Happy Meat-Free Monday, Everyone! I’m back in the U.S. after a week-long vacation in balmy Montego Bay, Jamaica. As I perused a gift shop searching for trinkets and souvenirs, I discovered the book Vegetarian Cooking Jamaican Style by chef Ayesha Williams. Always excited to add to my burgeoning cookbook collection, I bought it. Inspired by the exotic ingredients, I whipped up Williams’ recipe for “Irie Pepper Pot Soup.”
This spicy soup calls for callaloo, a Caribbean vegetable akin to spinach (absolutely delish!), and Scotch bonnet pepper, an insanely hot Caribbean chili pepper. Unfortunately, my grocery stores stock neither ingredient. Instead, I improvised and used spinach and habanero pepper. It’s an intriguing dish with complex flavors: the heat from the habanero, the freshness from the spinach, the creaminess from the coconut milk and the spicy warmth from the Jamaican allspice. It looks a bit like “lawn in a bowl,” but don’t be fooled. It’s hearty and delish; perfect for those upcoming cool nights.
Jamaican Pepper Pot Soup
4 1/2 cups vegetable broth
2 cups spinach (or callaloo), fresh & roughly chopped
2 cups spinach (or callaloo), boiled & pureed
1 1/2 cups carrots, chopped
1 cup white onion, diced
1 cup scallions, chopped
1/2 cup coconut milk
2 tablespoons Jamaican allspice
1 habenero chili pepper, cut in half with seeds removed
2-3 tablespoons Earth Balance soy butter
Salt & pepper to taste
Directions:
Cook 2 cups of spinach by boiling. When done, then puree in blender and set aside.
In a large skillet, heat butter and saute onions, carrots and scallions for approximately 3 minutes. While these are cooking, in a large pot, heat vegetable broth. Add onions, carrots, scallions and butter to broth in pot. Mix well. Boil for 3 minutes on high heat.
Add allspice, habenero and fresh chopped spinach. Cook on medium heat for 5 minutes.
Remove habenero halves. Add pureed spinach and coconut milk. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer on low heat for 10 minutes.
Serves 4
Bon appetit!
I’m sure this tastes good and all but it looks like something…I can’t place my finger on what that something is….that I probably wouldn’t put back in my stomach. Key words: “back in my stomach”. I’m sure it’s great though. Also, sorry for being so immature. We all know appearences can be deceiving, you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, etc.
I do love Habenero peppers, I imagine if one wanted a spicier version of this soup they could leave the seeds in to raise the tongue-burning quotient. Mmmmm…. Tongue burning….
Let me know when the recipe includes ghost peppers.
Don’t even bring up, “Ghost peppers!”
I lived in an old apartment, haunted by the damn things, back in the mid 90’s.
You’d be trying to sleep, and they’d start up in the kitchen, banging around pots & pans, whispering, “Cook me…coooooooook me….”
Later, you’d get up, pour a bowl of “apple jacks” and there they were, floating in the milk.
My roomate was even possessed by one.
We called in a gardener to perform an exorcism.
Interested on taking a spirit journey, are we?
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