christmas carol. But we’ll save that delicious discourse for another time. Today we’re hungry for the fluffy round golden glories pictured above known as pholourie.
Touted recently by the gourmet gurus at Saveur, who incidentally got wind of ‘em from TriniGourmet.com, pholourie is a staple appetizer or snack food in Trinidad & Tobago where it’s enjoyed at all hours of the day. Pholourie goes well with just about everything and is very affordable. At Joy’s Roti Delight, one of the best Trini eateries here in Fort Lauderdale, you can get six pholourie for just $1!
You won’t want to forget the chutney sauce that comes with it, either. Pholourie’s are good on their own, but pure heaven with Joy’s sauce.
If you don’t live near Joy’s or Nio’s, Patrick’s favorite roti shop near his home in Brooklyn where I’ sure they serve ‘em as well, you can easily make your own pholourie at home. Here’s a quick and easy recipe from the Naparima Girls’ High School cookbook…
Ingredients:
- 2 cups soaked and ground split peas
- 1 clove garlic
- 1-1/2 tsp salt/black pepper
- 2 tsp curry powder
- 1 tsp saffron powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup flour
- water
- pepper to taste
First, mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Next, start adding water… gradually. It’s important not to add too much water as the idea is to create a thick batter. If your mixture looks like soup, you’ve gone too far.
Now it’s time to cook. Heat your oil in a large pot. Here’s a trick my Mom taught me to know when the oil is hot enough for frying – just put a small piece of the batter in the oil once you think it’s ready. If the batter turns brown in a few seconds, you’re good to go.
Drop teaspoon-sized pieces of batter into the hot oil and cook ‘em until they’re slightly brown. They’ll cook pretty fast, so be ready to scoop ‘em out and place them in a bowl lined with paper towels to soak up the excess oil. After a minute or two of cooling off, your pholourie will be ready to eat!
For a great mango chutney recipe to accompany your pholourie, click here.
Enjoy!
Naomi Campbell, Robin Williams, Martha Stewart, Traci Bingham – I’ve met and worked with a lot of different celebrities over the course of my PR career, but never have I been more starstruck than when I met the guy featured in the video above.
This is Paul Keens-Douglas. A native of Trinidad who spent much of his early years in Grenada, Paul (also known as Tim Tim) is one of the most popular Caribbean storytellers around. He is also one of my greatest childhood idols. During the pre-cable TV days of late-70′s and early-80′s in St. Croix, I used to spend endless hours sitting around listening to Tim Tim performances on records and cassettes.
Like most people, I was initially drawn to Paul’s work because a lot of it is really damn funny. Tanti at de Oval still makes me laugh every time I hear it, while Party Nice, with Slim only steupsin‘, is a classic in my book right up there with anything Cosby ever put on vinyl.
Paul’s greatness as a storyteller goes way beyond comedy, though, as his serious and dramatic tales give an authentic and rhythmically wonderful look at what life is really like in the region. I’ll never forget how Storm Comin’ put the fear of hurricanes in me like nothing else I had ever seen on TV, heard at school, or read in the newspaper. It still gives me chills today.
When I met Paul, I was about 10 years-old. We were at a party at the home of a family friend in St. Croix. I have no idea how this family friend knew a legend like Paul Keens-Douglas, but I do remember nearly peeing my pants when I got the chance to shake his hand.
The video above may have a similar effect on you as it’s taken from another one of his funny stories.
To learn more about Paul Keens-Douglas, you can join his fan page on Facebook by clicking here.
Roti by Patrick Bennett
I know Stephen wouldn’t debate this statement: our mom made the best roti ever.
What’s a roti? The simple answer is the ultimate comfort meal of curry wrapped in a thin dough—borrowed from India and perfected in Trinidad and Tobago. The more complicated answer has to do with the emotions that well up within many West Indians whenever we find ourselves on the topic of roti and the role this seemingly simple meal has played in our lives.
Despite my poor memory, I can very clearly remember the feelings (if not the actual experiences) of when our family was blessed with my mom going through the trouble of making us roti. You have to understand — making the world’s best roti is not an easy task. Like many other traditional Caribbean foods, it takes a lot of time and effort to make something this comfortingly delicious… And perhaps those hours of anticipation actually added a little something to the flavors when you finally got the finished, hot roti in between your hands.
