Ital stew

Ingredients

Coconut

• 800 mlcoconut milk
• fresh or tinned

Vegetables

• 400 gpumpkin, in chunks
• 3carrots, in rounds
• 2chayote, in chunks
• 300 gyam or sweet potato
• 2green bananas, peeled
• 1sweet pepper, chopped
• 200 gcallaloo or spinach
• 2onions, sliced
• 6garlic cloves, crushed

To season

• 4spring onions, chopped
• 4 sprigsthyme
• 1whole scotch bonnet
• 1 teaspoonground allspice
• 3cm ginger, grated
• black pepper
• no salt

Dumplings

• 250 gplain flour
• or 150 g flour and 100 g cornmeal
• about 120 ml water

Directions

1. Peel and chunk the pumpkin and yam. Cut the carrots into thick rounds. Peel all of the green bananas. Peeling green banana takes a trick. Cut the ends off with a knife first. Score the skin lengthways in three places. Cut through the skin but not the flesh. Rub your hands with oil first if you can.
2. Put a little coconut milk in a large pot. Add the sliced onions to the pot. Warm it gently over a low heat. Let them soften for about six minutes. Never let coconut milk boil hard. Add the crushed garlic and the ginger. Add the chopped spring onions.
3. Add the thyme sprigs and the allspice. Cook them for a good two minutes. Add the yam and the pumpkin first. Add the rest of the coconut milk. Add the carrots and the green bananas. Bring it up to a gentle simmer. Adding the scotch bonnet takes care.
4. Add the scotch bonnet whole and unbroken. It must never burst in the pot. Cover it and simmer very gently. Give it about twenty full minutes.
5. Mix the flour with the plain water. Add no salt at all to the dumplings. Knead it briefly into a firm dough. Roll pieces into short thick fingers. Jamaican dumplings are firm rather than fluffy.
6. Drop them into the simmering stew. Give them about fifteen minutes. Add the callaloo or the spinach. Give it about five minutes only. Taste it carefully before serving. It will taste flat if the seasoning is weak.
7. Add more allspice, thyme or ginger. Add black pepper to it generously. Squeeze in lime juice if it needs lifting. Do not reach for the salt at all. Ladle it into bowls with the dumplings. It keeps three days refrigerated.

Technique

• Livity is the Rastafari way of living and covers far more than food; ital derives from vital, with the initial letter changed as Rastafari speech often does to reflect the self, and ital food is food that supports life.
• Strict ital cooking uses no salt at all, which is its defining rule; Rastafari is not a single uniform practice, some practitioners allow a little sea salt or eat small fish, and the atlas describes the strict version here.
• Without salt the seasoning has to work harder, so scotch bonnet, thyme, spring onion, allspice, garlic, ginger and coconut milk carry the dish, and lime juice does much of what salt would do.

Substitutions

• Any hard root vegetables work, including yam, sweet potato, pumpkin and cassava.
• Spinach stands in for callaloo where it is unavailable.

Variations

• Some cooks use cornmeal in the dumplings for a coarser firmer result.
• A little sea salt is used by some practitioners and none at all by others.
• Red peas are added to the pot in some households.

History

Rastafari livity, which developed in Jamaica from the 1930s, avoids salt and animal products; ital cooking became the movement’s everyday food.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ital stew?

Ital stew is a main from Jamaica: saltless vegan stew of coconut milk, vegetables and dumplings. Rastafari livity, which developed in Jamaica from the 1930s, avoids salt and animal products; ital cooking became the movement’s everyday food.

How long does Ital stew take to make?

Ital stew takes 30 minutes of preparation and 50 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Ital stew?

Yes, within limits. Any hard root vegetables work, including yam, sweet potato, pumpkin and cassava. Spinach stands in for callaloo where it is unavailable.

What is the most important thing to get right in Ital stew?

Put a little coconut milk in a large pot. Add the sliced onions to the pot. Warm it gently over a low heat. Let them soften for about six minutes. Never let coconut milk boil hard. Add the crushed garlic and the ginger. Add the chopped spring onions.