I chose to use sweet potato as the flavour works so well and it is good to make vegetarian food, right? In fact this dish is vegan too and I have even added a couple of side dish examples for you, so no excuses!

You might have tried my jerk chicken recipe and got a taste for spicy West Indian cuisine, I promise you will love this! You can of course use chicken, lamb, chickpeas or anything else that you want as my recipe is a basic do-it-all Jamaican curry.

Jamaican Sweet Potato Curry recipe

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 2 x Sweet Potatoes
• 2 x Spring Onions
• 1 x Thumb Sized Piece of Ginger
• 4 x Garlic Cloves
• 2 x TBSP Curry Powder
• 1 x TSP Turmeric
• 1 x TSP Fresh Ground Allspice Berries
• 1 x Sprig Thyme
• 1 x Scotch Bonnet Chilli
• 250ml x Water

Method

In a frying pan add a good splash of vegetable oil. Peel and dice your sweet potato into bite size pieces. Put the pan on a medium to high heat and add your sweet potato.

Fry for around 10 minutes turning frequently. We want a bit of colour on your sweet potato as the caramelisation will add a whole load more flavour to your finished dish. Once done set aside.

Take a large deep pan and add about 4 TBPS of vegetable oil. Heat on a low heat.

Chop your spring onions into medium sized pieces and add to the pan. Take your garlic and ginger and peel, then grate together and add them to the pan. Keep on a low heat and add a lid to the pan. You will find this causes the onion, garlic and ginger to ‘sweat’ rather than fry. Keep checking and stir occasionally until the smell has become sweet, about 5-10 minutes. Don’t worry if a bit of colouring occurs.

While this is cooking get your other ingredients together. I like to put all the dry, powdered ingredients into a small bowl ready to throw in together. De-stalk the thyme and finely dice up your scotch bonnet **CAUTION: Scotch bonnet chilli are seriously hot – some people use gloves cutting them up. Also use maybe ¼ of your chill to start – you can add more to the pan but you can’t take it out!**

Once you are happy the pan is ready add all the other prepared ingredients and stir in, turn up the heat and keep stirring until you smell the spices become fragrant. Now add the water and turn down the heat.

Let this cook through for about 10 minutes and taste. Season with salt and add more chilli IF you need it. You can also loosen the sauce with more water if you need to. You want a consistency of thick cream.

Now add the sweet potato and stir in. At this point you can serve, but I find it’s better to let this go stone cold and re-heat before serving. It lets the flavours meld together beautifully.

Serve with some classic Jamaican sides:

Fried Plantain – Slice the plantain into thick pieces and slowly fry until golden, then simply season with salt.

Rice & Peas – I use a 2 parts rice 1 part kidney beans. Better to use dried kidney beans for this but tinned are ok. Prepare and cook the beans as per the instructions on the pack, I like to keep mine a little al dente and keep a little of the cooking water. Boil your rice (I use basmati but long grain is good) until it is almost cooked through. Now add you beans (if tinned drain most liquid from the can) and half a tin of coconut milk. Season with salt and cook until the liquid has gone. Keep checking your rice so you don’t overcook it, you can always remove the liquid and turn off the heat.

I’m guessing you are ready and eager to try this so get shopping and get in the kitchen now!

Please tell me how this recipe worked out for you, I hope it’s easy to follow and the flavour hits the spot for you!

Michael Robinson

Author information

The Food Curator

The Food Curator (AKA Michael Robinson) is an aficionado of all things food and bon viveur based in London. A passion for cooking and dining has driven him to put fingers to keyboard to bring you his thoughts on the world of food. When not writing, eating or cooking he has a love of American muscle cars. Pop on over to my Facebook page and let's start a Facebook food revolution together: http://tinyurl.com/thefoodcurator

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If you can’t make it to Notting Hill this Bank Holiday do not fret…Invite some friends round, fire up the BBQ and eat and drink your way into the spirit of carnival. If you want to make yourself a costume, then that’s up to you, but I’m here to take care of the food side for you.

I’ve been making this for over 20 years after a first generation British Jamaican friend of mine gave me the low down on how to make authentic jerk. She learned from her mother and in turn her mother learned from her mother and…well you get the picture.

So let’s get ready to jerk around…

Jerk Chicken Recipe

Serves 2 (increase quantities as needed)

Ingredients

• 4 x Chicken Thighs
• 1 x Small Scotch Bonnet/Habanero Pepper
• 1 x Thumb sized piece of ginger
• 3 x Cloves of Garlic
• 1 x TSP Allspice Berries
• 2 x Heaped TSP Curry Powder
• 1 x TBSP Finely Chopped Fresh Thyme
• 1 x Level TSP Brown Sugar
• 1 x Lime (or ½ Lemon)
• Salt
• Ground Black Pepper

Method

Peel your ginger and garlic then grate on a fine grater. Now chop through with a knife to make sure it’s nicely fine. Throw it in a bowl big enough to marinate your chicken.

Grind up your allspice berries in a pestle and mortar until fine ground. Add that to your bowl.

Roughly pull the leaves off you thyme so you can discard the woodiest stems then chop finely and add to the mix.

No add the curry powder, sugar, a good pinch of salt and a few twists of black pepper.

It’s time to be a little careful and respectful of Scotch Bonnet and Habanero peppers. They’re hot. Like proper hot, so no messing around. I highly recommend using latex gloves.

Half the pepper and remove the internal membrane which holds the seeds. These are the hottest part of the chilli, eat these without experience and you will regret it!

Finely chop the chilli flesh and add to our bowl.

Now we have all those lovely hot, sweet, herby, spicy flavours in there so we need a bit of acid to balance things, so add the juice of your lime (or half lemon) and mix.

We are looking for a loose paste so add a little water until it’s the consistency of double cream (with bits in!).

Add your chicken and using a spoon if you’re not wearing gloves, make sure your chicken is well coated in the marinade getting it into all the nooks and crannies.

Cover and set aside in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

You can oven cook (follow the instructions on the pack of chicken) or better still get that BBQ going and cook to perfection. Always make sure that chicken is cooked through and the juice run clear.

I served mine with sweet potato fire roasted on the BBQ (you can off course do plantain in the same way) with a side salad.

Or make some rice and peas. Simply cook rice and red kidney beans with a can of coconut milk topped with water if needed. Use fresh beans if possible (follow soaking instructions) and make sure you cook all the liquid out as the idea is to infuse the coconut into the rice. If using canned beans drain thoroughly and add towards the end of cooking so they don’t turn to mush.

Get your dancing shoes on and get cooking some jerk this weekend and get with the party spirit!

Remember to tell me how you enjoyed this recipe in the comments below…

Michael Robinson

Author information

The Food Curator

The Food Curator (AKA Michael Robinson) is an aficionado of all things food and bon viveur based in London. A passion for cooking and dining has driven him to put fingers to keyboard to bring you his thoughts on the world of food. When not writing, eating or cooking he has a love of American muscle cars. Pop on over to my Facebook page and let's start a Facebook food revolution together: http://tinyurl.com/thefoodcurator

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The post Jerk Chicken Recipe appeared first on Food on the Blog. Post by The Food Curator