Culturally Influenced Quick Fix Meals

So you came home from work and you're feeling to tired to cook and on top of that you're stomach doing more kung fu than Jet Li in a movie. So you're thinking what is the quickest thing you can whip up in the kitchen in 5-10 mins.Well here is a little history on some of our 'Trini' quick fix meals.

The term 'corned' comes from putting meat in a large crock and covering it with large rock salt that was referred to as 'corns of salt'.Before corned beef was salted beef which was practiced in ancient times in cold countries, they found that the meat didn't spoil if it made contact with enough salt.

The Irish were the biggest exporters of corned beef till 1825 where it was introduced to America.

Curried corned beef with potatoes and rice

Ramen noodles with vegetables

Ramen was introduced to Japan by some Chinese tradesmen in the 19th century.The word Ramen means 'noodles in soup broth'. When the U.S occupied Japan it imported wheat as away to contain communism.In 1970, ramen was introduced to the U.S by a company called Nissin which generated over 6 billion in profits.

It's pasta so of course it has some Italian origin.It is also said that
U.S President Thomas Jefferson at the time encountered this dish in
Italy and brough back to recipe to the United States where the famous
company Kraft put it a box in 1937.
'Lasanis' in the 13th century was said to be the first mac and cheese recipe

Macaroni and cheese

where parmesan cheese was originally used before they started
using cheddar cheese.

East Indian cooking

Roti is the most popular East Indian dish and can be found in restaurants and roti shops nationwide. Our roti is quite different to what they serve in India and other parts of the world where a bread name 'nan' is served with the curry. There are different types of roti; dhalpuri, doshi and buss up shot just to name a few. These are prepared with any curried meats such as; chicken, duck, goat and shrimp. Complimenting these are dishes such as;curried mango, pumpkin and bodi.

Check out this link for the top ten roti shops in Trinidad ttp://www.macocaribbean.com/trinidad/restaurants/trinidad-and-tobagos-10-best-roti-shops/

Some of the cooking utensils the East Indians brought with them to Trinidad are;

Tawa- baking stone, where the roti is cooked
Belna - rolling pin

Dabila - flat, wooden spoon

Muser-pestle
Dhall-ghotni - swizzle stick
Sup - strainer
Muser-pestle

Some of the fruits and vegetables that are popular in the foods prepared are;
Dhal- split peas
Aloo-potato
Baigan- egg plant
Ghee- clarified butter

The many influences of Pelau

Pelau is one of the dishes that really exemplifies Trinidad cuisine because it is a mixture of various cooking styles. Pelau or rice with meat, vegetables, is a variation or East Indian 'Pilau' which originated in Persia where it is called 'polow'. The Anglicanized version of the dish is called 'pilaf'. The process of browning the meat in sugar for Pelau is an African tradition and ketchup. Chicken is the most popular meat, even beef can be used. Pigeon peas are traditionally used for the dish but pinto beans or black peas can also be used.

Pelau goes by other names such as; polo, polloi, Palau , plov. Pelau is traditionally a rice dish cooked in seasoned broth it attained its brown color by being stirred with pieces of cooked onion, as well as spices. Now we burn sugar which we use as browning for the rice. 'Pilaf' is mostly common from all parts of the world such as;Balkan, Middle East, South Asia, East Africa  and Latin America. Also,it is a staple food and national dish in Afghan and Iran.

Afghan pilaf

Polav pilaf

I love my Pelau with Cole saw or a slice of avocado. Other side dishes that go with Pelau are fresh salad, macaroni salad and potato salad.

Amerindian Foods

Amerindians have existed in Trinidad and Tobago for over 6,000 years and numbered at least 40,000 people at the time of Columbus's discovery. Other than place names such as: Caroni, Arouca, Caura, Chaguanas and Mayaro just to name a few and their skills for making canoes, fans and mats.Amerindians were the ones who first discovered some of our vegetables like, yam, cassava and sweet potatoes.

They made 'cassava bread 'which was originally called 'cassareep' where they would remove the poisonous prussia acid of cassava juice into a vinegar where they would then make

     cassava bread.

'Roucou' which was used for flavoring meat and giving it color, we now use in our pastelles.

 'Chardon beni' which was used as a seasoning for meat and we still use to season almost anything.

Other foods included 'farine' and' corn patella's which also has a Spanish influence, but we'll talk about that in a later post with our Spanish influence foods. Also 'warap' which is a cereal and don't forget our love for cocoa was first introduced by the Amerindians.

Amerindians and Wildmeat

Oh how Trinis like their wild meat, well we have the Amerindians to thank for that. They were the ones who hunted and killed the little critters. Their primary activities were hunting and agriculture, so they would hunt and kill agouti, iguana which is also calls opossum, lappe, 'quenk' better known as wild hog and tattoo known to the rest of the world as armadillo.

