Episode 3 Caribbean Food Made Easy

I'm Levi Roots and I have a passion for food.

Every since I was a little boy in Jamaica I've always loved to cook.

Now I want to take you on a mouthwatering journey through my favourite flavours.

I'm travelling around Jamaica and across the UK,

showing you classic Caribbean dishes that will give your taste buds the tropical treatment.

I'll show you how sunshine ingredients can spice up

anyone's cooking and bring the taste of the Caribbean to your kitchen.

It's delicious, it's healthy and it's so easy.

This week I'm bringing Caribbean sunshine to the West Country.

'I'll be spicing up freshly caught fish on a Cornish beach.'

-Definitely hot.

-That's hot!

'I'm in Bristol exploring a flavour packed twist on a British classic.'

That's wonderful.

'And cooking up the ultimate vegetarian treat on the allotment.'

I'm heading for the south-western tip of Cornwall.

I spent my childhood in Jamaica, where you are never far from the sea.

And never short of great fish to eat.

If I close my eyes I can almost imagine I was ten years old again,

the silky sand under my feet, the roar of the ocean...

But this is Cornwall! Not Jamaica!

And Lord ha' mercy, it's so cool!

'Cornwall is also the name of one of the three counties of Jamaica.

'They have more in common than you might think.

'They have stunning beaches and, best of all, it's a great place to go fishing.

'You can even catch the same fish,

'mackerel.

'These guys are from the local angling club

'and if they can catch me some fish I'm gonna show them how to cook it Caribbean stylee.

'Pete is an old hand and I've also got expert help from Liam and his younger brother, Kieran.

-Pete, show me how it's done.

-Right, always two hands on the rod.

-Two hands on the rod.

-The line on the very end of your index finger.

-That's it, not bad at all.

-Is that all right?

'You have to get up pretty early to stand the best chance of catching the mackerel.

'It's just after dawn and we're already in competition with the gannets.'

This is fantastic, guys, I'm really enjoying myself.

It does take you back a bit, when I was a boy, like your age.

Me and my mate, we would have our line and our fishing rod hidden out in the bushes

and every day we would go out there and spend hours and hours out there catching fish.

-Do you guys ever eat the fish that you catch?

-No, we haven't before.

What! No! I can't believe that!

-What's the point of fishing, then? We're gonna eat today's ones, aren't we?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Fantastic!

'Before long the fish start biting...

'thank goodness!

'Mackerel is a very popular breakfast in Jamaica and, man, am I ready for breakfast!'

What I'm gonna be doing today is spicy mackerel with green bananas

and the great thing is we've caught the mackerel ourselves, didn't we?

-Yeah.

-Respect you.

'This recipe involves simmering our ocean-fresh mackerel in a spiced onion and tomato sauce.

'The real twist is the addition of those green bananas.

'Fish of all you have to clean the fish, chop up the tomatoes and prepare the bananas.

'Green bananas are simply unripe versions of your standard banana.

'The skin can be tough and hard to peel, but I have a tip.'

I've put these in hot water for about 45 minutes,

just so they get a little bit tender.

I'll slit my bananas with a knife so it's nice and easy to peel.

You know, in the Caribbean they say if a girl can't peel a green banana

she'll never get a husband.

So, all young ladies, this is how you do it.

When you've got your bananas peeled, put them into some boiling water.

That can cook away for about 10 minutes or so.

Right, Liam, bring those mackerel over, I think we're about ready for them.

-There we go.

-Tell me about it, what do you like to cook the best?

All I cook is baked beans on toast.

-Beans on toast?!

-Yeah.

-What?!

You need to boil the mackerel in a little water

for six to eight minutes.

Now, for the spicy bit, I'm gonna dive into my Caribbean sunshine kit.

I take this kit everywhere.

In it are all the herbs and spices for Caribbean cookery.

Like nutmeg, ginger, allspice, lovely fresh thyme...

I can't do without these!

My hot, hot, hot Scotch bonnet. Yeah!

This dish isn't complicated.

It just involves serious chopping. Red onion, a couple of garlic cloves

and your thyme and Scotch bonnet chilli.

-Who said Caribbean cooking was difficult?

-Didn't hear it!

Let's fish out the fish! HE LAUGHS

You guys should be learning Jamaican patois, you know.

One of the first things that you should learn to say in Jamaican patois is "Lord ha' mercy".

Come on, let me hear you say it, man.

-Lord ha' mercy!

-Respect you.

-Liam...

-Lord ha' mercy.

Spoken like a true Jamaican! What?!

Out with the bones, easy-peasy.

