I love fresh coconut and one of  my favourite Caribbean pastries contain coconut, It is Coconut Turnover. Below is the recipe , I hope you enjoy it.

Coconut Turnovers

1 lb grated fresh coconut

3 ½ oz brown sugar

1 ½ plain flour

1 tsp salt

1 sachet easy bake yeast (7 g)

2 oz lard

2 oz butter

12 fl oz tepid water

Grated nutmeg

Grated cinnamon

Vanilla essence

Crumble  butter and lard with the flour

Mix in the yeast and salt

Add water and knead

Cover dough and leave to rise for three hours

Mix coconut with nutmeg, cinnamon and sugar

Place in a pan and add 5 tblp water

Simmer for ½ an hour

Put a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar in small amount of water and simmer until sugar dissolves. This is to be used as a glaze

Separate the dough into balls (approx. 15)

Flatten each ball onto a floured board, with a rolling pin

Place a tablespoon of coconut in the centre

Shape the circle into a moon shape

Brush the glaze over the turnover

Place the turnovers on to a tin lined with grease proof paper

Put into an oven . Gas mark 4 for an hour or until golden.

Leave to cool.

Delicious with a big mug of tea,

Dal Puri

This is a flat bread which is filled with spilt peas and fried. It is often served as with curry.

4 oz split peas

1 teaspoon turmeric

½ onion

1 spring onion

1 teaspoon salt

Black pepper to taste

For the dough

1 1/2 lbs  self raising flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

12 fluid oz tepid water

Oil for frying

To make the split peas

Add the turmeric to the split peas

Add water to the split peas and boil for approx. thirty minutes or until tender

Chop the onion and add to the split peas

Chop the spring onion and add to the split peas

Add the salt and black pepper

Remove the split peas from the heat

Mash the split peas

 

To make the dough

Mix the flour, salt,baking powder with the water

Knead into a dough for approx. 10 minutes

Put the dough in a bowl and cover

Leave to rest for 3 hours

To make the Dal Puri

Separate the dough into balls

Flatten out the balls

Place a tablespoon of the split peas in the flatten dough

Form back into a ball

Roll out onto a floured board

Heat the oil in a shallow frying pan

Make sure it is very hot, but not smoking

Put the dal puris, one at a time,  into the hot oil

Fry on one side until golden

Turn over and fry the other side

Remove from the oil and leave to drain on a paper towel.

                                                                              ENJOY

I have decided to share the recipes of the Caribbean dishes I enjoy. Many of the dishes are available in restaurants  and takeaways around the country but there are dishes which are no longer being cooked. I feel if we do not continue to cook these dishes they will be lost to a generation.



It would be good if people of all cultures attempted these dishes. They are not difficult to cook. Some of them may take a bit of time to prepare, but the execution is often easy to achieve, and with practice easy to master. I have been to a few Caribbean restaurants but I often find that they try to “water down” the dishes and make them more European. This takes away from the authenticity of the dish. Take away restaurants fare a lot better. Their dishes are definitely more authentic.



I don’t know why restaurants do this because I work with other cultures and they love our dishes just the way they should be. I once helped out at a fate which was held at my nephews primary school. We cooked authentic Caribbean food and our stall was the first to sell out. More surprisingly for me was that the people buying the food were predominately European.



I hope everyone will enjoy cooking these dishes and if there are any dishes they would like the recipes for please feel free to contact me.  Also if there are any dishes Caribbean dishes you would like to share with us , please feel free to contact me. I will cook it and put it on the site.



Many of the dishes I will be showcasing are dishes which I ate as a child growing up in England. My parents were originally from St Lucia in the Caribbean. They arrived in England in the late fifties, early sixties. They found that many of the ingredients which they had eaten in St Lucia were not easily available in  England. So they sometimes had to prepare dishes which were a  combination of English and Caribbean ingredients. However my mother often made food which originated in the Caribbean and I just loved the smell and taste of these foods.



Due to slavery and then indentured workers the Caribbean have a vast diversity of cultures. People from Africa , Asia and Europe have all left a legacy of vast cultures and food. It is not unusual to find food from Asia and Africa or Europe eaten side by side.


I hope everyone will enjoy cooking these dishes and if there are any dishes they would like the recipes for please feel free to contact me.