Amerindians preparing the meat

 'Buccaneering" was a method practiced by the Amerindians.It came from the word 'buccan' for smoking meat.This was used was for preserving the meat and is still practiced in many parts of Trinidad.

Tattoo also known as armadillo

 Wild meat is highly sought after during hunting season  from the 1st October - the end of February. Now wild meat is prepared as both a Créole and Curried dish and usually goes with dumpling or ground provision.

A pot with cooked wild meat

Trini Liming Foods

Where there is food and drinks, there are Trinis. Trinis have to be the happiest people in the world because they know how to deal with stress and how to make every occasion into a 'lime'

Bake and shark is a Trini favourite, whether we buy it at Maracas beach or the side of the road, there are always long lines.There are many sauces to choose from, tamarind, chado beni, garlic and our traditional sauces like ketchup and don't forget the cole saw that crunh you get when you bite into it which is the best part for me

I don't think I know any Trini who doesn't like doubles. Doubles is the only food we eating for breakfast, lunch and dinner By far the best doubles I have tasted was in Debe oh gosh that thing cut the barra was soft, the sauces was on point, the channa was well seasoned.My favourite sauces are tamarind and coconut.Big up to the doubles men who wok tediously to ensure before or after work or even on the weekend we get our doubles and don't forget that red solo or apple j

Mostly popular around carnival time, this Trini favourite.Corn soup is not only a liming food but a full meal.The fun part is that you can put anything in it, pigtail, dumpling or provision.What gives it that creamy taste and flavou is the coconut milk, then you add your seasonings like primento, garlic, chado beni, pumpkin and chives yum yum.

Holiday Foods

So we just celebrated Divali in November and Christmas is coming up, so what makes these holidays so special for us of course its the celebration of light overcoming darkness for the Hindu and Christian community but I think its' the food too. Divali is celebrated by the East Indian community, if you're not one you look forward to being invited by your friends and neighbors to eat. Other than the channa and aloe, there re other dishes like lapsi' which is a broken wheat, ghee with nuts, raisins and dried fruits. Other than 'mohanbhog' which is prepared just like parasad.

Then there is Christmas which has Spanish and English influences. We got pastelles and poncho de crème from the Spanish. I mentioned in a previous post that we got our baking and broiling methods from the British so that's how we end up baking our ham and turkey, even our popular fruit 'black' cake.

Trini condiments

I don't know what it is with Trinidadian and sauce. We putting sauce on every and anything, we telling the doubles man we want all the sauces, we buy a pizza we loading it ketchup, mustard and pepper, bake and shark with all the sauces. I love the tamarind and chado beni sauces. Even when we are at Subway, some people will say they buy subway for the bread, but I heard most people like subway because of their sauce. We are a 'sauce' people I guess is because of our rich taste for flavor. Some of these sauces we enjoy  are of different origins. Garlic sauce has an Syrian origin, because of their love for garlic. However, most of our sauces are of East Indian influence.
Firstly, we have pepper sauce, pepper is a popular seasoning among the East Indian community. 'Hot peppers' also known as habaneros are the main ingredient are minced or chopped and is combined with other local spices,some people even mix it with vegetables. Also there is 'mother in law' another popular are hot peppers mixed with carrots, Carlyle and other spices. There also chutneys that come in different flavors such as; tamarind and mango. Kuchela and anchor are made from some of our local fruits like tamarind, pommecthere and mango.

African influenced delicacies

Who doesn't like desserts, especially when you have a sweet tooth like mine. Some of our local delicacies have both an African and East Indian origin, but for this post I would be naming our African influenced desserts; these include' cassava or coconut pone, sweet bread, bene balls, jub jub, sugar cake, nut cake, chili bibi and fudge. I loveeeeeeeeeeeee sugar cake and fudge. These are mostly prepared and found in our sister isle. You can get these is in a store but if you want the real thing Tobago is the place. I think every Trinidadian when they go to Tobago not only look forward to the crab and dumpling but also the sweets.

French Creole Influence

The most popular French Créole influence is the language also known as 'patois'. It came about because of our historical background in terms of settlement by persons from the French islands. After the Haitian and French revolution many people migrated from the French islands to Trinidad.Some of our foods have a Créole adaptation such as
Pommeythere - French word is pommel de cy there
Avocado - Zaboka
Other words include; pomerac, chataigne and cerise
 asaome of our popular foods include, stewed chicken, oil down and soups. I think the most popular Créole influenced foods are our soups. The word soup comes from the French word 'soup or broth. Soups has become quite a popular dish in Trinidad and varies from cow heel to oxtail and even corn soup with other ingredients such as provision, dumplings and other flavored meats like pigtail.

