Recipes

Ingredients:                                               

4 cups elbow macaroni
2 12 oz. cans low-fat carnation evaporated milk (3 ½ cups)
1 cup water
3 cups white sugar (or to taste)
2 tsp. salt
4 eggs
¼ cup butter or margarine
1 cup raisins
2 ½ tsp. nutmeg
2 tbsp. vanilla flavouring

Baking Directions:

Add macaroni to large pan with sufficient water to cover (approximately 4 cups). Add salt and bring to boil until tender (approximately 25 -30 minutes). Meanwhile, beat eggs and sugar together, then add vanilla and nutmeg. Mix well and set aside. In a separate medium sauce pan, heat evaporated milk plus 1 cup of water and butter to almost a boiling point. Remove from heat and add to sugar mixture. Drain cooked macaroni. Add macaroni and raisins to the milk mixture and stir well. (This mixture will have quite a bit of liquid, but this will form a nice custard textured pudding once baked.)

Grease a large baking dish with butter or margarine, add the macaroni mixture and sprinkle with additional nutmeg. Bake at 350° F for 1 hour or until golden brown. (Pudding should be firm enough to cut, but moist and not dry).

Prep Time:

20 minutes

Total Time:

1-2 hours 

You'll need:

Special Equipment

Food Grinder
Frying Pan or Deep Fryer
 

Fritter Mix 

Makes about 40 fritters. Serves 6 people with 6 pieces each.

5 conchs (cut into 1-inch pieces)
1/2 large green pepper (cut into lengths)
1/2 large red pepper (cut into lengths)
2 large onions (cut in quarters)
2 hot peppers (cut and seeded)
2 limes for juice
2 tbsp. minced garlic
1 tbsp. black pepper
1 tbsp. salt
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 egg
10 tbsp. of all-purpose flour
vegetable oil (1 ½ to 2 inches in frying pan)  

Tartar Sauce
1 ½ cup of mayo
1 cup of sweet relish
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 tbsp. sriracha
lime wedges

Note: Make the conch mix the day before and store in the refrigerator to allow time for flavours to meld together. Tartar sauce can also be prepared beforehand. Just combine all the ingredients and mix well. Cover and refrigerate.

Use your food grinder to grind together the conch pieces, red and green peppers, onions and hot peppers. Once done, add in your lime juice, minced garlic, black pepper, salt, dried basil, and red pepper flakes; make sure to mix it thoroughly. Then add your egg and mix again. Lastly, add your flour one tablespoon at a time and mix until combined. You can either plastic wrap it and let sit in the fridge for an hour or overnight. 

Once you're ready to fry, fill the deep-frying pan with about 1 ½ to 2 inches of a high heat oil of your choice. Turn stove on to a medium-low heat.

Use two spoons to form 1-inch balls and drop them into the hot oil one at a time. Each fritter should fry about 5-7 minutes or until golden brown and the inside is cooked. Repeat until you have used all the conch mixture. Serve with your tartar sauce and lime wedges.

Ingredients:                                               

½ bag of red beans
1 can coconut milk
1 onion, diced
3 scotch bonnet peppers, whole
1 tbsp. black pepper
½ tbsp. salt

Baking Directions

Cook beans until tender, add rice, coconut milk, onion, black pepper and salt, and add enough water to just cover the ingredients. Place Scotch Bonnet peppers on top, careful not to burst them. Simmer until rice is tender. Remove pepper before serving.

Ingredients:                                               

8 – 10 white medium potatoes (or approximately 8 cups cubed)
½ green pepper
¼ red pepper
½ medium onion
1 cup low-fat mayonnaise
¼ cup mustard
1 tbsp. sugar
¼ tsp. black pepper
1 can beets (drained and diced)
1 can sweet peas (drained)
optional: 3 hard-boiled eggs sliced (for garnish)

Baking Directions

Peel and cut potatoes in cubes, boil in salted water until tender. Chop peppers and onion and set aside. Mix together mayonnaise, mustard, sugar and black pepper and set aside. Drain potatoes once tender and place in large mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. The salad may be served warm, but is normally served after it has been refrigerated for 2 to 3 hours.

Ingredients:                                               

4 lbs. cassava, grated
2 lbs. dark brown sugar
2 cans coconut milk (plus additional 3 – 4 cups of water)
1 tbsp. salt
½ nutmeg, grated
1 tsp. all spice
1 tsp. cinnamon

Baking Directions

Bring coconut milk to a boil. Add sugar, stirring until completely dissolved and continue to boil for about 45 minutes. Reserve ½ cup of the coconut milk/sugar mixture for later. Combine remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl, stir until well blended. Add hot coconut milk mixture and stir well. Mixture should be of a thick liquid texture. Use 2 tablespoons of coconut milk mixture to grease 9” baking pan. Pour batter into prepared baking pan and bake at 350°F (basting occasionally with reserved coconut milk mixture) for 2 ½ to 3 hours or until knife inserted in centre comes out clean. Spread any remaining coconut milk mixture over top of cake. Place cake on top of stove to cool completely.

Cooking Directions

Wash crabs and boil in large pot of water for 15 minutes, remove from boiling water and cool. Crack legs and open backs to remove all meat, set aside.

