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Top 10 foods to try in the Caribbean

Caribbean island
Caribbean island
Top 10 foods to try in the Caribbean
By Ryan Ver Berkmoes

Travellers are advised to read the FCO travel advice at gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice for the country they are travelling to.

All recommendations have been reviewed and approved as of February 2020 and will be checked and updated annually. If you think there is any incorrect or out of date information in this guide please e-mail us at goodfoodwebsite@immediate.co.uk

Visiting the Caribbean is not exactly a hard-sell. With its white sandy beaches, azure sea, lively culture and balmy weather, this cluster of islands is a dream holiday destination. What’s more, sampling the food is a journey in itself.

Don’t leave the Caribbean without trying….
SeafoodShellfish

All those islands, all that ocean. Seafood, whether swimming or in a shell, is a Caribbean highlight. Long a staple of sailors crossing the Atlantic, flying fish are a firm and tender whitefish, best served grilled and hugely popular on Barbados and the Windward Islands. Grouper, a large fish, makes excellent steaks and is good in stews while countless varieties of shellfish is served in beachfront bars.

JerkJerk chicken

The signature flavour of Jamaica and one of the Caribbean’s most famous cuisines, jerk refers to a very spicy dry or wet rub applied to chicken or other meat. After absorbing the flavours, the meat is smoked and/or grilled to fiery perfection. Variations are many, with influences from Africa to Portugal to Latin America.

Try making your own jerk chicken

Roast porkJerk pulled pork with banana salsa

Ubiquitous across the islands, especially those with a strong Spanish heritage like the Dominican Republic and Cuba, roast pork is often served with other regional staples like rice and beans plus plantains. Succulent and juicy, pork drippings give everything on the plate a rich flavour. Roadside stands across Puerto Rico serve the much-loved lechón asado, which is spit-roasted suckling pig.

Pepperspot
Jerk sweet potato & black bean curry

Simmered in huge pots across the Caribbean, this thick and rich stew can include aubergine, okra, squash, potatoes and pretty much anything else that grows in the islands’ rich earth. Beef is the most common meat, while fungi – tasty cornmeal dumplings – add texture. It’s called souse in the Bahamas, which may refer to the condition of the cook given that no two recipes or even batches are alike.

ConchConch shell

A sort of sea escargot, conch is any of many different large sea snails that are housed in often beautiful shells (piles of them in Bonaire form pearly pink mountains). Something like a huge clam, the meat makes fabulous fritters – a staple in the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands and cruise-ship ports everywhere. Conch also appears in salads, soups and stews. Farm-raised is the most sustainable.

Chicken with riceRice & peas

Still craved by locals even decades after they’ve emigrated, Arroz Con Pollo is the ultimate island comfort food. Wildly popular where Spanish influences remain strong, this deceptively simple dish is a savoury mix of flavours that include tomatoes, garlic, peppers and more. Baked until the rich scents fill the kitchen, most would say their mother’s version is best.

Try making rice & peas

Cuban sandwichCuban sandwich
One Cuban export that has found favour across the Caribbean and Florida, this hearty sandwich was once the lunchtime meal for labourers in Havana. Soft, crusty white bread is layered with ham, roast pork and some sort of mild white cheese. Dill pickles and vinegary yellow mustard provide accents. A sandwich press makes everything gooey, toasty and scrumptious.

Goat stew

Goat curry

“Got some?” is a conversation-starter on tiny Montserrat, where a thin, clove-scented stew called goat water is a national obsession. The broth is heartier on islands like Aruba and Bonaire, where it is called kabritu (or cabrito) and locals solemnly proclaim that their own mother’s version is best. Mannish water, a Cayman Islands version, includes a goat head and foot.

Try cooking with goat in a Jamaican-style curry

CallalooCallaloo
A vegetable dish with roots in West Africa, callaloo was brought to the Caribbean by slaves and is still a vital part of diets on Jamaica and Dominica plus Trinidad and Tobago. Leafy greens (often from the namesake bush or from taro, water spinach and more) are boiled into a thick stew, which may include peppers, coconut milk, okra and all manner of meats and seafood.