You douse the fish in lime juice and sprinkle over some allspice,

or pimento as it's called in the Caribbean.

And, while that's absorbing the flavour,

fry your chopped vegetables in a little olive oil.

Straight in with it, my man. Kieran?

-Are you ready with your padalocious garlic and tomato?

-I surely am.

Well, off you go, in with it.

-Can you smell that fantastic smell coming, lad?

-It's smelling awesome.

Once that's sizzling away, add two bay leaves,

the chopped thyme and the Scotch bonnet pepper.

Right, I'm gonna let that fry through

until it becomes nice and tender and all the flavours burst through.

-I think our bananas should be ready now, don't you?

-I think so.

Let's get them off. Kieran, what sort of stuff do you like to cook?

Pasta dishes, all sorts of veg and stuff.

Yeah, cool, I love cooking my version of my Rasta pasta.

Rasta pasta, I like the name.

Time to add the mackerel to the mix.

Can you imagine waking up to this?

-Cor, it'd be yummy.

-Absolutely fantastic.

-All right, Kieran, are you ready with those bananas?

-Yeah.

-Let's go.

All we need to do now is to add our final ingredient, our lovely green chopped coriander.

This is great for breakfast or you can eat it any time of the day.

It works just as well with potatoes or rice

if you don't fancy green bananas.

And could there be a better place to eat mackerel than down on the beach,

next to the sea it was swimming around in, hours earlier?

All right, lads, we've caught our own fish, we've cooked our own fish.

Now tell me, how does it taste?

-It's definitely hot.

-That's hot!

That's hot.

-Tastes good.

-Tastes good?

-Yeah, definitely.

-Good. And it's great

-that you've actually caught it and cooked it yourself.

-Yeah, definitely.

-Kieran?

-It's nice with the bananas,

-nice and sweet, but...pretty spicy.

-Come on, man, have a taste.

I love it, I love spicy food. I love all of it.

The mackerel, the banana, all of it.

Do you think you'll be cooking Levi Roots stylee at home now?

-Certainly will, my wife told me to get the ingredients tomorrow and she'll do it.

-Fantastic.

'I just hope Pete's wife knows how to handle those green bananas.

'There are significant links between Cornwall and the Caribbean.

'Sir William Trelawny, who was an early governor of Jamaica,

'came from Falmouth and gave Cornish names to many Jamaican towns.

'And there's one popular snack that you'll find all over the Caribbean

'that has an unmistakable Cornish heritage.'

The Cornish pasty provided the inspiration for one of my favourite takeaway treats, the Jamaican patty.

Now I think it's time to return the favour by bringing the patty back to the land of its forefathers.

'The Chalk family have been making pasties for 60 years

'and Sarah Chalk is the third generation of a pasty dynasty.

'I want to see what she'll make of my sunny vegetable patties.'

-Come on in.

-Thank you very much.

'These patties are perfect picnic food

'and the flavour to savour is ginger, from the sunshine kit.

'The delicious vegetable filling also gets some tang from chopped coriander.

'Now, Sarah is making her traditional Cornish pasties

'but I'm sure she won't be able to resist my golden vegetarian patties.

'Like all Jamaican patties, they get their colour from adding turmeric to the shortcrust pastry mix.'

Well, one thing I know about my patties is that they'll be a little bit more sexier than your pasties.

It's only cos yours are yellow.

Well, it's the sunshine of the Caribbean, you know. Yes!

All right, Sarah, what have you got in your pasties?

-Well, we put a mixture of potato, onion and turnip.

-Yeah.

Then we put skirt beef on the top, it's not minced, it's always

diced meat so it's a bit nicer. What have you got in yours, then?

Well, for my sunshine Jamaican patties I've got a bit of butternut squash,

I've got some carrots and I've also got some yellow peppers.

I've actually boiled these for a little bit just to get them soft, nice and juicy.

Then I add sweet corn to give crunch and

chopped spring onions, or scallions as they're called in the Caribbean.

Finally, the grated ginger and chopped coriander for that exotic tang.

Nice and fresh.

Double Gloucester cheese for a bit of body.

I'm gonna add just a little bit of salt and pepper

and now let's just give it a twirl.

-It looks lovely and the smell is gorgeous.

-Fantastic.

The smell of the ginger. Mmm, lovely.

You put the vegetable mixture in the centre of each pastry circle

and then wrap it up!

But, while Sarah's crimp goes over the top, Jamaican patties

have a half moon shape with the crimp around the side.

A last bit of beautifying with a beaten egg glaze

and they're all ready for the oven.

Respect you.

-In we go.

-Fantastic. Bye-bye.

