Callaloo & Dasheen

Callaloo & Dasheen Too

This is without a doubt one of my favourite dishes, not only because it tastes real bess but also because it uses the entire dasheen plant or taro. So we using the root and the stem to make this vegan dish or as like to say, the root and the fruit.

So there are different schools of thought when it comes to preparing callaloo. This is the way I grew up seeing it prepared by my mother and grandmothers. The first step is preparing the bush, now back in the day there was no such thing as pre-cut callaloo bush, or callaloo packs. You had to prep all the ingredients yourself and my mother was the type of mother who had us doing chores from a young age so i could have been about 7 or 8 years old when my mother showed me how to peel callaloo bush.

Ingredients Callaloo:

• 1 bundle of callaloo bush: stalk finely chopped, leaves chiffonade
• 10 ochroes chopped
• 1 cup of pumpkin cut into small cubes
• 1 large onion diced
• 6 cloves of garlic chopped finely
• 1/2 scotch bonnet pepper chopped finely
• 4 sprigs of rosemary finely chopped
• 1 cup of coconut milk
• 2 cups of coconut water
• salt to taste

Dasheen:

• 2 lbs dasheen cut into bite sized chunks
• 3 cups of water
• 1 clove of garlic minced
• 1 pimento finely chopped
• 1 tbsp cuban oregano
• salt to taste

Method Callaloo:

1. Add some oil to a pot on medium to high heat
2. Saute onion until translucent
3. Add garlic scotch bonnet pepper, pumpkin, ochroes and the chopped stems of the callaloo bush and saute for five minutes
4. Add rosemary and season with salt. Saute for another 2 minutes
5. Add coconut milk and coconut water
6. Add callaloo bush leaves
7. Cook for approximately 40 minutes
8. Blend then taste for salt, season if necessary

Method Dasheen:

1. Peel and cut dasheen into bite sized chunks
2. Add to cold water then bring to a boil and cook until fork tender (approx 10 – 15 minutes)
3. Strain and set aside
4. Saute garlic and pimento on high heat for 30 seconds.
5. Turn off heat and toss dasheen
6. Season with salt to taste
7. Finish with fresh herbs
8. Serve & Enjoy