Conch soup is a traditional coastal dish in Belize. Queen conches are those big beautiful snail shells you see photos of in ads for the Caribbean. Being a large snail, they are also full of delicious muscle, with a hint of sweetness like a scallop, and the toughness of something that inches along on its foot. There is a way around that however. First you knock a hole in the pointy end of the shell, then you stick a knife in the hole and cut the conch where it attaches to its shell. Then you pull it out, as in the picture below: Once you have it out you cut off the guts, eyes and the thick yellowish "skin" leaving a white tasty yet tough muscle. Now, grab a hammer or better yet, a meat mallet, and beat the crap out of that foot until it tenderizes. Cut it up into pieces and you are ready to make conch ceviche or conch soup, or just add some wasabi and soy and enjoy as is-a real island treat when out fishing for the day: Conch soup takes these tenderized pieces of sweet deliciousness and turns them into a hearty and filling stew made with a brown flour roux. Conch soup is one of those traditional dishes made by "feel", with ingredients varying according to what is at hand and what each cook prefers, but some items are mandatory. Ingredients: At least a pound or two of cleaned, tenderized conch cut into big bite sized pieces. One salt brined piece of pigtail or other similar salty pork product. Garlic Onion Sweet Pepper Some kind of what we call in Belize "Groundfoods". Sweet potato, coco-yam, cassava, breadfruit or green banana or plantain can be used, cut into large chunks so they wont dissolve as they cook. Some firm ripe plantain to add a sweet balance to the dish If you want to throw in okra, chayote or any other addition, feel free. This dish is flexible. Tomatoes are a common addition to the pot if you desire. Flour Coconut oil Seasonings: I like cilantro or culantro and a big leafed tropical oregano that is common throughout Belize and which some people call "thyme". Fresh ground black pepper. The brined pigtail is salty, so dont add salt til you have tasted the finished product. Procedure: 1. Cut up the pigtail into pieces and heat up several tablespoons of coconut oil in a heavy bottomed pot. Toss in the pigtail and 3-4 tablespoons of flour and stir vigorously until the flour-oil mixture turns a medium brown. 2. Add chopped up onion, garlic, sweet pepper, ground foods and other ingredients (okra, tomatoes, whatever else you are adding) except for the conch. Saute for a few minutes then add water to cover the ingredients. 3. Simmer until the groundfoods are cooked through then add the ripe plantain and conch and cook until tender. 4. Serve with habanero pepper sauce and a cold glass of lime juice to cut the heaviness of the meal. Traditionally rice cooked with coconut milk is served with these hearty stews, but it is already filling without that addition. In Belize this is a dish that is considered to help cure a hangover and also is thought to improve sexual stamina and performance. It also happens to be delicious.
Belize – April 2008 These are my girls; I know I can always count on them. Although the four of us haven’t lived in the same city since college, we get together as often as life allows.…
Are you interested in learning to make Belizean home cooked stew chicken with rice and beans? Grab the Belize recipe here and make the best rice & beans!
Today we will share another recipe which is loved by many people the world over. The recipe is Belizean Ceviche and you can find more details below.
Traditional Belizean style ceviche made with Caribbean shrimps Ingredients: About half a pound of raw (uncooked) cleaned shrimp 2 cups diced ripe tomatoes 1 large onion diced 1 bunch cilantro chopped 1 habanero pepper minced 5 good limes 1 tsp salt (salt to taste) Instruc...
Best in Belize Cuisine. World famous Belize Rice and Beans and recipe derived from the original local Meighan’s Beans, includes stew beans and rice.
Belize is both a figurative and literal melting pot when it comes to cuisine. Here are 10 delicious Belizean foods to try on your vacation.
I originally posted a recipe for homemade habanero pepper sauce (also called onion sauce, depending on the ratio of onions to peppers) in my post on serre, a classic Belizean fish preparation. However, this ubiquitous sauce really deserves a post of its own. Pepper or Onion sauce This is an essential accompaniment to many Belizean dishes. Dont eat serre or other coconut milk based foods without it-the acidity of the lime and vinegar and the heat of the habanero cut the richness of the coconut milk and create a perfect balance of flavor. Whether you call it pepper or onion sauce depends on the ratio of onion to habanero-go with what works best for your tastebuds and heat preference. Habanero peppers Onion Cilantro (optional) Carrot (optional) Lime juice Vinegar Preparation: Mince an onion and add to taste a quantity of finely minced habanero pepper. Remove the seeds and white internal membrane if you want to tone down the heat even more. Add minced cilantro, lime juice, vinegar and salt to taste. Some people like more vinegar, some like more lime juice. Experiment and see which you prefer. Let the whole concoction sit in a glass container. You can leave it covered on the counter for several weeks and it will stay perfectly fresh as the onion and pepper pickle themselves in the lime juice and vinegar. NOTE: Most Belizeans do not mince the onion or habanero pepper, instead slicing them up into bigger pieces as you see in the photo above. I mince it because I like to have little bits of habanero all over my food. Its up to you which you prefer. Some folks use large chunks of pepper and onion and then never actually dip the pepper out, instead leaving it to flavour the vinegar, which is used to spice up food, and the pickled onions. Some people also add sliced carrots and even cucumber to the jar, which makes for some very spicy and delicious pickles. Serve this with Serre and other heavy stews, with refried beans at breakfast, on top of guacamole or anytime you need some hot pepper flavour.
This is a traditional Belizean Shrimp Ceviche recipe.
