Monday, October 1, 2012

Vegan MoFo - Stopover 1 - St Kitts and Nevis


It was a rude awakening to my Vegan MoFo challenge when the first country drawn was St Kitts and Nevis, a couple of small islands located in the Caribbean Sea. After discovering that the most famed dishes on these islands were seafood or goat based, I saw mention of a roti filled with curried potatoes and chickpeas. I wasn't able to track down a recipe that was particularly attached to St Kitts and Nevis so I used a bit of my amateur knowledge in Caribbean cooking I picked up during recipe testing for Terry Hope Romero's new cookbook Vegan Eats World. This is a perfect time to remind you that Terry's amazing cookbook containing fantastic recipes from around the globe is due for release at the end of this month and can be pre-ordered from Amazon now.


For the filling, I fried up some onions, garlic and chilli and later added some Jamaican curry powder (Terry's recipe), dried thyme, and salt. This was combined with pre-cooked and slightly mashed potatoes and chickpeas. The mixture was spooned into the centres of some roti bread bought from an Indian grocer which were sealed and browned in a grill pan. I struggled to find an authentic green vegetable recipe to have as an accompaniment and simply served broccoli steamed with garlic on the side. The rotis were on the fairly spicy side which didn't mind us as we don't mind a bit heat, for a milder version the amount of curry powder could be reduced and/or the chilli omitted.


These rotis were fairly simple to put together and tasted great. If the food this month keeps turning out as delicious as this meal was tonight, it's going to be a wonderful month of eating!


Caribbean rotis filled with curried potatoes and chickpeas

600g potatoes, peeled and diced small
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 birds eye chilli, minced
4 teaspoons Jamaican curry powder
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme
¼ teaspoon allspice
1 x 400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2/3 cup water
6 x 20 cm pieces of roti bread

Place potatoes in a saucepan filled with water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until tender. Drain in a colander and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a deep sided frying pan over medium heat. Fry the onions, garlic and chillies for 5 minutes until soft then stir through the curry powder, salt and thyme for a minute or until fragrant. Add the potatoes, chickpeas and water and cover and cook a couple of minutes on a slightly lowered heat until the water is almost absorbed. Using a wooden spoon, gently mash the potatoes until they are mostly broken down. Turn off the heat and allow to cool slightly.

Place 1/6 of the mixture in the centre of each roti and fold the rotis up like parcels. Heat a grill pan over medium heat and cook the rotis in batches for a couple of minutes seam side down first until lightly browned then flip and brown lightly on the other side.

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Did you know?

St Kitts and Nevis were discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1498 and they were one of the first Caribbean islands to be settled by Europeans.



16 comments:

  1. LOL at the first country drawn! Well done! This dish looks fab and I'll be trying it for sure. Yay VeganMofo!

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    1. I did sigh at first but I'm glad I drew this first up as it made me realise that there must be a veganisable dish in every cuisine.

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  2. Wow, that looks fantastic! I'm loving the idea of potatoes, chickpeas, and Jamaican curry all wrapped up together in roti. I'm so looking forward to Terry's book coming out at the end of the month. I tested some of her recipes, but not nearly enough (only about ten). I can't wait to sample more!

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    1. It was a good combination and I'll be keeping this recipe in mind for the future. I loved testing Terry's recipes and can't wait for the book to come out so I can try more too.

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  3. I may not know much about St Kitts and Nevis, but I love this recipe - curry spices, chick peas and mashed spuds were born to go together!

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    1. I'm not surprised that this is up your alley!

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  4. wow that is a challenging stopover to start with but you rose to the challenge admirably - sounds delicious

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    1. Thanks, it sounded challenging at first but there are others I'm struggling with more because there are too many options. At least I was able to make a quick decision with this one and stick to it!

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  5. Oooooh, I ate the most amazing Caribbean food at festivals when I lived in London and loved it, so I definitely need to try these!

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    1. I've never eaten authentic Caribbean food but I know I would love it. Hope you enjoy this!

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  6. Mm, yummo! I am going to have to try this for sure and I love that your first country is one most of us will not have heard of!

    And thanks for the reminder, I'm off to pre-order Terry's book via the Book Depo!

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    1. Thanks! Hope you enjoy Vegan Eats World, I'm sure you will given how much you love Viva Vegan. I'll look forward to your posts about it!

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  7. What a tricky start! You did wonderfully though and I will have to make these for dinner when my Mum is over - she had some time in Jamaica during a rather nomadic childhood and loves Carribean flavours. I think I'd love these too :)

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    1. A bit of a tricky start but it all worked out in the end! You should be able to hunt down a recipe for a Jamaican curry powder if you don't have some on hand. The spices are fairly pantry friendly.

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  8. What a lovely combination, sounds delicious!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Veggie Sara, it was a delicious meal!

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