This week's recipe is still a work in progress. Not that it's bad (I promise never to post anything I wouldn't eat myself), but I'm just not sure it's perfect. There are a couple of reasons I'm not vouching for this one yet. The first one is because I sort of forgot to write this one down as I was making it; the second is that I don't have much else to compare it to.
Remember that line about Haitians not naming there dishes very descriptively? I think of all the things that I've made so far, this has shown up as the most nameless. In Kreyol, they call this dish Legumes. Yup, vegetables. How much less descriptive can you get? To be fair, it is one of the only Haitian dishes that starts with the vegetables as the main ingredient, and there are so many different veggies in there that it would be hard to pick the one that is the show runner. Unfortunately for me, that's made it difficult to name as well as to make.
The version I'm sharing contains beef, but I've also seen this made with crab (or both), and you could even make a vegetarian version out of it if you wanted. I guess it's technically another beef stew, but this one is really more about the vegetables than it is the beef, and it's definitely not a soup. It's generally served with rice (I prefer white rice, but I've also seen it served with rice and beans), but I could almost eat it alone. Fair warning, it takes a while to make and the list of ingredients is pretty extensive, but the end result is worth it.
I do promise to keep working on this one and to make updates as I perfect it, but in the meantime, at least this one comes with a few images. Does anyone else have similar recipes that they like? I'm very open to feedback!
Haitian Legumes (Stewed Vegetables)
Ingredients: 1 pound cubed beef 1/2 lime 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 quart water 1 habanero pepper 1 round eggplant, peeled and cubed 1 chayote, cubed 1 cup shredded cabbage 1/2 green bell pepper, thinly sliced 1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced 2 carrots, peeled and sliced 1 tablespoon tomato paste 1 cup chopped spinach 1/3 yellow onion, thinly sliced 1/2 cup scallions, chopped
Seasonings
1 teaspoon adobo seasoning
2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Creole Seasoning
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon chicken base
2 teaspoon seasoned salt
2 large garlic cloves, minced
Directions: 1. Clean the beef by rubbing the lime over all the meat. Rinse with cold water. 2. Add seasonings and the beef to a soup pot and toss together. Make sure all pieces are evenly covered, and let sit overnight (or at least 3 hours). 3. Brown the beef using the olive oil in the soup pot on high heat for about 5 minutes. 4. Add 1 quart water, bell peppers, and habanero and cook on high heat. Add water as necessary to prevent from drying. 5. In a separate pot, add 1 quart of water, eggplant, and chayote and cook on high heat for 25 minutes. 6. Drain and mash the eggplant/chayote mixture and add to the beef. 7. Add remaining ingredients and cook on medium heat for 30 minutes, string occasionally.