Belizean Escabeche (from Flavors of Belize restaurant in Los Angeles) An incredibly flavorful soup, with a similar acidic/vinegar base like traditional Escabeche, but this is a version found mainly in Belize. This was a real surprise and something I would go back for...over and over. The chicken seemed to be roasted first and then placed in the soup. (Here's a version of the soup I found, but not from this restaurant) Belizean Chicken Stew "Escabeche" In a large soup pot, brown in 3 T of oil: 2-3 lb. chicken, cut in pieces Add: 2 qt. water 1-2- cloves garlic, minced salt and pepper to taste 3 whole cloves 2 t. dried oregano 1/4 c. vinegar 2-3 whole chili peppers Bring to a boil, then simmer until chicken is tender, about 20-30 minutes Meanwhile, cut into rings: 1 lb. onions Soak in warm water 30 minutes. Drain and add to other ingredients. Cook 2 minutes. Serve with tortillas. recipe from: Extending the Table: A World Community Cookbook by J.H. Chlabach, Herald Press 1991 ***************************************************************************************************************** My photostream with a black background: www.fluidr.com/photos/lesyeuxheureux All rights reserved - Copyright © les yeux heureux All rights reserved - Copyright © Christopher Casilli For more information www.flickr.com/people/lesyeuxheureux/ Please... Do not reproduce, copy, edit, publish, transmit or upload this image in any way without my expressed written permission. Thanks!
A traditional Belizean Flour Tortillas recipe.
Although there are many variations on Stew Chicken, most traditional recipes keep it simple – just chicken, red recado, onion, and water. I added bell pepper, Habanero, and lime juice because this variation seems a little more lively.
Are you interested in learning to make Belizean home cooked stew chicken with rice and beans? Grab the Belize recipe here and make the best rice & beans!
Hudut: Belizean Mashed Plantains with Coconut Fish Stew
Recipe for Belizean Christmas Ham
From Belizean sayings and fun facts to practical travel tips and local celebrities, all the things to know about Belize before you visit.
Check out these exotic Belize cuisines from around Belize.
I bought a couple of these on the bus from Orange Walk to Belize City - sweet, with a flavor of creamed corn
This nice and heavy bread is very common in Belize, to the point where I wouldn't be surprised if 70% or more of the country eats it every morning for breakfast. This little bread can be used to make an AMAZING breakfast sandwich (move over Egg McMuffin), to just be eated warm with butter,...
I must confess I'm a rum biased person. For many years, I worked for a Venezuelan rum company and I love rum. This is why, every time I see a recipe with...
The cook at the Rectory, Dona Betty, makes hands-down the best stewed chicken I have ever had. And believe me, living in Belize means you eat a lot of stewed chicken. It's one of 3 things you are likely to get anywhere you might be given food (the other things being cheese dip and tiny sandwiches with a spicy mystery spread). People have requested this recipe for years (this is for you, Jena!) but a) I eat it so often I had no desire to make it at home and b) Dona Betty doesn't speak English and maybe I still don't speak much Spanish. Ahem. Anyways, Daniel translated for me one day, then I tried it at home... soooo good. Caveat: Dona Betty just listed the ingredients for me. I don't think her amounts matter much anyways, as she is normally cooking for 30 people so the amounts would be really different. I will tell what things I measured, but this recipe is pretty flexible. Also, Dona Betty uses a Belizean season all spice mixture that is ubiquitous here, but has no ingredients listed. As far as I can tell, it contains salt, recado, oregano, lime, garlic and onion powder- all of which are in the dish, so I don't think it will matter much not to add it. The spice recado is essential to this dish, it gives it the flavour and color. I have seen it in Mexican groceries in the States. It is also called achiote. It mostly come in a clay-like block, but see if you can find the powder, it is much easier to work with. If not, just make the recado into a paste by adding some water. Ingredients 4 chicken breasts (I used this because I had it. Use whatever you like, bone-in is great, just remove the skin) 2 cubes chicken bullion juice of one lime 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce 1/2 tablespoon Belizean Season all 2 tablespoons recado (the red kind) 3 tsp garlic powder sprinkling of pepper 1 green pepper, diced 1 medium onion, diced 1 tomato, diced 1 tablespoon sugar oil Add chicken bullion cubes (add a little water to make them a paste), soy sauce, lime juice, garlic powder, season all, and 1 tablespoon recado to chicken and let marinate for an hour or two. Coat a deep pan or dutch oven with oil. Brown the sugar in the oil until it melts like this: Brown the chicken in the sugar/oil mixture. Dump in the leftover marinade mixture, the remaining tablespoon of recado, and the diced vegetables. Cover, turn to low, and let simmer about 40 minutes or so. Check that the chicken looks cooked. Taste the broth, you may need a little more salt or recado powder at this point-- you want a nice orange color. Now let the chicken simmer without a lid to thicken the sauce. That's about the right thickness. Stewed chicken is traditionally served with fried plantain, coleslaw, and rice and beans. Rice and beans are really easy to make if you have a pot of stewed beans (or I supposed you could use beans from a can, if you are desperate, but you need to salt and season them well). Rice and Beans Take the amount of non-instant rice you want, and wash. Instead of adding water, add the liquid from stewed beans till it covers the rice. Add enough water so the rice is covered plus about 1 cm. Add beans (the amount varies with how much rice you are making- I do about 1/2 cup of beans to every cup of rice). Cover and bring to a rolling boil. Reduce heat and cook till rice is done. Serve the stewed chicken over the rice and beans. Enjoy! Edited to add: So this recipe by far gets the most views on my blog. Please leave a comment if you have tried it! Let me know if it turned out well, or if I should redo the recipe with more exact measurements. Thanks!
Blog o gotowaniu i podróżach kulinarnych Polki mieszkającej w Portugalii.
The ANUGA food show, which is the world’s largest and most important food and beverage fair, had the participation of Marie Sharp Proud Products of Belize.
I love stewed beans-called "stew beans" in Belizean Kriol. Everyone eats them in Belize and although the seasonings are a bit different wi...