The British Invasion

The British introduced some of their cooking methods such as baking and broiling, so most of our dishes like baked chicken, baked ham, baked beans and even our baked pies like Shepard's pie originated from Britain we have to thank the British for introducing to us. A little history before I continue. The British captured Trinidad in 1799 and negotiated an amicable treaty of rule with the Spanish, then enslaved Africans who were brought into work in the sugar plantations in 1802 and the island become a colony. After slavery was abolished Britain landowners imported thousands of indentured laborers from India, China and the Middle East. In 1889 Britain joined the smaller island Tobago as part of its administration. The islands achieved Independence from England in 1962 and became the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in 1976.


We would be celebrating Christmas in a couple of months and we are definitely looking forward to those delicious foods like pastelles and black cake believe or not the British were the first to introduce Christmas pudding, which we call black cake. In England, Christmas pudding also known as plum pudding is commonly served on Christmas day and goes back to medieval times. The pudding is from dried fruits and eggs and is flavored with different spices , it also has alcohol and can be preserved for months without being refrigerated.That's how we know to put alcohol in our fruit cake so it would stay longer.

Must have drinks

The whole world knows how much Trinis love to 'lime' not the fruit lime but in more common terms it means 'hang out', 'socialize', 'get together'. A good 'lime' consists of good company, good food and of course good drinks, must have the drinks. The thing about Trinidadians we use every occasion as an excuse to drink, not just around Carnival and Christmas. We drinking for a birthday celebration, even a child's christening, a cricket lime, a river or beach lime. Where there are drinks there are Trinis. We especially look forward to the end of the work week and its Friday to have a few beers but I know some folks don't wait until its Friday hmmm...

Now for a little history about rum... Rum is made from molasses  which is made from sugar cane through a process of fermentation and distillation. Sugar cane was one of the crops cultivated by the Indentured laborers during the late 1800's when they arrived in Trinidad. Years later.... thanks to Angostura we now enjoy White Oak, Puncheon 'fire water', never me again *cough *cough and Black and White.

We took innovation to a whole new level and created a wide variety of drinks with different flavours. We have the non alcoholic beverages for those who can't handle the hard stuff like; Sandy (sorrel, lime and ginger), Ginseng (original, lemon/lime/grape, apple and kola champagne and, Malta and Smalta. For the soft/sweet drink lovers what American would call 'sodas' we have Solo and peardrax both locally made and for the beer lovers Carib and Stag.

Moving away from the alcohol ,to healthier drinks are our punches.Respect to the punch men at every street corner that make our bowels move faster.Oh gosh you can't beat back a barabadine or sour sop punch,tome channa is only to eat with curry ah not drinking it. chains, carrot, seamoss and paw paw are among some favourites. So to the punch men and Angostura, SM Jaleel we salute you as we lift our glasses, here is to being 'Trini'.

East Indian breakfast dishes

The East Indian culture plays an influential role in Trinidad and Tobago food. In a previous post I talked about African influenced breakfast dishes. Now in this post I would talk about breakfast dishes that we enjoy thanks from the East Indian community. I mentioned doubles s a liming food but its also a popular breakfast food. Another, popular dish is sada roti which is s roasted flat bread served with choke. Choka is the name given to anything sauteed and seasoned with black pepper, it can be anything tomato, pumpkin, potato, even bodi or patchoi. Aloo pies is another favorite and can be found in any pie or roti shop or even by the doubles man. Aloe pie is s fried dough with seasoned potato, served with many sauces like chutney or pepper sauce.

Saheena is a paste mixed with split peas and dasheen bush and tastes really good with chutney. Katchori is a seasoned split peas fried into a ball and best eaten with chutney and pepper. Baiganee is a paste like mixture of split pas and egg plant with seasoning it also goes good with chutney.

Spanish foods

The Spanish has influenced our culture in many ways. It is especially reflected at Christmas time in our music, song, dance and even our food. Popular foods such s carambola, sapodilla, granadilla, cassava bread, sancocho or sancoche and the most popular of them all pastelles. Pastelles originally were called 'hallaca' from Venezuela. Patella has its origins in the Spanish colonized who came from South America in the 16th or 17th century.
Pastelles is most popular dish around Christmas time and Trinidadian love to eat
pastelles with chow chow, ketchup or garlic sauce.

