Callaloo

Ingredients

The pot

• 500 gdasheen (taro) leaves, thick stalks stripped out, roughly chopped
• 12okra, topped and sliced
• 400 mlcoconut milk
• 700 mlwater or light stock
• 1onion, chopped
• 4garlic cloves, crushed
• 6 sprigsthyme
• 4spring onions, chopped
• 2 tbspbutter
• 1whole scotch bonnet, unbroken
• salt and black pepper

Traditional additions (optional)

• 1blue crab, cleaned and quartered, or 200 g crab meat
• 200 gsalted pigtail, boiled twice and drained

Directions

1. If using salted pigtail, boil it in fresh water for 20 minutes, drain, and repeat with fresh water. Skipping this leaves the pot far too salty to correct later.
2. Melt the butter in a heavy pot and soften the onion, garlic and spring onion for 5 minutes without colouring them.
3. Add the dasheen leaves, okra, thyme, coconut milk, water and any pigtail. Sit the whole scotch bonnet on top. Bring to a gentle simmer.
4. Cover and cook for 35–40 minutes, until the leaves have collapsed completely and the okra has broken down. Stir occasionally and keep the chilli intact.
5. Lift out the chilli and the thyme stalks. Add the crab, if using, and cook for a further 8 minutes.
6. Swizzle the pot smooth. Traditionally this is done with a wooden swizzle stick spun between the palms; a stick blender does the same job in seconds. It should be thick, glossy and uniformly green.
7. Season with salt and pepper and serve alongside rice, provision and stewed meat as part of Sunday lunch.

Technique

• Dasheen leaves contain calcium oxalate crystals that irritate the mouth and throat raw. Cooking them through breaks the crystals down — so the long simmer is a safety step and not merely a texture one. Never taste the pot until the leaves have fully collapsed, and wear gloves when handling the raw leaves if your skin is sensitive.
• The whole chilli perfumes without burning. Break it and you have made a different dish.
• Swizzling, not blending to a purée, is the intent — a little texture from the okra is correct.

Substitutions

• Amaranth (bhaji), spinach or chard replace dasheen leaves, and cook much faster — 15 minutes is enough.
• Leave out the crab and pigtail for a vegetarian pot; the coconut milk and okra carry it.

Variations

• Jamaican callaloo is amaranth, sautéed rather than made into soup — a different dish under the same name. In Trinidad, callaloo is the soup and it is Sunday food.

History

Dasheen leaves cooked with okra, coconut milk and crab into a thick soup, served at Sunday lunch and descended from African greens dishes.

Frequently asked questions

What is Callaloo?

Callaloo is a soup & stew from Trinidad and Tobago: dasheen leaves, okra, and coconut milk swizzled silky. Dasheen leaves cooked with okra, coconut milk and crab into a thick soup, served at Sunday lunch and descended from African greens dishes.

How long does Callaloo take to make?

Callaloo takes 25 min of preparation and 50 min of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Callaloo?

Yes, within limits. Amaranth (bhaji), spinach or chard replace dasheen leaves, and cook much faster — 15 minutes is enough. Leave out the crab and pigtail for a vegetarian pot; the coconut milk and okra carry it.

What is the most important thing to get right in Callaloo?

Add the dasheen leaves, okra, thyme, coconut milk, water and any pigtail. Sit the whole scotch bonnet on top. Bring to a gentle simmer.