As you might have read in my previous post I am from Surinam and that our kitchen is divers due to the different races living in the country. I will tell about the Surinam kitchen generally and I will share my recipes with you.
Meat and fish
Chicken
In the Surinam kitchen we do not use boneless chicken. We like the chicken with the bones in the surinam kitchen you are allowed to chew on the bones it's not inappropriate.
We clean the chicken with vinegar and lemon that is a tradition that is past from previous generations.
Pork
We hardly eat pork and beef.
Beef
Usually we use salted meat ( beef)
This is salted beef with a special seasoning you can keep this for a long time in the fridge. This meat is from the breast of the cow.
fish and shrimps
Because of the many rivers and fact that the country is located at sea we ate a lot of fish. Wolf fish also known as anjumara is a species of freshwater fish found in the rivers of South America.
Kwie Kwie is a catfish . It is known as tamuatá in Brazil, atipa in French Guiana, hassar in Guyana, cascadu(ra) in Trinidad and Tobago, and busco or currito in Venezuela.
There are many more but too much to mention.
Rice
Is the main dish in the surinam kitchen due to my diabetes I sometimes use brown rice or parboiled rice. Most of the time I use a rice cooker.
Ribs
We call it "krabbetjes" it's a rib from a pork and they have salted and steamed it. You can also use it in bean soup or in pinto beans. It is not the same as a spare rib, because you cook these.
This is the short overview of the suriname kitchen. In my posts I will introduce you to the many different dishes and will try to explain the history or origin of the dish.
The other day my brother came over with his family to help me with my garden project, I will fill you in on the whole garden project in another post. It's always a problem to decide what to prepare when you have guests.
I could not decide what I would make them for diner. I was contemplating between thai fried rice or Surinam fried rice.
I chose the Surinam version, the rice is yellow. Its an old Surinam traditional recipe, there are a lot of variations on the internet but I have my own family recipe that I have learned from my mother in law.
My mother in law is a great cook, in her teen years she and her mom made a lot of home cook meals, syrups, snacks and sold them. So I have learned from the best.
Sometimes she and my husband give me complements on my cooking because it tastes exactly like hers. To me this is a great complement. As I am getting older I feel the need to learn how to prepare the traditional Surinam dishes and the delicious Surinam cakes. Taking a closer look at the dishes I see a lot of influences from other cultures in the surinam kitchen. Maybe I can persuade my mother in law into making a video with me when she makes of her famous dishes.
Preparations
Back to the dish, I have chosen to make the colorful yellow Rice.
It's called Masoesa Alesi ( Alesi = Rice in Surinam)
Prep Time : 10 minutes
Cook Time : 60 minutes
Nutrition facts (per portion) : Calories: 910; Fat Content: 13gr;
I went to the Chinese market and bought the masoesa aka the passion food powder to color the rice yellow this is not saffran.
What do you need:
Rice - 500gr.
1 sachet - yellow masoesa powder (passion fruit)
3 - smoked chicken thighs
200 gr smoked pork ribs
200gr - salted meat
50gr - dried shrimps optional
50gr - creamed coconut
400ml - coconut milk
3 - Bouillon cubes
1 - tomato chopped
1 1/2 tablespoon ground pepper
6 tbs spoon - Oil
Salt (just a pinch, add more salt if you are you to more salty dishes)
1 1/2 tablespoon tomato paste
If you cannot find the masoesa powder there is the masoesa fruit or passion fruit.
Instructions on making fresh masoesa
Masoesa looks like a funny fruit from the outside with its dark purple skin. The skin is divided in four parts so it will come of easily. The inside of de masoesa is orange with black seeds. For this recipe we are only going to use the orange part.
You need to measure how much water you will need for the rice. You need lukewarm water to massage the masoesa after doing so the orange color will show. If you're done you need to pour the fruit into a strainer because we only need the orange liquid. Put pressure on the fruit to squeeze the orange liquid out. Now you will have an alternative to the masoesa powder.
And if it is not possible for you to find the powder or the masoesa fruit you can use Saffran to make the Yellow Rice.
Instructions
Step 1: Boil the pork ribs and the salted beef, when it's done you cut them into small pieces.
Step 2: Cut the smoked chicken into pieces (Remove the bones if there are any)
Step 3: Put the dried shrimps in water until they start to bloat
Step 4: Add oil to the meat and let it cook.
Step 5: Slice the tomatoes and add them together with the knorr cubes to the meat cooking in the pan.
Step 6: Add coconut milk and 500 ml water and let it sit for 10 minutes then add ground pepper, salt and knorr cubes.
Step 7: Mix the masoesa powder with the rice and stir it real good, after this add 25gr of the creamed coconut into the mixture.
Step 8: Put the masoesa alesi mixture into the pan and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. After the 15 minutes stir the rice.
Step 9: Let the rice simmer for another 30 minutes and stir the rice again, after this the rice is ready to be served.
