Suriname is an interesting place, culturally. It's a mix of South American, Afro-Caribbean, Indian, Javanese, Chinese, Jewish, and Dutch influences. It's the only country outside of Europe that uses Dutch as the official language. The reason for such wide demographics is mainly due to indentured laborers coming from India, Java, and China in the 19th century. It was a Dutch colony until 1975 when they gained independence.
I think the food I chose to make encapsulates the multi-culturalism of Suriname pretty well. It's call pom and is a casserole-like dish made with several unique ingredients. The first step is cleaning and marinating some chicken in orange juice. I used seitan, so I didn't need to clean it first, but the orange juice and zest gave it a nice flavor.
Next, I sauteed some onion and celery in a wok until translucent, then added my seitan pieces.
After the seitan had the chance to brown a little, I added some chopped tomatoes along with tomato paste and some vegetable broth.
Once the tomato was fully mixed into a sauce, I added coconut milk, the orange juice I had reserved from marinating the seitan, white pepper, nutmeg, and garam masala. Some recipes also call for piccalilli, which is a British mustard-infused relish inspired by South Asian pickles.
Now comes the part that gives this dish the name pom. Normally the ingredients are topped with shredded pomtajer, which is a tuber native to the rainforest of Suriname. I used russet potato as suggested by the recipe I used as my reference, since there was no way I was going to find frozen pomtajer (which seems to be the popular choice) where I live. Cassava can also be used in its place.
Whatever root vegetable is chosen, it's sprinkled over the top of the rest of the ingredients (you can use an egg to help bind it together if needed) then baked for about 45 minutes until nice and crispy and golden brown. Surinamese people often eat the leftovers on a sandwich called broodje pom.
For me, this recipe had a bit too much going on flavor-wise. A bit sweet, savory, salty, and tomato-y all at once. But I guess it does really represent the nature of the Surinamese cultural landscape.
Recipes Used: Pom // Based off of this recipe (in Dutch)
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