← Nouns Cooking · Caribbean

Ingredients

• 1 handful Parsley
• 3 Spring onion, roughly chopped
• ½ Bell pepper, roughly chopped
• 5 cloves Garlic
• 3 sprigs Thyme, leaves only
• 2 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 1 Lime, juiced
• 2 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 1 Onion, chopped
• 4 tbsp Tomato purée (paste)
• 2 Aubergine (eggplant), peeled and cubed
• ½ small cabbage, chopped
• 3 Carrot, sliced
• 500 ml vegetable stock
• 1 Scotch bonnet chilli, left whole
• 3 whole cloves
• 300 g spinach or watercress
• 1 tsp salt, to taste
• 500 g stewing beef, cubed (optional)

Method

1. Blend the epis ingredients into a coarse green paste.
2. Heat the oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Fry the onion and half the epis for 3 min, then stir in the tomato purée and cook for 2 min, until it darkens.
3. Add the aubergine, cabbage, carrots, stock, cloves and whole scotch bonnet. Cover and simmer for 30 min, stirring now and then, until everything is very soft.
4. Add the spinach and cook for 5 min more, until wilted.
5. Lift out the pepper, then mash the vegetables in the pot with a potato masher into a thick, chunky purée.
6. Stir in the remaining epis and simmer uncovered for 10 min, stirring often, until thick enough to hold its shape on a spoon. Season and serve with white rice or diri kole.

Tips

• Most Haitian families add beef or crab: brown the optional beef with the epis in step 2 and simmer it for 1 hour before adding the vegetables (it is then no longer vegetarian).
• Leftover epis keeps for a week in the fridge and seasons almost anything.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

196 flavors Savory Thoughts