Caribbean Recipes
145 recipes found

Caribbean Coconut Milk Corn on the Cob
This is my dad's recipe from Trinidad. While my mom did most of the cooking, it was my dad's job to make corn on the cob. He did so perfectly in coconut milk.

Tropical Pineapple Sorbet
This creamy pineapple sorbet recipe is short and sweet and if you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can make popsicles or freeze it in an ice cube tray.

Dark and Stormy
Make a dark and stormy, a recipe for a refreshing cocktail. It's the perfect mixture of dark rum, ginger beer, and ice that can brighten any occasion.
The Colada
Combining the familiar flavors of a piña colada with ground hemp seeds, this shake is full of protein and fiber without being processed or pricey and it's vegan too!

Mango-Rum Slushy
As soon as we get settled in to our vacation rental on various tropical islands, it's time to begin our holiday with a tropical libation. Mangoes and the local rum are the flavors we crave. Easy enough to leave out the rum so our kids can enjoy, as well. Sometimes I add strawberries, passion fruit, or whatever else looks inviting at the market. Don' t leave out the coconut water. It keeps you hydrated as the sun and the rum can dry you out in the tropics. If you can't be on holiday, you can make this at home and dream!

Tales from the Juicer: Tropical Blast
My favorite combination: mango and pineapple!

Cherise's Special
Sorry for the stock photo...in the process of moving and just joined...just got back from Antigua and the bartender, Cherise, made a fantastic, blue, frozen concoction she served in a martini glass. After doing some reasearch, it's very close to a frozen blue hawaiian. The raspberry drizzle compliments the otherwise tropical flavors and adds a pleasant contrast to the vibrant blue.

Heirloom tamato and Kidney bean receipe
Just made it up
Lime-cucumber liquado
Marlene offered to bring this to our Board of Directors meeting. It turned out to be more delicious than anyone ever imagined. Luckily there was a little bit left that I had with vodka that evening!

Elderflower Shandy
I love elderflower martinis - with a passion. But, I'm not afraid to admit they get the best of me at times. Obviously, the elderflower water isn't to blame, so I found another way to enjoy it...responsibly. The elderflower water becomes an alternative to lemonade in a shandy, with its faint hit of citrus and mellow, sweet flavor. Add just a bit of club soda to give it a springtime-y fizz, and you've got a light and refreshing barely-cocktail perfect for imbibing on a patio with some friends.

Piña Corada
No blender? No coconut milk? No worries! The Piña Corada captures the delicious fruitiness of the classic cocktail while providing the refreshing taste of a cold beer. Kick your legs up and let yourself be transported to your favorite Caribbean destination!

Jerk Chicken
Done right, jerk chicken is one of the great barbecue traditions of the world, up there with Texas brisket and Chinese char siu. It is Jamaica to the bone, aromatic and smoky, sweet but insistently hot. All of its traditional ingredients grow in the island’s lush green interior: fresh ginger, thyme and scallions; Scotch bonnet peppers; and the sweet wood of the allspice tree, which burns to a fragrant smoke. “It’s not a sauce, it’s a procedure,” Jerome Williams, a Jamaican-born Brooklyn resident, told The Times in 2008 on a Sunday in Prospect Park, where families arrive as early as 6 a.m. for lakeside grilling spots, a few of which are actually authorized by the parks department. “It has to be hot, but it cannot only be hot, or you get no joy from it.” This recipe delivers that joy.

Moqueca (Bahian fish stew)

Braised Pork in Orange Sauce (Carne de Puerco a la Naranja)

Rasta Pasta With Jerk Chicken
Comforting and spicy in just the right way, Rasta pasta is popular in Jamaican communities across New York and beyond. This version gets its spice from jerk seasoning and a single Scotch bonnet. The bell peppers and green onions add not only texture, but a sweet crunch and brightness. You could swap salmon or shrimp for the chicken, or use fettuccine or rigatoni instead of the penne, if you like; just mind the cooking time. You could even halve the heavy cream, or substitute coconut milk for more depth of flavor. Feel free to refrigerate any leftovers, and either reheat or eat them cold the next day. This is a dish that gets better with a little time.

Festival
According to Helen Willinsky, author of “Jerk From Jamaica: Barbecue Caribbean Style” (Ten Speed Press, 2007), festival is a relatively new entry into the Jamaican culinary canon, “but it is already a must.” A cousin of cornbread and hush puppies, festival is a fluffy yet crisp cornmeal-based fritter that is often seasoned with nutmeg or vanilla, then shaped into “fingers” or long buns and fried. (To make them vegan, substitute an equal quantity of full-fat coconut milk for the whole milk.) A touch of nutmeg adds warmth, and salt balances and enhances the sweetness of the corn. Serve festival with jerk chicken, ribs or fish.

