Barbadian Cou Cou Recipe

COU-COU- the national dish of Barbados when eaten with flying fish; loosely based on the Middle Eastern cous-cous but the okras make the difference!

INGREDIENTS

• 4 okras thinly sliced
• 4 cups boiling water
• 2 cups corn meal
• 2 cups cold water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp butter

METHOD

• Cook the okras in boiling water for 10 to 12 minutes. While they are cooking, mix the corn meal and cold water to a smooth paste.
• When the okras are soft, lower the heat, add salt and corn meal mixture, stirring constantly with a "cou-cou stick" (wooden spoon) until the mixture becomes fairly stiff.
• When mixture breaks away cleanly from the side of the saucepan, the cou-cou is ready.

Butter a bowl; turn the mixture out neatly onto it, shaking it so that it takes on the shape of the bowl. Turn it out on to a serving dish, make an indentation in the top and place a knob of butter in it.


Of course the meal won't be complete unless you have a glass of cold bajan mauby to wash your cou cou down. Note it is traditionally enjoyed on a Saturday afternoon.

Barbadian Cuisine

Barbados cuisine is characterized as Caribbean cuisine with influences borrowed from the international cuisine. Barbados national dish is coucou and Flying Fish. Coucou is a Barbados recipe which derives from African cuisine and it comes in a variety of types such as green banana cou-cou, breadfruit cou-cou. Cou-cou is normally served along with okra and fried Flying Fish. Barbadian cuisine also offers a large variety of meats such as rabbit, Duck, Ham, Pork, Chicken, Lamb, Beef, Turkey and Veal; meat is served fried, curried, pickled, grilled, roasted and baked. Barbadians like spicy meals and they have numerous spicy sauces used for flavoring the dishes; their special sauce is called “hot sauce”. East Indian elements are obvious in Barbadian cuisine by the numerous dishes which include roasted ingredients such as roasted fish, roasted Chicken, roasted Beef served generally with potatoes. Some of the traditional dishes include rice and peas, macaroni pie, pudding and souse, yam pie, sweet potato pie, scalloped potatoes, garlic baked potatoes, rice and spinach, pelau, chow mein, mashed Potato and pepper pot.