Another Caribbean island entry! Today we're traveling by plate to the Bahamas. The dishes I cooked today were familiar to me because the food bears so much resemblance to that of the American South--not surprising, as soul food came to us by way of African slaves. Which is fitting because tomorrow, the first Monday in August, is Emancipation Day in the Bahamas and other Caribbean countries, celebrating the end of slavery in the British Empire.
So for The Bahamas I decided to make one of their national dishes, peas n' rice, as well as Johnny cake and since it's been a while since I made a dessert that I could bring into work and share, I decided to try my hand at some rum cake.
Peas n' rice is very similar to Hoppin' John in the American south, which is generally made with black eyed peas. In the Bahamas, however, they use pigeon peas, which are very similar in taste and texture. Luckily Chris was able to find me some green pigeon peas already cooked and canned, which cut down on time a lot, because my alternative was using black eyed peas, which need to soak and boil for a while.
The rice part of the dish is long grain--usually white--rice. I used brown Basmati. The recipe I used called for onion and a sweet pepper. I was able to use a couple of the Hungarian wax peppers I had left over from Peru last week, which I think went perfectly in this dish.
After the onion and pepper are cooked, you add thyme, tomato paste, chopped tomatoes, and "browning," in my case a little bit of Gravy Master, along with the peas and water. The rice comes last and simmers in that pot of water until it absorbs all those wonderful flavors.
To accompany the peas n' rice, I also made some Johnny cake. What I knew as johnnycake actually refers to hoecakes, which are like cornmeal pancakes cooked in a cast iron skillet (my mom makes some really good ones for the New Year. Hi Mom!) In the Bahamas, however, Johnny cake refers to a very slightly sweet, crumbly bread made with regular flour.
The recipe I used was more like a quick bread, where other recipes I saw looked more like a biscuit recipe, with cold butter being cut into flour. I make short crust and the like fairly often, so I know how to work with that type of dough, but I also know that when it's 90 degrees outside and you have 3 different dishes going on at once, sometimes it's wiser to take the easy route. So I followed the recipe that called for using a mixer all the way through.
The batter turned out fine, and the Johnny cake itself still had a great texture. It's very similar to a slightly sweet biscuit or scone, great for spreading butter on or using to sop up the last of your dinner.
Once my Johnny cake and peas n' rice were underway, I started on my rum cake!
One of the more satisfying things about baking sometimes is when you get to cream sugar and butter together. I just love the fluffiness.
The cake itself was light and fluffy, with a hint of the taste of rum, vanilla, and nutmeg.
Most people would probably use a bundt pan for this recipe, but since I don't have one I just used a circular cake tin for half of the batter, and made cupcakes from the other half.
The cupcakes were done a lot quicker, but I decided not to use liners so all of them stuck to the sides of the tin, creating the mess you see here. But hey, the best part is yet to come, so it doesn't really matter what they look like.
While the cake cooked, I started the rum butter sauce/syrup. The recipe I used called for 3 tablespoons of rum. I tasted it and didn't think it was enough so I added another splash. Maybe too much. Oh well. Is this cake supposed to get you drunk? I'm not sure.
The cake took a lot longer to cook due to the sheer amount of delicious cake batter I stuffed in there. I'm sorry to anyone with trypophobia for this next picture. It's not that bad though, at least not nearly as bad as the images that come up when you google "trypophobia."
In order for the rum sauce to permeate the cake, you have to poke about a hundred little holes all over the cake for the sauce to get into. This part reminded me of episodes of Great British Bake Off where they try to create something similar and there's always that person with the cake that's dry as a bone except for one little pocket of moistness, and then Paul is disappointed and Mary Berry tries to make you feel good by saying something like, "but the flavor is absolutely scrummy." Today that flavor = rum.
My cake wasn't bad at all, but it probably could have used a few more holes; the top of it got most of the sauce and became kind of soft and sticky, but honestly the flavor was there and the cake itself was really nice. Hopefully the cupcakes were able to absorb a little more! I'll be bringing these bad boys in to work to share. What they lack in presentation at least they make up for in booze.
Recipes Used: Peas n' Rice // Johnny Cake // Rum Cake
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