Callaloo

Where This Goes Wrong

Cook it well past the point where the leaves look done.

Okra is the thickener. Do not leave it out.

Scotch bonnet whole and out before it bursts, unless you want real heat.

Cooking Callaloo

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1. Wash the leaves very thoroughly and strip out the thick stems. Wear gloves if using fresh dasheen, which can irritate.

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2. Heat the coconut oil in a large pot and cook the onion for 8 minutes.

   Mark done Start 8 min timer

3. Add the garlic, spring onion and thyme for 1 minute.

   Mark done Start 1 min timer

4. Add the leaves in handfuls, letting each wilt before the next.

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5. Add the okra, water, coconut milk, salt and pepper, and the salted pork if using.

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6. Sit the whole scotch bonnet on top, unpierced.

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7. Simmer, half covered, for 35 to 40 minutes, until the leaves have completely collapsed and the okra has dissolved.

   Mark done Start 35 min timer

8. Lift out the scotch bonnet and the thyme stalks.

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9. Blend with a stick blender — traditionally a swizzle stick — until thick and smooth but not liquidised.

   Mark done

10. Add the crab if using and simmer 8 minutes more, then stir in the butter (if using) and chadon beni and check the salt.

    Mark done

Related guide: Ingredient substitutions.

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What's Going On Here

Okra is not a vegetable in this dish so much as a thickener — its mucilage is what gives callaloo its particular smooth, slightly viscous body. The leaves have to be cooked far past the point where they look done, until they lose all structure, which is the difference between callaloo and creamed greens.

Storage and Reheating

Refrigerate up to 3 days and freeze 3 months. Reheat gently.

Changing the Recipe

• If coconut is a problem, a cooking cream (dairy or plant-based) can stand in for the coconut milk in a sauce; the dish will lose the coconut flavour and taste noticeably different.
• Out of spring onions? A small regular onion, finely sliced, or a few chives stirred in at the end both cover the job.
• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

Serving Callaloo

• Rice and stewed chicken
• Fried plantain
• Macaroni pie

The Numbers per Serving

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.

Vegan when made without the crab claws and butter. Vegetarian when made without the crab claws.

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