Dear LPG readers, 

I need to start by saying that I think my version of this recipe ticked quite a few positive boxes.  Thoughts of sunny St Lucia can only bring warmth to anyone who finds themselves experiencing some of the coldest UK days of this year, and a fish dish in the middle of lent cannot be a bad thing either.  Good reader’s, this was a cinch for me because of my West Indian heritage.  I have to admit that, having had a quick look at the ingredients when I first settled on this recipe last month, I knew that it would be, because I have spent many years trying to perfect the production of something very similar and Jamaican so that it will attain the acceptance of my Caribbean mum. 

The St Lucian version had a few added ingredients and left quite a few out of that I have used in the past but there were no major cooking mishaps along the way and the end result was really colourful.  Something had to go wrong though and I have to admit to doing more than piercing the Scotch bonnet pepper, (it was more like a rip!) but I would have done that anyway for the version I usually aspire to.  My one query has to do with the apparent St Lucian habit of mixing up the appearance of a fig with that of a green banana. 

The recipe I used did mention that it was a less spicy version and as the only taste tester on the day, my mum gave it the thumbs-up.  She added that while accepting it was missing some of the ingredients she used; it was my best attempt at an Independence Day dish so far.  This was praise indeed, so I think I can give this dish a thumbs-up.   

So with one of my more successful days in the kitchen to spur me on I realise that April is just around the corner and the 27th will be commemorated as Freedom Day in South Africa.  One of the dishes they are famous for is called Bobotie  and I will be trying my very best to recreate it with success equal to that of my labours this month … 

CB, Lewisham. 

 

CB offers us the method and ingredients list for her next attempt at independence day cooking…

 

 

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