How long a process is involved in making the world’s best roti? Well, it starts with the “skin” or roti (officially, only the skin is called roti, but in the Caribbean, we apply the name to the whole package). This is where a roti becomes a success, or literally falls apart. Any time you buy a roti, this is always the thing most people comment on. “It’s too thin.” “It’s too thick.” “It’s too dry.” Etc. The roti skin has to be just right, or the whole thing will fail. My mother made what’s called Dhalpuri roti. TriniGourmet has a good description:
A roti with a stuffing of ground yellow split peas, cumin (geera), garlic, and pepper. The split peas are boiled until they are al dente and then ground in a mill. The cumin is toasted until black and also ground. The stuffing is pushed into the roti dough, and sealed. When rolled flat, the filling is distributed within the roti. It is cooked on the tava and rubbed with oil for ease of cooking. This is the most popular roti.
It’s the most popular, because it’s delicious! It’s also time consuming to make. It took my mom the better part of the morning and into the afternoon to make roti skins in this fashion from scratch — cooking each rolled out skin on her tava one at a time.
Mom
Once she was almost done with the skins, she’d start into making the curry for the filling, employing a smaller version of me to cut potatoes or carrots or generally stay out of her way. Here, she would mix it up. Sometimes it was chicken, sometimes beef, sometimes goat, and very occasionally shrimp… But every time, it was special as she would let her curry simmer for what seemed like hours and hours to create a fairly thick, rich filling that wouldn’t dribble out of our rotis on the first bite.
Around mid to late afternoon, we would finally get our chance to pick up in our little hands a fat, burrito-like package of spicy curry with potatoes, chicken, a little cabbage, and more wrapped in the perfect roti skin. One bite and, while some released split peas would fall to our plate (or more often our clothes), there would be nothing but bliss on our faces. Bliss.
Our mom passed away close to 23 years ago, when I was only 12… It’s been a long time without those special rotis…
I can never replace my mom’s roti or the time spent with her in the kitchen, but a few years ago my dad turned me on to what may possibly be the best roti in all of New York City. The place is named Nio’s Trinidad Roti Shop, but most people just call it The Roti Shop on Church and Rogers.
Nio's-Trinidad-Roti-Shop via Google Maps
It’s been open for business on the corner of Church and Rogers Avenues for over 26 years! This is the real deal. Roti as you like it: chicken, beef, goat, shrimp, veggie, with pepper or tamarind, etc. Make sure to also pick up some Caribbean soft drinks like Mauby Fizzz, Ting, or Peardrax to wash it down.
You may not be transported back to the soft, simple and soothing feelings of your childhood, but you will definitely be transported to the sunny climes of Trinidad and Tobago and that might just be enough.
VK-Sportsman (Vivek Maharaj) via flickr
Recently, I wrote here about my surprise at learning of a professional rally race in Jamaica and my desire to head back to JA to check it out. Well, now it seems I’ll have to expand my travel plans as I just heard there’s another Caribbean destination where I can get my auto racing fix – Trinidad & Tobago.
The Trinidad & Tobago Rally Club actually puts on a Championship Series each year, with 7 races contested between February and October. Their biggest race, Rally Trinidad, is held in March and attracts an international field of drivers from Barbados, St. Vincent, Jamaica, and even the UK!
Next up on the Championship Series calendar is this weekend’s Rally Tobago race. Considerably smaller than the March event, Rally Tobago still boasts a field of 25+ cars from Trinidad, Tobago, Barbados and Jamaica. It’s also a full weekend of fun with a Car Show slated for Friday, the actual race on Saturday, and a beach lime on Sunday.
For an even better sense of the size and scope of the event, visit StagRally.com and check out some of the videos from a few of the more recent races.
Jamaica, Trinidad, Tobago – looks like I’ll have lots of options for my race-inspired Caribbean travels!
Peardrax Sparkling Pear Drink
There’s a sentiment in the Caribbean that people or things originally from the islands are inherently better than transplants. That those “bahn here” (born here) should get more respect than those from abroad. I’ve certainly used this prevailing mindset to my advantage in the past to go places and experience the Caribbean in ways that would be more difficult for others, but with some openness and time, anyone or anything can be adopted into the island way of life. Just look at Peardrax.
