This article and recipes were first published in Dutch, the mag.
The city of Amsterdam is known for many things, and not in theleast for its multicultural society. It is said that every nationality isrepresented in this city. And with each nationality comes food, often glorious,exciting and flavorful food!
For several years I lived in an outside neighborhood of Amsterdam,on the one-a-last subway stop. It was close to the Bijlmermeer, an area knownfor the large concentration of Surinamese people. Many moved to The Netherlands after Surinameachieved independence from the Dutch in 1975, and brought with them a colorfulculture, and a vast array of culinary treasures. Amsterdam alone counts over 200 Surinameseeateries, where one can enjoy these exciting dishes. Almost one in sixinhabitants of the city has Suriname heritage and there are almost as manySurinamese people living in The Netherlands as there are in Suriname.
The Dutch first arrived in Suriname, a country on the eastcoast of South America, in the early 1600s. They traded New Amsterdam with theBritish for this fairly new and booming location with its rich soil and startedplantations. These plantations relied on African slaves to grow the sugar cane,coffee, cotton and coffee. After slavery was abolished in 1863, and most slavesleft the plantations, the Dutch brought in workers from other colonies andareas like Indonesia, India and in smaller amounts from China and the MiddleEast. The variety of cultural backgrounds that each brought with them, and apreference for certain foods, influenced the local cuisine heavily. TheSurinamese cuisine nowadays is a beautiful and exciting melting pot.
The recipes in the following weeks are a representation of the different culturesthat encompass the Surinamese population: we're starting off the mini-series with pinda bravoe, a Surinamese peanut soup. It isreminiscent of West African dishes where thegroundnut was an available and affordable source of energy, and it was quitepossibly a dish introduced by the African slaves who worked on the plantations. In the next couple of weeks we'll be covering pom, of Jewish origin, a dish that is often attributed to the Creole population ofSuriname. Roti, the curried chicken and potato dish that is served with braisedyard long beans and a side of flatbread, has seemingly Indian influences. Thebaka bana reminds us of the pisang goreng from Java and the bara, a savory andspiced fried snack made with urad dal has a distinct Hindu background.
All in all, the Surinamese kitchen is a rich one, with a largevariety of flavors and backgrounds, and worth giving a try! Njang Swietie! (Eetsmakelijk!)
Pinda Bravoe with tomtom
½ teaspoon butter
½ cup onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 small tomato, chopped
6 ounces (175 grams) chicken meat
2 ounces (50 grams) corned beef brisket*
4 cups (1 liter) chicken stock
1 bay leaf
4 whole allspice berries
1 sprig of celery leaves
10 ounces (275 grams) peanut butter, natural
1 Madame Jeanette pepper**
1 plantain
Salt
Melt the butter in a small stockpot and sauté the choppedonion until they are translucent. Add the minced garlic, then add the tomatoes.Carefully stir for a couple of minutes or until the tomatoes have softened. Addthe chicken meat and the corned beef and give it a couple of stirs, then addthe chicken stock, the bay leaf, the 4 allspice berries and the sprig ofcelery.
Simmer for thirty minutes. Remove the bay leaf and theallspice berries, and discard them. Take the meat out and set it aside. Puréethe soup. In a separate bowl, mix thepeanut butter and one cup of soup until it’s smooth. Add it in to the rest ofthe soup. Stir until the soup is hom*ogenous, and return the meat to the soup.Add the Madame Jeanette pepper to the soup, whole, and let it simmer foranother ten minutes. Make sure thepepper does not break or rip, as the soup will be too hot to eat: we’re tryingto get the pepper to add flavor but no heat.
Discard the pepper after ten minutes: taste the soup andadjust with salt and pepper. If you’d like some spice, try to add a little bitof chili sauce.
To make the tom tom, peel the plantain and boil it untilsoft. Remove it from the water and mash it with a fork. Add a pinch of salt,and roll into small balls, the size of a marble. Add one or two into each soupportion.
* This is your regular St Patrick's day corned beef brisket, not the canned variety.
** Can be easily replaced by Scotch Bonnet peppers or habaneros. Watch the heat!!