'Now let's see what the old-school pasty eaters of Falmouth have to say about Jamaican patties.

'I hope they'll be polite.'

That is bloody good.

-Full of Caribbean sunshine.

-I like it.

-I could eat them all day long.

-Fabulocious. That's fantastic.

-Smells gorgeous. What have you put in the pastry to make it yellow?

-Turmeric.

-Mmm.

Can you feel sunshine going through because it's sunshine flavours and colours and everything like that.

-That was what I was gonna say, yeah.

-It's making me want more.

-Can we have another one to share?

-Yeah.

-Oh, thank you.

That's so brilliant.

Wow!

Sarah, there is one verdict that really counts. Yours!

So I've saved my final patty for you.

-Will you have a go and tell me what you think?

-Course I will.

-Brilliant!

Lovely.

Mmm.

-Mmm, very good.

-Good?

-Mmm.

-Fantastic.

It's gingery and spicy. Very nice.

Spread the message and move on.

Yeah...

Next stop is Bristol, where's there's a local Caribbean restaurant

that's already turning on the locals to the flavours I love.

'Beverley Forbes was born in Bristol but grew up eating her mother's Jamaican food.'

Thanks so much for coming down.

'Her restaurant is popular with the city's West Indian community

'but she has lots of customers who are new to Caribbean food too.

'She's going to give a British favourite, steak and chips, a whole new wardrobe,

'dressing it up in a spicy sauce and using sweet potatoes for the chips.

'And she will also be cooking with a fabulous Caribbean fruit called ackee.'

I'm just de-blinging my bling here.

I can see you're getting prepared, I like it!

-What can I do, have you got any jobs for me?

-If you just slice those onions up for me.

Tell me, Bev, where did the recipe for this Caribbean pepper steak come from?

This actually came from my mum.

-Your mum.

-I wasn't really a beef person.

-The sauce was the thing that I loved more than anything.

-Yes.

And so when you combine all these wonderful ingredients

with the scallion and the thyme there's a wonderful marriage going on in the pot.

When you put the beef in it, it just seals it.

-Absolutely.

-And it's wonderful.

'When she moved into this restaurant, Beverley inherited what's known as

'a Chinese range, designed for wok cooking.

'She discovered woks are well suited to Caribbean cuisine.'

It's an incredibly quick way of cooking food. You get really good distribution of heat.

The food can be cooked just as well as we'd do it traditionally at home

but it'll be done a lot quicker.

'So to start off that spicy sauce

'sweet peppers, garlic and onions go into the wok.'

Do you want me to show you how to do it with style?

All right, essentially, you just get your spoon and the wok

and you're just flipping.

Now she's told me!

Put some music on and dance with it.

And, at this point now, I would add the tomatoes.

-I need you to put some thyme in there.

-Just chuck it all in, yeah?

Just chuck it in,

-and I also need you to put in a good slug of soy sauce.

-A good slug.

-All right.

-Is that cool?

Yeah. Put that in, my darling. Aren't you gentle? Just chuck it in!

We don't need to use vegetable stock or beef stock or anything because you've got enough flavours here.

-Everything's in here.

-Exactly. So if we just use what's in there.

-How much water?

-About half of that, put that in there.

Then we'll mix it and see what happens. That is beautiful.

Now it's my turn to do some cooking. I'm now gonna cook the steak.

'This needs hardly any oil. Just rub it in and sear it in a very hot pan.'

Then you can cook it whether you want it rare, medium or well done.

-And in the Caribbean we like our food well done.

-Well done!

'Once the steak is cooked to your liking, transfer it to the wok.'

Then just mix it all up together.

-You can actually pour the sauce over the steak as well.

-I see, yeah.

Bathe it in that lovely sauce.

Bathe it. Bathe it.

'That's the steak. On to the chips.'

The sweet potatoes that I'm gonna be using are white sweet potatoes.

People know sweet potatoes as being those lovely orange sweet potatoes.

I just find they hold too much water.

These are nice and dry and knobbly.

-Knobbly!

-They are, aren't they? They're very knobbly.

Nice and knobbly. All right, Bev, where would you get hold of these?

-Because these are not available everywhere.

-No, they're not.

If people want them, they should be able to get them.

If they can't find them, use an orange sweet potato.

'Blanch the chips in boiling water for four minutes.

'Dry them off and return to the wok.'

And all we need to do then, Levi,

is just pop the potatoes into that oil. All right?

'Sweet potatoes have a really rich flavour

'and give traditional chips a tropical makeover.'

-Ready?

-You carry on, my darling, always ready.

