April 7, 2012
Barefoot is a semi-vegetarian boat by necessity. We usually don't eat a lot of meat, but Barefoot has a very small freezer, so we are limited to any meats that we can pick up along the way. Lowes Food Market in New Plymouth on Green Turtle Cay had some nice frozen chicken breasts so I (Tom) decided to make Chicken Roti, a Caribbean dish.
One thing we have found, is that you rarely get fresh meat in the out-islands of the Bahamas. Due to the shipping logistics, fresh meat is not feasible.
In general we eat from provisions that we carry, supplemented by things we pick up along the way. Our diet is rich in pastas, beans (dried & canned), and other canned or dry foods.
Lunch today was great, but illustrative. We had tomato sandwiches - Bahamian bread that we bought at Sid's Grocery and home-grown tomatoes that Donny, who rented us our mooring, gave us and a small side of black bean soup and rice. It was delicious!
Back to Chicken Roti. We first learned about the dish years ago in the British Virgin Islands on a charter there. We had the dish at Foxy's on Jost Van Dyke and really liked it. It can be described as a stew with curry as the primary spice.
How we learned to cook it authentically is a short story that illustrates being a traveler, not a tourist. We were having lunch at Marina Cay in the BVIs. We were talking to our server, an older West Indian woman. A group of young and quite loud West Indian teenagers came in to have lunch. They were basically well-mannered, but they were quite loud. Our server said how rude they were (we didn't think they were that bad). In further discussion and later reflection, we noted that West Indians are quite soft-spoken and to be loud is considered rude. Think about the last group of American tourists you saw, particularly after they have had a few drinks - soft-spoken - I think not. It is important to learn the culture wherever you go; books help, but talking, and really listening to the locals will uncover the keys.
The server gave Joyce the secret to Roti; fortunately, I (the soup maker), paid close attention. Heat your oil in a very hot pan and add the curry. Stir and sautee at very high heat; you are basically roasting the spice and extracting the flavor. Then saute your onions and garlic and then your meat in the oil/garlic mixture. They both will be infused with the curry taste.
Here is the basic recipe - http://www.caribbeanchoice.com/recipes/recipe.asp?recipe=228
Tom
Moored in Black Sound
Green Turtle Cay
Abacos, Bahamas
http://g.co/maps/r82nj
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