Creole/ African Influenced lunch

Some of the lunches we cook and enjoy have African origin, one of the most popular we enjoy is 'callaloo'. Callaloo is prepared using dasheen bush. I remember when I visited my sister in London, we couldn't get dasheen bush so we used spinach instead which wasn't the same but it did. You can put also most anything in callaloo ochre, crab and pigtail. I prefer pigtail. Some important ingredients callaloo must have is coconut milk, pumpkin, pimento and chado beni which I mentioned in an earlier post was used a lot by the Amerindian for seasoning meat. Callaloo can be eaten with anything from plantain to cassava and crab and dumpling.

Creole/African Influenced breakfast dishes

Trinis are always on the move, the busiest periods being morning when we are hustling to drop the kids off to school and then getting to work on time. So we don't have time to prepare breakfast, so we end up buying breakfast. Don't get me wrong I love doubles and pies but that is not a proper  breakfast. Luckily there are places that provide us with a proper breakfast. Some of these breakfast dishes are of both East Indian and Créole/African origin. In this post I would talk about the Créole/African influenced dishes. Firstly, there is 'fry bake' which id just fried dough it can be served with anything, popular dishes are salt fish, smoke herring, fried plantain. Some people even eat it with stew chicken but I believe stew chicken is to eat with rice and macaroni not fry bake. I enjoy my fry bake with buljol it must have cucumber, tomatoes and boiled egg or I am not eating it. Another tasty bake is coconut bake which is really coconut bread you eat it with the same things we enjoy with 'fry bake' but I enjoy mine with butter and cheese melted.  In Trini words "dat thing does lash".

Trini Popular Arabic foods

The Syrian -Lebanese community migrated to Trinidad in 1904 and most of the Arabic recipes were handed down to mothers by their grandmothers who brought their cooking traditions with them.
Gyros being the most popular quick fix meal and street food with much popularity like doubles and corn soup has earned a reputation as being one of Trinidad and Tobago's favorite roadside foods.There are other Arabic favorites like kebabs and garlic potatoes. Kebabs, another favorite are skewered chunks of meat or fish with different types vegetables traditionally cooked over charcoal. And then there is garlic sauce.

The Syrian/ Lebanese community use a lot of garlic which is one of the most important ingredients in their cooking and have influenced many Trinbagonians to drizzle just an out anything with the rich creamy that has become a popular condiment with our favorite foods. Another sauce that is used but not as popular as the garlic sauce is the 'Tahnini' sauce that is made of sesame seed and olive oil and is used as a base for popular dishes like hummus and Baba ganoush. It is now used to make the sauces to put in gyros, wraps and fish dishes.

The Chinese Influence

A Chinese meal typically consists of two or more. A carbohydrate or starch such as rice or noodles accompanying dishes of meat, fish and vegetables. Spices such as ginger, garlic and onions are used in food preparation and preservation. In Chinese culture knives and forks  are considered barbaric because they are seen as weapons. However in Trinidad and Tobago the Chinese community use both chopsticks, knives and forks.

China was considered an agricultural based economy in time of a natural disaster would wipe out the food crop. To deal with this problem the Chinese people developed food preservation skills to extend shelf life of many foods. The Chinese who came to Trinidad bought these skills and have become popular can the wider community. This can be seen in the consumption of preserved mango, plum and pommecythere. Many of which we enjoy from time to time.

The Syrian/Lebanese contribution

The last group of immigrants to venture the shores of Trinidad and Tobago originated from the region of Greater Syria and comprises of Iraq, Syria, Palestine and Lebanon. Many of the Lebanon hailed from villages of Bichandoun and Amyoun, while the Syrians came from villages, they then emigrated to the Caribbean to escape religious persecution and economic hardship.

We have a melting pot of Arabic foods. We have even adopted some of their food preparation methods such as; grilling, roasting and baking. Even some of our popular seasonings that we use in our daily food such as; garlic, lemon, mint and olive oil is Syrian influenced because they use a lot of seasoning in their food .

 Popular Arabic foods found in many Arabic restaurants include includes;
Arabic rice -mined beef or lamb cooked in chicken stock, stir fried with rice, flavored with onions, salt and pepper and cinnamon.
Arabic bread - (pita) is a flat round bread easily split to make a sandwich.
 Sunsun bread is a thin crisped roasted bread with sesame seeds.

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Popular Chinese Appetizers

These appetizers are quite a delight and are available at almost any Chinese restaurants.

 Chow mein is a well known and liked dish. It became popular because of two basic ingredients noodles and stock were easily attainable .Noodles were the primary carbohydrate in the Chinese population. Stocks were made from chicken, pork bones and occasionally herbs that are simmered all day.

Pow is a small dumpling traditionally made with a pork filling, but these days the filling can be chicken, vegetable or something sweet

Wonton is a popular appetizer in most if not all the Chinese restaurants usually sold by the dozen, I prefer the shrimp wonton drizzled with soy sauce and ketchup.