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.