'Supercharged steak and chips.

'Perfect British-Caribbean fusion food.'

Mm-mm.

Mmm! Mmm!

That's so good!

-That is so good.

-That's wonderful.

And the sauce tastes so wonderful,

because in the Caribbean sauce makes the dish, doesn't it?

Definitely. Do you know what as well, Levi?

-This has been made with love.

-It's been made with love. I feel a whole lot of love going on there.

Wonderful.

Mmm.

'If you're feeling adventurous,

'another truly Caribbean complement to steak is ackee.

'Ackee is a fruit originally from West Africa

'that is now as Jamaican as reggae music and rum punch.

'The edible part is the delicate flesh beneath the large black seeds,

'and it is so fragile it's only available in the UK in a tin.

'It's a real treat

'and Beverley makes a dish that combines ackee with mushrooms.'

In Jamaica, their national dish is ackee and salt fish.

But, because we doing this with the peppered steak, the salt fish

wouldn't really go well with that, but mushrooms and steak, wonderful.

'It's back to the wok, with more chopped onion,

'sweet peppers and tomatoes,

'but this time add large quartered button mushrooms for a bit of chew.'

You want the mushrooms to cook,

but we're not gonna get them to break up.

I'm gonna add to that just a couple of pinches of salt,

a pinch of black pepper, one spring onion,

-and now for our magic ingredient, the ackee.

-Bring it on.

I'm just gonna shake some ackee into here. Remember, Levi,

you don't wanna mix it up too much.

If I pick a piece of ackee up now,

you can see it breaks up very quickly.

So when you're cooking with it don't manhandle it.

Treat it like you would a good lady, and it will be fine.

-The ackee will love you back.

-Definitely. Without a doubt.

The mushrooms are cooked wonderfully.

Mmm.

-And the ackee just melts away.

-Oh, it's brilliant.

Can you taste the creaminess in that ackee? It's wonderful, isn't it?

Well, Bev, thank you very much. Respect due.

That taste takes me straight back to Jamaica.

But there's another classic Caribbean ingredient that is just as close to my heart as ackee.

I love all ingredients that give Caribbean food its unique flavours,

but there is one that I think is a genuine superstar, a real world champion -

the Scotch bonnet pepper.

Scotch bonnets could really enhance the great food we have in the UK,

but you have to learn to treat them with respect.

The frustrating thing is, they're not as widely available as they deserve to be.

I found some on sale in a deli in Bristol's St Nicholas Market.

I wanna show you just how strong a Scotch bonnet really is.

Now, the intensity of a chilli is measured by the amount of sugared water it would take

to dilute it so it doesn't taste hot.

That's known as the Scoville rating.

These are the red and green peppers

you can most commonly find in supermarkets.

It would take 28 litres, or three-and-a-half buckets of water, to dilute just one of these.

But the Scoville rating for the average Scotch bonnet is 80 times more intense.

It would take 2,100 litres,

or an incredible 262 buckets of water, to tame this beast.

That's a massive 3,696 pints!

But don't use pints of beer, because alcohol will actually wash the heat

further down into your taste buds.

Cheers.

But Scotch bonnet is not just about the heat,

it's also about the intense flavours,

and I'm gonna show you how to get the best out of your Scotch bonnet.

OK, let's grab ourselves a nice, lovely, fresh Scotch bonnet, cos it's all about the seeds.

Get rid of the seeds and you get rid of the heat

and you just have lovely Scotch bonnet flavours.

Even minus their seeds, these peppers are warm.

But they also add a lovely sweet, fruity tang to food.

Now I've got it beautifully fine,

I wanna wake up the good people of Bristol with a little experiment.

'I'm going to ask them if they can taste

'the flavour of the Scotch bonnets, as well as feel their warmth.'

What I've got in here is the traditional British egg mayonnaise,

one of the most popular sandwich fillers.

What I wanna do is just to spice it up a little bit

with my hot Scotch bonnet pepper.

And I'm letting my tasters add as much, or as little, as they fancy.

It's got quite a kick, hasn't it? Whoo!

It can take a moment to really appreciate the flavour.

Oh, my God, it's hot!

Serious!

Yes! Whoo!

It's got lots of flavour to it.

It doesn't just burn your mouth out. It's got a really nice taste to it.

-Citrusy. Fruity.

-Remove the seeds and you've got the flavour.

-Gorgeous. Absolutely stunning.

Lively.

There.

-Powerful.

-Powerful, yes?

-Yeah, man.

-But not too overbearingly powerful?

No, you can still taste the egg mayonnaise, which is good.

How is that?

