Tastes Like Home

 Fresh coconut milk Photo by Cynthia Nelson
Fresh coconut milk Photo by Cynthia Nelson

What’s Cooking: Coconut Milk

What’s Cooking is a series in which I answer questions and share advice about food and cooking that you have but may be too shy to ask.

Avocado-Cucumber Salad with Preserved Lime Dressing
(Photo by Cynthia Nelson)
Avocado-Cucumber Salad with Preserved Lime Dressing (Photo by Cynthia Nelson)

Avocado-Cucumber Salad

Often, all it takes is a little imagination, creativity, or quite frankly, a bit of laziness to put together familiar ingredients and come up with something quite delicious.

Sada roti topped with Trinidadian Black Pudding and Pico de gallo (Photo by Cynthia Nelson)
Sada roti topped with Trinidadian Black Pudding and Pico de gallo (Photo by Cynthia Nelson)

Topping Sada Roti

To eat Sada roti, we traditionally tear it or cut it into quarters.

Sada roti with butter (Photo by Cynthia Nelson)

Other breads with butter

There is no disputing the lure and lusciousness of bread smeared with rich creamy butter… sometimes melting, settling deeply into the crumb, depending on the warmth of the bread – toasted or fresh from the oven.

Fried Bakes and Bangamary (Photo by Cynthia Nelson)

Bake & Banga

Listen up people, you have got to make this this weekend or sometime very soon – fried Bakes and Bangamary.

Custard baked dry (with direct heat) (Photo by Cynthia Nelson)

Custard – Homely Comfort

At the end of a meal of celebration such as that that will take place tomorrow for Eid Al-Adha, we yearn for something soothing and comforting, and homemade custard is just the type of treat that fits the bill.

Breadfruit Tostones (twice-fried breadfruit) (Photo by Cynthia Nelson)

Breadfruit Fries

One of the many fascinating things about cooking is how revealing ingredients can be if they are cut a different way (from the usual to which we are accustomed), or if they are cooked using a technique or method we have never considered applying before.

Stewed Black Beans (Photo by Cynthia Nelson)

Bold black beans

We (here in Barbados) are definitely seeing the effects of the ongoing disruption to supply chains that occurred due to the Covid-19 Pandemic and now the war in Ukraine.

Mango Lassi (Photo by Cynthia Nelson)

Drinking Mangoes

While I have been enjoying the pleasures of eating mangoes, evidenced by my frequently juice-stained hands to my orange-yellow stained t-shirts, I have also been drinking my mangoes, in a variety of ways.

Crispy Salt Fish Bits  (Photo by Cynthia Nelson)

Crispy Bits of Salt Fish

There are many ways in which you have had salt fish before, most notably and popular is with fried dough, whether called bakes, floats, Johnny cakes, or muffins.

Rock Cakes (Photo by Cynthia Nelson)

Rock, only by name

The surface is uneven, rough, resembling rocks but that is where the similarities stop; in appearance between real rocks and the baked good, Rock Cakes, or Rock Buns as they are also known.

Pulpy Dhal just as Mom liked it (Photo by Cynthia Nelson)

Channelling Mom

Over the years, on the occasion of Mother’s Day, I’ve shared something of my late Mother with you – from her influence on my sense of self to the quarrels we’ve had trying to make her a perfect cup of tea.

Turkish Ramadan Flat Bread (Pide) (Photo by Cynthia Nelson)

Avoiding work and thinking Eid

If you have been reading me over the years, you know that I like to bake, generally, but I also bake when I want to avoid work, such as planning classes or grading assignments.

Geera Sweet Potatoes (Photo by Cynthia Nelson)

Geera Sweet Potatoes

Last holiday weekend, I was thinking of a potato side dish to accompany the roast I made but didn’t want to make any of the usual – scalloped, baked, roast, or mashed potatoes; I didn’t want potato salad either.

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