Remove seeds from scotch bonnet pepper and dice pepper and onions. Sauté onions and scotch bonnet peppers in oil over medium heat until onions begin to get transparent. Add crab meat, black pepper and salt, stirring occasionally. Cook over medium heat for an additional 5 to 10 minutes.

Serve with “bread kind”, a local dish that consists of a variety of starchy vegetables including pumpkin, squash, plantain, potato, cassava and breadfruit.

Optional: Seasoned crab meat may also be stuffed in cleaned crab backs and baked. Cover stuffed backs with foil paper and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. 

Recipe by: Chef Ms. Margaret Powell (Savannah, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands)

Ingredients:                                               

4 – 6 Lobsters                                                             
½ cup chicken stock                                                                              
½ cup red pepper, diced                                                                
½ cup green pepper, diced                                                                     
½ cup onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ scotch bonnet pepper, chopped and seeded
salt to taste
pepper to taste
thyme to taste 
2 tsp. corn starch, dissolved in water
2 tbsp. olive oil or butter

Cooking Directions

Rinse lobster under cold running water. Bring water and salt to boil in a 12 quart pot. Quickly plunge lobsters, headfirst, into boiling water. Cover and boil for 20 minutes or until lobsters turn red.

Remove lobster and allow it to cool. Remove lobster tails and cut shell down to middle to remove the meat. Cut the tail meat down the middle to remove the vein inside. Remove large claws and smaller legs by twisting them away from the body. A nut cracker can be used to crush the claw and legs to remove the meat inside.

Chop lobster meat. Heat butter or olive oil in large pan over low heat. Sauté red, green and scotch bonnet peppers, thyme and garlic. Add salt and chicken stock to pan. Then, add lobster meat and sauté for 10 to 15 minutes. Thicken sauce with the corn starch and water mixture.

Serve with your choice of vegetables, salad and/or rice.

Recipe by: Mrs. Venita “Annie” Dilbert (Little Cayman, Cayman Islands)

Ingredients:                                               

1 lb. salt beef, diced                                                             
1½ cup dry red kidney beans, soaked overnight                                                                              
1 whole scotch bonnet pepper                                                                 
2 scallions, chopped                                                                     
¼ tsp. thyme
1 clove garlic, chopped and pressed
2 cups water
3 cups coconut milk
2 bay leaves
6 pimento seeds 
2 whole cloves of garlic

Cooking Directions

Cover the diced salt beef with water and bring to a boil. Repeat as necessary, draining and replacing water to eliminate some of the brine. In a separate pan, place beans in water, add coconut milk, bay leaves, pimento seeds, whole garlic, whole scotch bonnet pepper and scallions. Slowly bring to a boil and simmer for about 2 hours, or until beans are tender. Add salt beef, onions, thyme and crushed garlic and simmer for another 20 minutes. Adjust seasonings if necessary. Remove the bay leaves and scotch bonnet pepper, being careful not to burst the pepper. Serve with white rice and your choice of salad or vegetables.

Recipe by: Mrs. Corita (George Town, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands)

Ingredients:                                               

10 lbs. fresh beef (pieces of every cut including portions with fat)                                                             
½ lb. onions, diced                                                                              
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 scotch bonnet peppers (to taste)
1 tbsp. black pepper                                                                
1 ½ tbsp. salt
seasoning peppers (to taste)  

Cooking Directions

Trim portions of fat from lean meat and set aside. Season beef with salt, pepper, finely chopped garlic and diced onions. Add in diced and seeded seasoning peppers to taste. Place fat portions in a large heavy pot, heating until rendered. Place the seasoned beef in pot and reduce heat to simmer. Place whole scotch bonnet peppers over meat. Cover with a tightly sealed lid and simmer on low for 4 to 6 hours depending on tenderness desired. Remove whole peppers carefully after cooking to prevent bursting, then stir and allow meat to shred.

Serve with rice and beans and your choice of steamed vegetables.

Recipe by Mr. Alvin A. McLaughlin (East End, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands)

Ingredients:                                               

5 lbs. conch meat                                                             
2 onions                                                                              
1 green pepper                                                                
1 red pepper                                                                     
4 scallions
2 tsp. salt
½ tsp. black pepper
½ tsp. Season-All
2 coconuts (for fresh coconut milk)  
2 tbsp. flour
Hot Pepper (to taste)

Sea Pie Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
dash of salt
water (enough to make the flour into a dough)

Conch Stew Cooking Directions

Clean conch meat and pound to tenderize. Boil conch for 2 - 3 hours or until tender. Make Sea Pie while conch cooks (instructions below). Once cool, cut conch in bite size pieces and season. Add all ingredients, except flour, to pan and simmer for 10 to 20 minutes. Mix flour with 1 cup water and pour into pan to thicken. Add Sea Pie pieces and continue to cook for an additional 10 minutes.

Sea Pie Cooking Directions

Make dough with flour, pinch of salt and water so that you can roll out as thin as possible, then cut into 2 ½” x 2 ½” squares. Let set for 30 minutes then stretch squares to thin them out and add to conch stew mixture.

Serve with white rice, plantain, breadfruit or your choice of vegetables.

Recipe by: Ms. Shelly (Janice) Chisholm from North Side