Vegetarian Trinidad Callaloo Recipe
This beloved dish in Trinidad and Tobago is made with young taro leaves, (sometimes) pumpkin, okra, coconut milk, and any seasonings you can get your hands on. It makes an exceptionally tasty soup or a beloved side dish in those traditional Sunday lunches.
Servings: 6
Equipment
- Immersion blender or swizzle stick
Ingredients
- 25 young taro or dasheen leaves
- 1 onion (chopped)
- 2 garlic cloves (chopped)
- 3 cups pumpkin (chopped)
- 5 okra (sliced)
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup coconut milk (fresh if possible)
- seasonings like thyme, culantro, cilantro, chives
- pepper like scotch bonnet, chili, pimento, etc
- salt to taste
- 1 lime (optional)
Instructions
Preparation
- Wash all ingredients including taro leaves and stems.
- Separate the leaves from the stems.
- Chop the leaves.
- With oiled hands, peel the stems and break into smaller pieces.
- Blend coconut and strain, if making the coconut milk from scratch. Save 1 – 2 tablespoons of the strained coconut bits.
- Prepare all other ingredients.
Cooking
- In a heavy pot on medium heat, sauté onions. Add garlic.
- Toss in pumpkin, okra and salt.
- Cover and cook for 5 – 10 minutes.
- Add taro leaves and stems, water, and lime juice (optional).
- Cover and reduce heat.
- After five minutes, add coconut milk, blended coconut, seasonings and pepper.
- Cover and cook for 10 – 15 minutes until veggies are soft and soup-like.
- If using scotch bonnet pepper, remove from pot.
- Swizzle or blend the callaloo.
- Cook for a few minutes more before turning off heat.
