Around the World in Foodventures (Antigua and Barbuda: DUCANA)

One of the most popular foods in Antigua and Barbuda is Pepperpot, which is their adaptation of the same meal from Guyana.  Since Pepperpot happens to be the national dish of Guyana, I decided to save it for when I virtually travel there.  For Antigua and Barbuda, then, I decided to go with something more on the sweet side: Ducana:

Ducana is a relatively sweet hash-brown-like dumpling traditionally cooked by wrapping the mixture in lovely little banana leaf packages (which I guess also makes them tamale-like), and then boiling them.  It's often served as a side dish along with more savory items (like Salt Fish), but is sometimes treated as a dessert too; which is the application I went for today.  Made from root vegetables, sweet fruits, sugar, and some spices; it's really easy to put together.  People vary the amounts of each ingredient and how fine they chop or grate them, depending on how sweet and firm they prefer their final product to be.

I studied these two videos and their linked written blog posts, before deciding to use fresh Tannia (a root vegetable I'd never heard of or eaten before) instead of All-Purpose Flour:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NUDUc2lH8w
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3RvrVN8NYI

Ducana are delicious warm, cold, and lightly-fried as a snack (which of course I tried).  Here are photos of the one I quickly pan fried in a mixture of butter and oil:

The bonus of this week's adventure is that shopping for Tannia allowed us to find a great local Caribbean grocery store, which I am now keeping on my list of go-to's.

This post is part of my project: "Around the World in Foodventures" (I decided I want to expand my culinary horizons even further by making the national dish or a popular recipe, or some signature food or traditional meal from every country in the world. Maybe it'll happen alphabetically, or by region, in random order, or something else. I figure if we can't (yet?) travel everywhere, we at least have the luxury of being able to taste it. It’ll be fun and interesting, but obviously, will take a long time to get through -- as I'll only be doing it once a week or so at most. I am chronicling the journey here.)

“If I’m an advocate of anything, it’s to move…Walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food.” --Tony Bourdain

Sweet & Savory Moroccan Jackfruit "Tagine" - made in a Crock Pot

I've been meaning to do this for a while, and having made a stop at H Mart over the weekend to pick up the fresh jackfruit, was finally able to get around to it last night.  This is essentially an easy modification of what I made almost 10 (wow) years ago, but I am going to write out the full recipe here since it of course comes along with a new photo.

Other than the inclusion of Honey, this recipe is Vegan.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 of an average-size Jackfruit (after breaking down, mine yielded about 2.5 pounds of "meat")
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 pound of onions, peeled & quartered
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 pound of carrots, cut into chunks (I don't peel them; you certainly can if you want)
• 1 large can of whole tomatoes, drained
• 8 ounces of dates, pitted and torn/cut in half
• 6 ounces of raisins (I used a mix of golden and dark, because that's what I had on hand)
• 2 tablespoons of honey
• 1 cup of vegetable broth
• 1 cinnamon stick (or 1/2-1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon)
• 2 teaspoons of cumin powder
• 2 teaspoons of coriander powder
• 1 teaspoon of ground ginger powder
• 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon each of salt & pepper
• Toasted sliced almonds (for garnish)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Get a medium saucepot mostly full of water on the stove and bring it to a boil.
2. While the water is coming up to boil -- break down the jackfruit by separating all the yellow and white bits of "meat" from the core and the skin.  (You'll probably need to use a knife, as well as tearing things apart with your hands, to get the most yield.  It's a good idea to wear gloves and oil your knife blade, because depending on the ripeness of your particular specimen, there may be a lot of very sticky sap involved. I got lucky and didn't encounter much of that this time.)  Also, find the seed buried inside each yellow section, fish them out, and keep them -- they are edible, have a nutty texture, and we're going to use them.  The white and yellow jackfruit meat can just go right into the crock pot.
3. Put the seeds into the boiling water and cook them for 20-30 minutes, until the skins start to crack open.  Once they are cooked, scoop them out of the water and set them aside to cool.
4. Drop the carrots into the same boiling water and par-cook them for about 3-5 minutes.  When done, scoop them out and put them into the crock pot.
5. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and brown the onion quarters over a fairly high heat until nicely charred.  Tip them into the crock pot.
6. Hopefully, your seeds are cool enough at this point that you can handle them.  Peel the white skins off (discard the skins), and throw those seeds into the crock pot.
7. Finally, put everything else (except the almonds) into the crock pot and stir it all together until well incorporated.
8. Cook on high for 5-6 hours, stirring occasionally, until the carrots are tender to your liking and the jackfruit is shredding apart.
9. Serve over your favorite cooked grain (rice, quinoa, barley, couscous, etc.), with some some toasted sliced almonds sprinkled on top.