COPPERCallaloo recipe
In Saint Vincent callaloo is a full meal, not a side: dasheen leaves and okra are cooked down with salt beef, ground provisions and dumplings until the pot thickens on its own.
Ingredients
- 500 g dasheen (taro) leaves
- 200 g okra
- 300 g salted beef
- 400 ml coconut milk
- 400 g white sweet potato
- 1 onion
- 2 clove garlic
- 2 bunch thyme
- 1 scotch bonnet pepper
- 150 g all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp black pepper
How to make Callaloo
- Soak 300 g of salted beef in cold water for 1 hour, changing the water twice, then boil it in 1.5 L of fresh water for 30 minutes.
- Wash 500 g of dasheen leaves, strip the fibrous stems and chop them; slice 200 g of okra into rounds.
- Add the leaves, the okra, 1 chopped onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 sprigs of thyme and 400 g of diced white sweet potato to the pot. Cover and simmer 25 minutes.
- Crush everything against the side of the pot with a wooden swizzle stick until the leaves and okra collapse into a thick green soup; the okra is what gives the body, so do not skip it.
- Make dumplings with 150 g of flour, 80 ml of water and a pinch of salt, roll them into short fingers and drop them into the simmering pot.
- Pour in 400 ml of coconut milk and float 1 whole unpierced scotch bonnet on top, then simmer 15 minutes more until the dumplings are cooked through.
- Lift out the pepper, grind in black pepper and serve the soup as a main course, better still reheated the next day.
What is Callaloo?
Callaloo is a traditional dish from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, simmered in one pot, and takes about 2 hours and 25 minutes from start to finish. It is built around dasheen (taro) leaves, coconut milk and white sweet potato. The recipe below uses 11 ingredients and is written out step by step.
How long does Callaloo take?
At 145 minutes it is slower than 61% of the 586 dishes in Copper's atlas. The method runs to 7 steps, the longest being 30 minutes.
Any tips for making Callaloo?
Do not skip the okra, which gives the soup its body, and float the scotch bonnet whole and unpierced, then lift it out before serving.
How Callaloo compares
Hard to find elsewhere: dasheen (taro) leaves (1) and white sweet potato (2).
Copper documents Saint Vincent and the Grenadines alongside 197 other countries. Every recipe is free to read, with the full ingredient list and every step.