Belize Cuisine:
Sere, Hudut, Creole Bread

ABOVE: A Belizean breakfast is substantial. At top are fry jacks flanked by refried beans, eggs and stewed chicken. Can be had at most markets for US$2.00 a serving - coffee included.

Another choice for breakfast is the ubiquitous taco. Although it’s always called tacos as you simply can’t eat just one! Taco vendors are all over the country, at many street corners from mobile units or, especially in the north, from permanent taco huts. They offer corn or flour tortillas, with shredded chicken, onions, cabbage and cilantro – a dash of pepper is your choice! Another pan-Belizean daily is the meat pie, available from most delis at supermarkets and gas stations, or from mobile food carts. Literally, it’s a savory pie made with ground beef or steak. Other regular deli items originally from the Mestizo (Spanish) culture but now considered pan-Belizean include garnaches, fried corn tortilla smeared with beans and shredded cheese, tamales (again, this is never called by its singular ‘tamale’, although you can eat just one if you are a light eater) made from corn and chicken or its sister dukunu, made with or without meat pieces, and panades (yes, you guessed it, no one can eat just one ‘panade!) which can be thought of as a fried corn patty with beans or seasoned shredded fish inside and topped by a tangy onion sauce.

Ready again for a more substantial meal? Then it’s time for boil-up! Literally, it’s made of various ground staples, boiled up together, added to prepared fish and pigtail, boiled eggs and covered with a tomato sauce made with onions and green pepper sautéed in coconut oil (vegetable oil may be substituted). Ground foods in the boil-up include yam, cocoa, firm ripe plantains, sweet potatoes and cassava.

The sweet potato and the cassava also provide the basis for two popular Belizean desserts - cassava pudding and potato pone (commonly called potato pound). Here’s an easy recipe for the latter, which gives about 15 slices.

Ingredients

2 pounds sweet potato 1 tsp. nutmeg
2-4 ozs root ginger (grated) 1 cup raisin
2 cups brown sugar 2 tsps. vanilla
4 cups milk (evaporated or coconut) 2 tbsps. margarine (melted)

Method

1. Grease baking tins or Pyrex dishes.
2. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit
3. Wash, peel and grate potato
4. If using coconut milk not canned or from powdered mix, then grate your coconut and squeeze with water to get four cups milk (or use the evaporated milk)
5. In a large bowl, add the grated potato, sugar,vanilla, nutmeg and ginger. Mix well.
6. Add the milk and margarine. Mix well. Put in baking pans or Pyrex dishes.
7. Put on bottom shelf of oven for 35 -40 minutes. Then remove to top shelf, lowering oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
8. Cook for about 80 minutes until brown or check with a knife, which should come out clean. The top should have a jelly, sticky look.

The potato pound is similar to another all-Belizean quick and easy dessert – bread pudding – and yes, you got it – basically you substitute the grated potato in the above recipe for mashed up bread and bake for less time!

The ginger used in the above recipe and the aforementioned tablata is not only used in desserts, but is also a key ingredient in some East Indian dishes, especially those made by the descendants of the original East Indians, many of whom have intermarried with Kriol families. In particular, the yellow ginger is a delicacy used in the distinctive cohune cabbage dish.

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