Green With Envy

After realizing years ago that there are not many people out there that are willing to divulge their full list of ingredients that make their dishes so lip smackingly good, I tried digging for "gold" by probing others, along with a lot of Internet research. After coming up with bits and pieces here and there, I learned that what truly worked for me was by experimenting through trial and error. When I made my curries, stews, roasted meats and such, why didn't the final product have that flavor profile that elevated my tastebuds to the moon like I was used to? I make another call to mom, hoping I would get more than the "add hot pepper, some herbs, onions and garlic...simple" answer. That was when I learned that the hot pepper, herbs, onions and garlic were actually blended together and used as a base. I tried that in my next pot of food and have been using this ever since. Oh Lord. This. Tastes. Like. Home.

In most Guyanese and Trinidadian households, you'll always the ingredients and/or find a jar in the fridge of a special mix we know as green seasoning. This is usually the major flavor enhancer in our dishes. Basically, the ever popular French mirepoix, Latin sofrito or sazon, Creole holy trinity serves as an aromatic flavor base, as does caribbean green seasoning. It is usually a blend of onions, garlic, and fresh "green" herbs. These ingredients all get blended together in a food processor with some salt and some type of vinegar (these will help preserve your blend and also help keep it green) and the result is....green seasoning! Everyone has a uniquely different blend, and as I said in the beginning - whatever suits your taste buds is the right recipe! Seriously, you really cannot mess this up. Every island uses a predominant ingredient. In Trinidad and Tobago, it is culantro (not cilantro), also known as bandhania. If you are using culantro, ensure that you use it in small amounts as it is a very strong herb. In Guyana, celery is most used. Other islands are more partial to cinnamon, cloves, thyme, garlic.

Personally, I love garlic and hot pepper. I use ridiculously copious amounts of them both when making my seasoning, and believe it or not it does NOT ever overpower my other ingredients. For us, it's perfectly balanced as long as you can somewhat eyeball how much you are using. My recipe base is as follows:

10-20 fresh garlic cloves
1 onion, rough chopped
6-8 scotch bonnet peppers
4-6 wiri wiri peppers
1tsp fresh ginger
5-8 fresh thyme sprigs
Generous handful of cilantro 
Salt and vinegar, to taste

Combine all ingredients into a blender or food processor. The overall consistency is up to you. You can pulse a few times to get a chunky blend, or you can blend a bit longer to achieve a more soupy seasoning. I prefer it right in between. Store in an airtight container. This seasoning is extremely versatile, as it can be used as the basis of a dish to be cooked, a marinade, a topping, a dip. Sometimes if I'm in a hurry to eat something very quickly I will spoon this and sliced cucumber over hot cooked rice, or make the ever popular "pear sandwich" I grew up with; a mashed avocado on toasted bread! We usually made this by mixing one avocado, a few thin slices of onion, hot pepper sauce and a touch of garlic - but with this seasoning, all the work is already done so just a spoonful is needed to mix into the avocado and voila! This is so quick, and most importantly so fresh and convenient. Keep this stuff in your fridge and you will always have a fast, fresh, and fabulous flavour punch readily available. 

Enjoy!