Grilled Jerk Shrimp
Sweet shrimp are the perfect canvas for this spicy jerk seasoning made with fresh chiles, fragrant thyme, scallions, garlic and spices. After a quick 15-minute marinade, the shrimp cook in mere minutes, picking up great char and smoky flavor from the grill. (You can even mimic the results indoors by broiling the shrimp on a sheet pan 6 inches from the heat for about 4 minutes.) This recipe comes with a warning: This is a superhot rub. For less heat but still spicy results, use just one chile; for an even milder version, remove the seeds from the chile before blending it. Should you have any jerk shrimp leftovers, they are great tossed into salad or tucked into tacos the next day.

Greg Collier’s Sweet Potato Pikliz
Haitian pikliz traditionally uses cabbage, but this version from Greg Collier, chef and co-owner of Leah & Louise in Charlotte, N.C., calls for grated sweet potato. It’s victory garden larder meets Caribbean flavor. If you have a well-stocked pantry, you are halfway to this relish, but note: Not every sweet potato is the same; look for the jewel variety for its vibrant orange flesh. This pikliz is mild in spice level compared to traditional versions. Serve it with Memphis Dry-Rub Ribs or Memphis Dry-Rub Mushrooms.

Jamaican Sweet Potato Pudding
There are two secrets to this silky, not-too-sweet pudding, a Jamaican holiday staple from Hazel Craig, the mother of the pastry chef Jessica Craig: Freshly grated nutmeg provides the warm, toasty flavor and batatas (white-fleshed sweet potatoes) give the dish its dense, starchy texture. The combination of sweet potato and coconut is decadent, but not overly so — like a poundcake merged with a cheesecake.

Curried Rice
I ate a version of this rice as an accompaniment to a few deep-fried paddles of Australian crab, sitting at the kitchen counter of Paul Carmichael’s excellent Momofuku Seiobo in Sydney. It tasted of a world far away, of Mr. Carmichael’s childhood in Barbados, in the Lesser Antilles, where influences of Africa, India, China and Britain combine in the food: the grains fried in butter scented with murky yellow curry powder, warm and fragrant, and flavored with fiery minced habanero and a salty punch of soy and oyster sauces. I sighed when I finished and asked for a recipe. I’ve been messing with it ever since. Please note: You’ll end up with more curry paste than you’ll need to season the rice, even if you season aggressively. Refrigerate the extra to make the dish a second time (it keeps well), or to enliven ground meat for a Caribbean-ish version of sloppy joes, even just to improve a bowl of instant ramen.

Coco Bread
Coco bread is the Jamaican version of buttery and sweet yeast-risen dinner rolls. In New York City, they are often sold wrapped around a Jamaican beef patty with a slice of American cheese, but at Miss Lily's in Manhattan, the chef Adam Schop serves them with garlic butter flavored with thyme, a commonly used herb in the Caribbean. Note that the origin of the name coco bread is up for debate: Some say original recipes called for coconut milk, others that the dish is named after a similarly named brand of Jamaican butter.

Curried Goat
Hazel Craig, the mother of the pastry chef Jessica Craig, prepares this hearty, spicy dish from her native Jamaica with her homemade curry powder blend. It’s worth making to maximize the dish’s depth and complexity, and the recipe here makes extra (which can be used in any kind of stew or braise). Hazel insists that the best way to prepare goat is not to brown the meat first, but to cook everything all at once in the same pot. “When you heat everything up together,” she said, all the flavor “gets locked in there.”
Soup Joumou
For Haitians, soup joumou is synonymous with freedom. The story goes that during French colonial rule of Haiti, enslaved Africans were forced by their oppressors to cultivate squash for this dish but were not allowed to eat it. When Haitians won their independence on Jan. 1, 1804, they ate soup joumou to celebrate. The formula varies slightly from family to family, but usually includes calabaza squash, beef marinated in a bright epis seasoning of onions, peppers and herbs, an assortment of other vegetables and pasta. This classic version is adapted from “Let’s Speak Haitian Food: Stories from the Haitian Diaspora on Cuisine, Community and Culture” by Cindy Similien, a Haitian-American author and community advocate. The inclusion of both vermicelli and homemade dumplings adds a springy bite and thickens the broth of this one-pot dish, which can be made on Haitian Independence Day, or for any special occasion.

Jamaican-Spiced Turkey
When Francine Turone hosted her first Thanksgiving dinner in New York City, she declared turkey “bland and boring.” But after friends protested, she came up with this recipe inspired by her upbringing in Kingston, Jamaica. This turkey, a showstopping centerpiece for any big family event, roasts on a bed of whole vegetables, which absorb its fat. A deeply spiced brine and rub packed with cinnamon, allspice berries, thyme and chile pepper imparts huge flavors, rounded out by an herb-infused brown butter. If things are looking to be busy, the butter and rub can be prepared a day ahead.