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Tastes Like Home

Oh Sweet Callaloo

Hi Everyone,

If you’re from Guyana, Callaloo refers to all varieties of spinach (bhaji) but if you’re from Trinidad and Tobago, then Callaloo is the beloved, must-have, soul food dish of the twin island republic. Callaloo for Trinis is a concoction of dasheen leaves (aka eddo leaves), okra, crab and or salt meat, along with onions, pimento peppers (a mild pepper), hot pepper, green onions and thyme all cooked low and slow in a bath of fresh coconut milk.

In Trinidad and Tobago, a Sunday meal without Callaloo would leave your tummy filled but your soul empty. It accompanies the regular Sunday-meal dishes of macaroni pie, stewed chicken, potato salad, red beans and rice. All cuisines have dishes that are widely made with each household having its own recipe and method of preparation, Callaloo is no different.

Callaloo-making is a serious task, the arguments and discussions that go on about making this dish range from the preparation of ingredients to the texture of the Callaloo. Some say, chop and drop the ingredients others say, add everything whole. Some say to layer the ingredients, others say throw everything into the pot at once. And yet another hotly debated Callaloo-making issue is whether or not to swizzle the Callaloo. To swizzle means using a stick with a metal coil at its base, rolling it between the palms of your hands, all the while, pureeing the mixture. A dhal gutney (a stick that has a flat base that’s cut into the shape of a star) is often used if a handy swizzler is not nearby. The modern-day Callaloo maker can opt for the food processor using the pulse button to control the texture or an immersion blender. Apart from the swizzling, there’s also the question of whether Callaloo is a soup or a sauce. It can be either, it really depends on who is making it and for whom; some like their Callaloo watery, of a pouring consistency, while others like it thickened. Though traditionally prepared for Sunday meals, Callaloo is now prepared and available daily by many eating establishments.

Callaloo ingredients (Photo by Cynthia Nelson)

The first time I had Callaloo was on my first trip to Trinidad when I was 11. I fell in love with it immediately and was content to just have that with the rice. So good! Many people like it served with dumplings, boiled ground provisions (tubular vegetables) or foo foo, especially plantain foo foo. Considered to be a peasant dish, Callaloo has its origins with the Africans who would have come to this part of the world during the colonial era. Today, it is enjoyed by all in the melting pot of culture and cuisine that is Trinidad and Tobago (T&T).

Whenever I visit T&T, the first thing I want to eat is Callaloo. This past week, a fish guy, (I told you about him in my column on the hassar (cascadura), had crab and I was lucky enough to find some dasheen leaves at the market, I was thrilled and excited to get home to try making Callaloo. Thanks to a Trini blogger friend and my trusted copy of The Multicultural Cuisine of Trinidad & Tobago and The Caribbean, I was able to come up with a recipe that would work for me. I cooked some rice and made a few dumplings and set them aside as I wanted to be able to eat my Callaloo as soon as it was done. I have to say, I was very pleased with my Callaloo, it was all I had hoped for, it was all that I remembered. My tasters still cannot stop talking about it. First, the aroma awakens your appetite and as you take a spoonful, it gently glides across your tongue as if caressing it; there’s no need to chew. The Callaloo blankets your taste buds hitting each spot with various notes. The dasheen leaves are creamy, the pink seeds of the okra pop gently, and the coconut milk is subtle and supportive being intertwined with all the ingredients. The flavour of the crab is enticing. If you happen upon a piece of salt meat, you smile as you bite into it and if you’re lucky enough to get the crab that has been cooked in the Callaloo, others would be envious.

Callaloo (Photo by Cynthia Nelson)

Other Caribbean islands have varying dishes using the same ingredients found in Callaloo. Take Dominica for example, they are well known for making a mean (read fantastic) Crab and Callaloo Soup. Theirs is clearly a soup and contains chunks of ground provision and actual pieces of crab along with salt meat. Here in Barbados, some households still make something called okra slush. Okra slush is made by boiling okra with finely cut up bits of salt meat along with fresh herbs. The okra melts completely and the dish is silky. It is eaten mostly with ground provisions.
So be on the alert, when you come to the Caribbean, be very clear on what it is you’re asking for in each country you visit whether it is Callaloo, Crab and Callaloo or bhaji (another word for spinach).
Cynthia

tasteslikehome@gmail.com
www.tasteslikehome.org

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8 Responses to “Tastes Like Home”

Johan
on October 12th, 2008 6:44 am

Cynthia, the eddo leaves in dat picture look like ’scratching tanya’ tear. They’re kinda pointy (the good ones are usually more rounded) and we can’t see the red dot in the middle that tells the good kind from the bad. LOL.

[Reply to this]
tasteslikehome
In reply to the above comment on October 12th, 2008 8:50 am:
You obviously know your spinach, Johan. Thanks for pointing that out. I’ve made a note.

[Reply to this]
realgirl_tessa
on October 13th, 2008 10:19 am

This looks like what they call “pepperpot” in Antigua, but it seems so unappealing to me like vomit

[Reply to this]
Allison
on October 13th, 2008 5:49 pm

Cynthia, this article brings back so many wonderful memories of my childhood when my father would make a big pot of crab soup!

[Reply to this]
Mochagold118
on October 14th, 2008 9:06 am

Poor Tessa. Hi Cynthia, while I am a lover of callaloo there will be no Trini callaloo for me. Due to a severe allergy of shell fish I will pas on this one.

[Reply to this]
raz4125
on October 15th, 2008 12:17 am

Cynthia, I loved your post about callaloo. That crab gundy in the callaloo just made me salivate. Keep up the good work. Before I go, Mochagold118 you don’t need to make the callaloo with shell fish you can use any other meat or none at all. ;^)

[Reply to this]
Coco Joseph
on October 16th, 2008 12:23 am

Just to enlighten Johan - NO - he thinks he knows his ’spinach’
Eddo leaves do not have a red dot.
Dasheen leaves have the red dot!!!

[Reply to this]
Johan
In reply to the above comment on October 16th, 2008 3:49 pm:
Coco, from the time I was old enough to be allowed out in the yard, I learned the hard way that not all eddo is ‘eddo.’ There’s the one we plant and eat, leaves and all, and there’s the one that grows wild in swampy areas.

Touch this wild eddo the wrong way, and yo’ scratch for the rest of the day, or until some grown-up washes you off and rub lil oil an thing pon the affected spots. This is the man we call ’scratchin tanya.’ Once you meet it, you never forget it. Compared to its edible cousin, its leaves are slightly elongated, heavily veined, and has a yellow dot in the middle. Regular eddo has a red dot and often a reddish stem as well.

If you like to play in the yard (or later, to cook and eat eddo leaf) , and yo can’t tell between these two very similar plants, woe be unto you. And ah nat talking bout dasheen!

[Reply to this]