Pepperpot recipe

A stew cooked down until a spoon stands in it: salted meat, greens, okra and squash, with cornmeal fungee alongside.

13 hours and 55 minutesmedium12 ingredients

Ingredients

• 500 g salted pigtail
• 500 g spinach
• 250 g okra
• 1 eggplant
• 400 g pumpkin
• 150 g plain flour
• 1 onion
• 3 clove garlic
• 3 thyme
• 1 scotch bonnet pepper
• 200 g cornmeal
• 1 tsp salt

How to make Pepperpot

1. Soak 500 g of salted pigtail or salt beef overnight, changing the water twice, then boil it in fresh water for 45 minutes until it begins to soften. This cured meat is where the depth of pepperpot comes from.
2. Add 400 g of diced pumpkin, 1 diced eggplant, 1 chopped onion, 3 chopped garlic cloves and 3 sprigs of thyme, and simmer 20 minutes until the vegetables collapse and thicken the pot.
3. Stir in 250 g of chopped spinach and 150 g of sliced okra, and drop in 1 whole scotch bonnet, left whole so it perfumes the stew without burning it.
4. Make the spinners: rub 150 g of flour with a pinch of salt and just enough water to form a stiff dough, roll small pieces between your palms into little cigars and drop them in.
5. Simmer 20-25 minutes more, uncovered, until the stew is thick and sticky enough to hold a spoon upright. Fish out the pepper before it bursts.
6. For the fungee, boil the remaining 250 g of sliced okra in 600 ml of salted water for 5 minutes and keep that water.
7. Slacken 200 g of fine cornmeal with cold water to a paste, pour it into the okra water and beat hard over low heat for 10-15 minutes until it is stiff and smooth.
8. Shape the fungee into balls with a wet spoon and serve them beside the pepperpot.

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