This sparkling pear drink has been a staple of my diet since my days growing up on St. Croix. It’s a little sweet and a smidge syrupy, but when you get an ice cold bottle, you’ll find it’s extremely refreshing with just enough pear taste in the mix. This unique flavor has garnered Peardrax an integral place in the culture of Trinidad and Tobago. You’ll find it in every store all across TnT and throughout the Caribbean… But Peardrax was not “bahn here.”
Nope, this West Indian staple was born in Whimple, United Kingdom – current population around 1,600. (Really, how could Peardrax be born in the Caribbean when Pears aren’t even native to region?)
In a small East Devon village sometime in the 1800′s Whiteway’s (a now-defunct cider company) created the lightly fermented pear beverage West Indians know, love and call their own. From there, Peardrax grew and grew in popularity within the UK until in the 1960′s and 70′s it reached the zenith of its cultural status. It was in the hands of children all across the land, but something happened… It began to decline in popularity. Finally, in 1988 it disappeared from UK shelves altogether.
Luckily, during the decline and subsequent pulling of the product from the UK market, the rights to the drink changed hands a number of times ending up with the Gaymer Cider Company (the UK’s second-biggest cider maker) ensuring that the Pepsi-Cola Trinidad Bottling Company could continue producing the adopted beverage.
A true Trini that, like most, can trace its roots to the UK.
Can’t find any in your area? Try ordering Peardrax from Amazon or EverythingTrini.
Scarlet Ibis Rum by Patrick Bennett
I have a very odd milestone rapidly approaching. In 2011, if I still don’t call the Caribbean my home-base, I will have lived away from the Caribbean longer than I’ve lived in the Caribbean.
As sad as that sounds, it hasn’t been too bad since I’ve called New York City my home for the past 11 years. Here you can get anything, from any culture at almost any time of day. (In fact, one of my favorite Trini roti shops is here in Brooklyn, but I’ll reveal that taste of the Caribbean another day.)
Today’s case in point is Scarlet Ibis rum. The truly uncommon genesis for this light, copper colored high-proof rum is tied directly to the speak-easy boom in New York of the past 10 years.
The first one of these “secret” bars I remember frequenting was Milk and Honey about 10 years ago in the, at the time, no man’s land of the Lower East Side. A beautiful little candlelit space with touches to remind patrons lucky enough to know of its existence of a time when a night on the town was a bit more civilized. Posted rules included not approaching women without being properly introduced and “no name-dropping.” But the biggest draw was owner and mixologist Sasha’s immaculately crafted drinks.
The tremendous success of this model lead to many more bars with unpublished addresses as well as a new appreciation by night owls for finer libations—like the ones our own resident mixologist Jesse usually shares with us on Fridays.
Anyway, fast-forward several years to 2007 for the highly anticipated opening of a new East Village spot in the classic style, but with a published address named Death & Co. On nights I used to swing by in ’07, they were often just turning people away due to waits of an hour or more for a chance to sink into one of their suede banquets and sample some of their masterfully crafted cocktails.
The main draw for me: Scarlet Ibis Rum.
For a time, this one location was the only place in the world where you could actually drink Scarlet Ibis Rum as it was a bespoke creation specifically for Death & Co by a Trinidadian bulk rum production company called Caroni. And what an excellent drink this 98 proof rum makes!
Personally, I love to simply savor most premium rums without any mixing, but to get the full Death & Co experience in your own home lounge (even if you don’t have suede banquets), check out some of the drink descriptions on their menu. The Drunken Dodo, is one of my favorites with Scarlet Ibis Rum being joined by Carpano Antica Vermouth, Allspice Dram, Angostura Bitters, and an Orange Twist.
Scarlet Ibis Rum is only bottled as the limited blend becomes available, so it may be hard to find, but if you ask nice I might bring you a bottle on my next visit.
Cheers!
You gotta’ love it when superstar entertainers endorse products that they actually use and enjoy. In this classic commercial from Trinidad & Tobago, Calypso legend The Mighty Sparrow, sings and dances in praise of his favorite beer, Stag. That look in his eye at the end of the clip says it all – this man truly loves Stag Beer!
Your Monthly Moment of Zen
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