PapayaJerk chicken salad with papaya
This tasty fruit staple grows wild and on farms almost everywhere. It comes in yellow and orange varieties and when perfectly fresh is served plain with a squeeze of lime for a sweet and luscious breakfast. It also appears in salads and even stews. However many prefer papaya mixed into a cocktail with the Caribbean’s great contribution to libations: rum.

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Food Food

The Nigerian Spicy Beef called Kilishi

Kilishi (Nigerian Beef Jerky)

 

kilishi

Nigerian Kilishi

Kilishi (also Kilichi) is the spicy Nigerian Beef Jerky, another gift from Northern Nigeria. This is one of those Nigerian snacks that you can eat till your chin pains you, yet you will not want to stop.

How to make Kilishi [Video]
Kilishi can be likened to Nigerian Suya in that they have similar ingredients but the preparation and texture is different.
Traditionally, Kilishi is dried under the sun’s intense heat for about 3 days but here’s how to make it in your kitchen in under an hour.

Ingredients you need for Kilishi

Here are the ingredients I used:

  • 10 pieces wafer-thin beef
  • 1 tablespoon suya spice (suya pepper)
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1 teaspoon cloves (Kanafuru)
  • A small piece of ginger
  • 1 small stock cube
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon dry cayenne pepper seeds

Notes on the ingredients

  1. The beef you will use for Kilishi should be cut from the reddest part of the beef with no fat at all.
  2. Cut the beef as thin as possible. It is usually as thin as 3mm. The Mai Kilishis have the sharpest knife in the world. Their ability to cut a large blanket of beef so thinly is a skill that cannot be rivalled.
    Where I live, the butchers have an appliance for cutting beef into very thin fillets. Unfortunately, they cannot get a large blanket of beef so I manage the small pieces the size of my palm.
  3. You can buy the suya spice (suya pepper) in African food stores, you can also make yours. Visit How to make Nigerian Suya Spice for details.
  4. By 3 cloves of garlic I mean 3 small pieces of garlic you get when you break up a bulb of garlic.
  5. Cloves is a spice that gives the Kilishi a unique flavour.
  6. I used fresh ginger but you can use dry ground ones instead.
  7. You only need a small quantity of salt. You may not even need it if you do not eat a lot of salt. Be careful when adding salt else the Kilishi will be over-seasoned when done.
  8. You get the dry cayenne pepper seeds by removing the red part of the pepper.

Prepare the Kilishi Spice Solution

  1. Grind the cloves with a dry mill and set aside.
  2. Peel the garlic and ginger and pound/grind into a smooth paste.
  3. Add the ground cloves and crushed stock cubes to the garlic and ginger paste.
  4. And some water, stir and sieve to get an extract of these spices and seasoning.
  5. Add the suya spice and cayenne pepper seeds to the solution, stir and set aside.

Directions for making Kilishi

  1. Cut the beef into very thin fillets if it has not been done for you by the butchers.
  2. Cut off all traces of fat from the beef.
  3. Set your oven to 250°C (475F) or Gas Mark 9 to preheat. If your oven temperature settings are not up to these, use the highest possible setting but this means that your own drying times will change. If your oven has a fan, turn it on as well because it helps dry the beef faster.
  4. Sprinkle a tiny quantity of salt on the fillets of beef and spread them around. You only need a tiny quantity and you can skip salt altogether.
  5. Line your oven tray with a baking sheet and lay the pieces of beef flat on it.
  6. Put the tray of beef into the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Flip the beef every 5 minutes for even drying.
  7. After 15 minutes, bring out the beef from the oven and brush the Kilishi all over them, making sure that both sides of the beef are well covered.Note:
    The way they do it in the North is to dry the fillets of beef in the sun for 2 days then soak them in the Kilishi spice solution and spread in the sun (on flat rafia baskets) till dry.
    Some grill it after soaking in the Kilishi solution.
  8. Put them back in the oven and bake for additional 10 to 15 minutes. Flip them from time to time and this time, keep a very good eye on it else it will become bone dry. You want it dry and chewy not crunchy.

Please note that the Kilishi will become drier when it has cooled down completely so bear this in mind when deciding the time to bring it out of the oven.

Serve with more pepper (if you wish) and a chilled drink.