Soups

Trinidad Corn Soup

Ingredients:
2 tbs vegetable oil
2 onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb smoked bones (optional) (I have NEVER used this)
1lb english potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 carrots, diced
1/3 cup chopped chives
1/4 cup chopped celery
1/3 cup fresh thyme, chopped
2 pimento peppers, chopped and seeded
3/4 cup yellow split peas, washed and picked over
8 cups beef stock or vegetable stock
6 ears corn, cut into two inch pieces
1 hot pepper
1/2 cup coconut milk (optional)
1/2 cup chopped chadon beni or cilantro

Cooking method:

1. Heat oil in a large soup pot or dutch oven. Add onions and garlic and sauté until fragrant.
2. Add smoked bones, potatoes, carrots, chives, celery, thyme and pimento peppers. Cook for about five minutes more.
3. Add split peas and broth, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and bring to a boil.
4. Add hot pepper and coconut milk.
5. Cover and simmer for about one hour until peas are soft.
6. Purée soup to a thick and creamy consistency and return to pot.
7. Add corn and dumplings and continue to cook for a further 20 minutes until cooked and dumplings float to the surface.
8. Add chadon beni.
9. Remove from heat, taste and adjust seasonings. If soup seems too tick you can add a little water. Serves 6-8.

Dumplings

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 tsp butter
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Cooking Method:

1. Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl and rub butter into flour until mixture is grainy.
2. Slowly add all water and knead to a stiff dough. Cover and let rest for about 30 minutes.
3. Divide dumpling dough into two pieces. Roll each piece into a long rope about 12 inches long.
4. Cut two-inch lengths and drop into boiling soup.

(The dumpling recipe doesn't tell you how much water to add, and I can't remember how much I put. Just enough til it looks like dumpling dough!)