If you are like me Christmas is your favorite holiday. I enjoy family, friends and food (Three Fs). I, especially, look forward to making Belizean black fruit cake. I love fruit cake so much that 6 to 8 weeks before Christmas I start to soak the dried fruits for the cake. Here’s how I do it:
The cold season is upon us, folks. So, lets stay warm by having some hot chocolate. Better yet hot chocolate with a splash of coconut rum. Here’s a quick and easy recipe:
Raw Soursop Ice Cream
A Soursop is a delicious fruit grown in Belize and other Central American countries. It has a green leathery skin that is prickly. You don’t eat the skin but you can eat the white creamy insides. Use it to make any desserts like ice-cream, pops or ice bars or you can eat it by itself. You can find it online or Whole foods or Caribbean markets in the US. Here’s a simple dessert recipe using Soursop.
Belizeans include coconuts in everything they cook and bake. So, having a bread made of coconut is no exception. Actually, coconut bread is my absolute favorite bread. It is not only delicious but very easy to make. In some Latin countries it is also called Pan de Coco. Here’s a recipe:
Belize Cuisine - Lobster dish at Roberts Grove Placencia
Belize Cuisine has so much to do with seafood which is natural for a country with close to 200 miles of shoreline on the mainland and its offshore islands. We include favorites from conch, to shrimp, to fish and of course lobster. If you would like to contribute a Belize recipe for possible publication, please contact us using the contact link below.
Belize Shrimp With Rice
By Marta McNab
Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs. boiled shrimp
4 stalks celery chopped Dash Tabasco sauce
1 lg. onion chopped salt and pepper to taste 1 clove garlic minced
1 tin whole tomatoes
2 cups water
3 tbsps. cooking oil
2 cups rice
METHOD: Fry rice, onion, garlic and celery in hot cooking oil. Add tomatoes, seasoning, shrimps, Tabasco sauce and water. Cover tightly and cook slowly for about 50 minutes, or until rice is soft, stir occasionally. Serve on large dish, decorated with pimiento strips. Makes 6 — 8 servings.
Conch Fritters are such a part of Belizean culture that we include more two one recipes. Try them both and decide for yourself, which is the best!
Belize Conch Fritters
By Hortense Middleton
Ingredients:
2 cups ground conch
1/2 cup evaporated milk or coconut cream
2 tbsps. grated onion 1 cup flour
2 tbsps. grated hot green pepper 3/4 – 1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsps. baking powder
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper olive oil or vegetable lard for frying
METHOD: Clean conchs by peeling off dark outer skin. Rinse thoroughly in lime juice or vinegar. Grind. Combine ground conchs, onion, pepper and milk, and mix well. Sift dry ingredients together and add to conch mixture, beating until smooth. Use a desert spoon to drop batter into very hot oil; fry until evenly brown. Drain on paper towel. Serve while hot.
Belize Conch Fritters Recipe
By Norma Cooper
Ingredients
1 lb. cleaned conch 1 oz. sweet pepper
1/2 habanero pepper (or more, if you can take it)
1 oz. tomatoes 1 oz. chopped onions
1/2 lb. flour 2 tsps. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 cup water 1 tsp. lime juice
METHOD: Grind together conch, sweet pepper, habanero pepper, tomatoes and onions. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and black pepper and add to conch mixture in large bowl. Add water and lime juice to form a stiff consistency. Fry in deep fat measuring fritters by by tablespoonfuls over hot fire. Drain on absorbent paper. Serve hot. Use a teaspoon for cocktail size fritters.
Belize Fish Serre
By Angelina Cal
Ingredients
2 lbs. white fish (snapper, grouper, jewfish, snook , etc.)
4 green plantains
3 cups water
2 ozs. fat from pork
3 cloves garlic salt to taste 3 cups coconut milk
2 tbsps. cooking oil 1 med. onion
1 habanero pepper
METHOD: Brown fish slightly in cooking oil. Dice fat from pork an fry on low heat; add onion and brown slightly. In a separate contain( grate plantains, mix with a little coconut cream and salt and form into small dumplings. In a large pot, bring coconut milk and water to boil, add c from fried diced pork fat, onion, pepper and garlic. Add fish and then drop in plantain dumplings one at a time. Cook for 15 minutes longer. Serve hot with white rice.
Belize Lobster Thermidor Recipe
By Marie Roe
Ingredients
3 to 4 medium to large lobster or crawfish tails 4 tbsps. butter, 1 tsp. grated onion 4 tbsps. flour 1 cup sliced mushrooms 1 tsp. dry mustard, 1 1/2 cups evaporated milk 1 tsp. celery salt 1/2 cup buttered crumbs 1 cup full cream 1 egg yolk (slightly beaten) 3-4 tbsps. sherry 1 1/2 cups grated cheese pinch of cayenne pepper, 1 tbsp. lemon juice 1 1/2 tsps. salt
METHOD: Boil lobster, keeping shells whole. Remove meat, and cut into small pieces. Heat butter, add onion and mushrooms and cook over low heat until soft, but not browned. Stir in flour. Slowly add milk and cook, stirring constantly, over low heat until thickened. Add cream and seasoning. Stir a little of the hot sauce into the slightly beaten egg yolk, stir into remaining sauce.
Add cheese and stir over low heat until cheese is melted. Add sherry, lemon juice and lobster meat. Pile into shells, top with buttered crumbs. Bake at 375°F until browned.
Previous Topic
Index