HE LAUGHS

-That is nice.

-Isn't that nice?

-Don't cover your mouth.

-You're not gonna fall over, are you?

-Yeah.

-Nice one. Cheers.

Give me five, up there.

That was absolutely fantastic. Most people love it, some didn't, but all agree that it was about the flavours.

And do you know what? Most importantly, nobody needed an ambulance.

During the '50s and '60s, thousands of young Jamaicans

sailed out of Kingston Harbour, bound for a new life in the UK.

For some, one of the ways they could bring a bit of their homeland with them

was to grow their own Caribbean food.

Granville Prendergast has had an allotment in Bristol since he first came over from Jamaica.

It's a bit early in the year for any of his Caribbean produce,

but he's got some handsome leeks that are ready.

-Lord ha' mercy. I'll cook something nice for you now.

-I hope so.

-Respect due.

Man, this is so cool.

I'm gonna be doing my Ital soup.

The best thing about it is that I'll be using some leeks

grown by Master Granville here at his allotment and I haven't done that since I was in Jamaica.

Like growing fresh from the ground, straight into the pot.

Ital soup is mouth-wateringly spicy, using sweet potatoes,

crunchy Caribbean greens called callaloo,

and our usual suspects from the sunshine kit -

Scotch bonnet, thyme and ginger.

Master Granville is holding an allotment party tonight, and this soup is guaranteed to warm things up.

Ital is a Rastaman's word, taken from vital.

And really, it's just saying that it's the Rastaman's style of eating vegan.

Completely fresh, completely natural.

I'm gonna start with the leeks grown by Master Granville

here on his own allotment, fresh out the ground.

Chop your leeks thickly, as it will add texture to your soup.

Now I'm adding half a block of coconut cream.

You can use coconut milk or you can use it in its block style.

Up to you, whatever makes it easy for you.

I think that should be ready to drop these fantastic leeks in.

That is proper.

To give the soup body, add what we called the hard food -

chick peas and two sweet potatoes.

How you doing, Master Granville?

-All right, man.

-Lord ha' mercy, things are going good here.

-That's great.

It's best to cut up your vegetables small,

cos you don't wanna be waiting a long time around for things to cook.

Let's get them in.

Yeah.

A few more Ital ingredients -

lovely chopped fresh ginger and a clove of finely chopped garlic.

Next, I'm gonna be adding a piece of thyme. Master Granville, sir.

Can I have this piece of thyme that's come from your garden, sir?

-Take as much as you want.

-Brilliant, thank you very much.

Dash it in there.

Let's add my Scotch bonnet, which is so special to me.

Just chop it nicely.

Now for the callaloo.

Callaloo is similar to spinach,

but with a more robust flavour, closer to kale or spring greens.

Get your callaloo, twist it and turn it.

Here you go. Yeah.

It's fantastic - old Master Granville told me how he grows callaloo

right here on his allotment.

That's cool.

This is so good.

You could add salt to it, but I'm not, because this is Ital and Ital don't have salt.

So that should be about ready now, because I know

Mr Granville is very hungry, and I've got to make a dessert.

I'm expecting a hungry crowd to turn up any moment,

and Master Granville's obviously keen to put on quite a show as well.

Mr Granville, sir, you still feel hungry, sir?

-You have anything I can eat?

-Yes, soon be ready for you, sir. I'm just making the dessert.

I'm making hot, hot banana.

Now, this super simple sweet is always a hit with the kids.

Mix together some brown sugar,

powdered ginger, cinnamon and grated nutmeg.

Slice your banana lengthways,

gently prize it open and sprinkle in the mixture.

And then tuck in a slice of butter.

-Mr Granville, sir, you're looking nice and relaxed there.

-That's true.

Finally, squeeze over some lime juice, wrap it in tinfoil

and put it on the barbecue.

Let that cook away for 12-15 minutes.

Halfway through, turn them over and they will be fantastic.

'I don't know what's warming up people more, the bonfire

'or the high-octane Ital soup with its Scotch bonnet pepper.

'But what did Master Granville think?'

Not bad at all. Not bad at all.

LAUGHTER Coming from you, that's a compliment.

# Carry me ackee go a Linstead Market

# Not a quatty would sell

# Carry me ackee go a Linstead Market

# Not a quatty would sell

# Lord, what a night, not a bite

# On that Saturday night... #

Next week, I travel to the Scottish island of Mull to bring sunshine flavours to seafood.

-Can you feel the Caribbean wind in your hair?

-It's...fantastic.

And live out my boyhood dreams of hitting a six in Leeds, and laying on a stunning Caribbean cricket tea.

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