Jerk paste is normally something that we make from scratch, but we thought we would try this out for a midweek meal. As we are eating very little meat at the moment, I decided that we would have a play with some Caribbean flabours, and make some sweet potato cakes with jerk flavouring. To serve with it some rice and peas, and some Green Plantains that were an impulse buy when we passed a market stall at the weekend.
The sweet potatoes were cubed, and tossed with a couple of tablespoons of jerk paste and a dash of olive oil, then roasted in a hot oven for about 20 minutes until soft.
They were then mashed, along with some flavourings - chopped coriander, fresh red Scotch Bonnet, spring onions and roasted garlic.
The mixture was chilled, then formed into small cakes, which we dipped in egg and polenta, before frying. It was quite a soft texture, so the smaller cakes are easier to manage, and less likely to fall apart when cooked.
For the rice, coconut milk was boiled along with garlic, thyme, allspice berries, spring onion and a scotch bonnet chilli - for about 20 minutes, to infuse the mik with flavour.
We then added this to the rice cooker, along with some drained black beans, and some soaked basmati rice and left to cook.
I had to search the internet to find out what to do with green plantain, but found out that a 'double cooking' was the way to go.
The plantains were peeled and sliced into one inch pieces.
These slices were then fried for a couple of minutes on each side. We then bashed them flat with a mallet
No one missed meat at all, the jerk paste was absolutely delicious - had obvious pieces of the ingredients that you could see. I would certainly buy this rather than making my own in future.
