Cooking with Music

One of my favourite dishes and a must at all surinamese parties and major get-2gethas. An oven dish with major ingredient a mashed root known as "pomtayer".

WHAT YOU NEED

* 1 pak of pomtayer (preferably brand lufo)
* 2 or 3 large pieces of boneless chicken
* small pack of salted beef "zoutvlees"
* 2 large onions
* 2 lemons
* 1 madam jeanette
* 3 large tomatoes
* 2 small tins of tomato paste
* couple of branches of celery
* small piece of ginger
* large table spoon of picallily
* teaspoon of paprika powder
* 3 cubes of maggi blocks
* 2 large bay leaves

STEP 1


Put the frozen pomtayer in a container with a little bit of water to defrost, be careful not to throw the water that collects in the bowl you will need it later

Cut the chicken into chunks.Marinade the chicken. You can buy a ready made marinade as you see here. makes life much easier.
If you dont have it mix a bit of soya, ginger paste, madam jeanette, onions and garlic together in a blender and use that as a marinade. keep it in the fridge for at least 3 to 5 hours.



After 3 to 5 hours once the chicken is marinated and the pomtayer is defrosted. boil the salted beef in a large pan filled with water and add a bay leaf. Boil throw the water out and boil again with fresh water do this 3 times to cook the water out.

Take the salted beef out and let it cool. then dice it into cubes.



STEP 2


Pour some sunflower oil in a large pan and fry the salted beef till dark brown and crispy.
Take out the salted beef and use the same oil to fry the marinated chicken on a medium high fire untill the outside is brown. (keep in mind that it will cook further in the oven later on).

Take out the chicken and put in some foil or on a separate plate.




STEP 3


Step 3 is the sauce. The most important part of the pom. That's where the secret lies , if your sauce is amazing your pom is 90% perfect! Another tip make sure you make enough sauce, better to have too much than too little.

In the same oil you used for the chicken and salted beef( oil should still be reasonably clear)
Put in 2 large diced onions. Or buy them readily diced (makes life easier).



Fry onions until golden brown and add two tins of tomato paste. Stir through well.

Blend together 3 large tomatoes,piece of ginger, 1 madam jeanette and a 4 or 5 branches of fresh celery.



Add the blended mixture to the pan and stir well.
Add a bit of water and a bailey leaf to it and lit it simmer on a low fire season with paprika powder, 3 small cubes of maggi cube and a bay leaf or two

STEP 4


Switch off the sauce and now move to your defrosted pom.
pour the pomtayer into the bowl it was in. DO NOT POUR OT THE DEFROST WATER!
Squeeze out two lemons, make sure no lemon seeds fall into it.

Add a large table spoon of picalily and add some grounded black pepper. MIX WELL!



Pour half of the sauce in your pomtayer and mix well.MAKE SURE TO REMOVE THE BAY LEAVES!!


STEP 5


First of all pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees.
Grease an oven dish with butter. I use fluid butter for this.

Pour a layer of pom in the oven dish so it covers the bottom.

Then arrange your chicken and salted beef on top of the layer.
Pour the remaining sauce over this layer making sure to leave maybe a teaspoon of sauce so you can use it to coat your pom.

pour the remaining pom over the sauce and coat it with the little bit of pom you have left.

Put the dish in the 200 degree preheated oven for 60 minutes.
If you notice that the top is not cooking properly cover it with aluminium wrap and let it cook for another 30 minutes.

You can check with a toothpick. If its dark yellow color its done.




STEP 6


Let the pom cool-off for a while before you eat it.

Pom is nice to eat with boiled rice or in a sandwich with some mixed chinese pickles on the side (see picture).







And ofcourse a nice vibe to leave you with .......sranan style ofcourse :-)

Read More......