So its Ben Johnson Day again and for those of you who don’t know what that means, its every Thursday in Jamaican culture. This day signifies humble meals due to little to no food as its the eve of the end of week. You know how it is, everything runs low as you approach the weekend, food and cash. Especially If you have a family to take care of you better get creative making something great out of very little.
I know we reference to humble meals not as a compliment but I find something very comforting about it. It shows great creativity, they’re usually delicious because you work really hard to make it yummy and they are full of love. Its usually created not just out of a need to eat and replenish the body but out of the love for family and those who depend on our meals to face the next day. I find that’s irreplaceable.
That weekly dinner rotation saved lives though!
As an adult I often think back to how a routine and stability was so grounding for me as a child. I like the idea that there were things I could always count on, the constants in my life and with my love of food I loved the constants there as well. Monday to Wednesday meals were average, not in flavour or excitement but more so typical. Dinners were chicken or pork chops or stews. Thursdays, the Ben Johnson day we had the humble meals. As much as I have fond memories of them they weren’t all great, especially to my childhood palette. Some meals I didn’t like such as tripe and beans, kidney and liver, I drew the line at organs and intestines as a child.
To this day I don’t eat tripe and beans but my palette did mature enough to enjoy liver and kidney when prepared well, very spicy and eaten hot. Other meals on Ben Johnson Day were canned food such as mackerel and rice or dumplings and corned beef and macaroni. We also had Pig trotters, curry turkey neck or stew peas with turkey neck. There’s actually quite a bit you can use to ‘tun yuh han mek fashion’ which translates to working with what you have to make something good.
Weekends are the best!
Fridays were really good and I always looked forward to them because we would almost always eat out. This was exciting because now we had a chance to eat foods from other cultures or fast food which was just not done on a regular basis so it seemed like such a treat. KFC, Jerk chicken or pork with festival, roast fish, Chinese food, you name it we had an opportunity to get it. As I am writing this I am remained of another special memory from my childhood. Every Friday (I think it was Friday) my mother would bring a loaf of bread from Captains Bakery in Cross Road, I remember it because it had an usual shape, it started off small with an ‘M’ curve and got bigger for the rest of the loaf (I hope I am remembering this correctly”. What I do remember most is the bread was always hot and we would slice that bread and spread some butter on it and it was pure JOY! WOW those were some good times, I am craving bread right now.
Saturdays were on rotation. It was either a curry day which meant curry goat or curry chicken which i absolutely love. I love curry in an indescribable way, I could eat it everyday if I didn’t fear it would have some lasting effects. The Saturdays that we didn’t have curry we would have soup. Beef soup, chicken soup either one I didn’t love it. As a child maybe I was greedy but I didn’t see soup as a real meal. It was always filling in the moment but in an hour you are hungry again so why bother? Another popular soup in our culture is Manish Water soup which is goat head soup. I will not bother to list the numerous ingredients of that soup that I did not like and to this day I don’t drink it but we Jamaicans sure love it.
Sundays were really fun days for me. If Ignore the early morning wake up to get ready for church, then sit through hours of church service, I could not wait to get home to have brunch and then spend the afternoon in the kitchen with my mother. It was truly our best days, we would chat all afternoon in the kitchen and listen to her favourite radio station to her favorite programme ‘Palav”. Also Sundays were like Christmas came once a week. We ate really well from roast pork to oxtail, the curry goat, to chicken and often too meats. Even the side dishes were special, salad, fried plantain, potato salad and best believe there was always dessert. Ice cream, cookies, cakes, you name it, we had it. Sundays were a special time and that tradition is a big part of our culture.
So I digressed quite a bit, this is about Thursday meals and today we look at Curry Turkey Neck. Its very affordable, easy to make with a pressure cooker and absolutely delicious. So lets get cooking!
Curry Turkey Neck Stew. Delicious Food for the soul!
Course: EntreeDifficulty: Moderate2
servings10
minutes1
hour10
minutesIngredients
Turkey Neck, 6-8 pieces
Salt, 1 tsp., additional 1/2 tsp. for dumplings (Pantry Item)
All Purpose, 1tsp. (Pantry Item)
Garlic, 4 cloves. (Pantry Item)
Curry Powder, 1 1/2 tsp. (Pantry Item)
Onion Powder 1/2 tsp. (Pantry Item)
Pimento, 5 (Pantry Item)
Soy Sauce 1/2 tsp. (Pantry Item)
Flour,1 cup. (Pantry Item)
Scotch Bonnet pepper, 1 medium. (Pantry Item)
Thyme, 2 sprigs (Pantry Item)
Scallion, 1 stalk (Pantry Item)
Vegetable Oil, 2 tbsp. (Pantry Item)
Rice, 1 cup uncooked. (Pantry Item)
Onion, 1 small, chopped (Pantry Item)
Directions
- Wash turkey neck with vinegar and drain water. Season with soy sauce, salt, all purpose, onion powder and 1/2 tsp. curry powder. Mix and set aside.
- Heat oil and remaining curry powder on medium heat in a pressure cooker. When hot add turkey neck and brown for 5 minutes. Add 3 cups of water, scallion, thyme, garlic, scotch bonnet, pimento and onion. Cover, close and pressure for 25 minutes.
- While the turkey neck cooks, cook rice according to package instructions and start preparing dumplings.
- Add flour and salt to a bowl and mix. Add small amounts of water at a time to the flour mixture. Each time mix the flour until it starts to become doughy.
- Using your hands knead the flour until until dough is firm and smooth. Cover and let sit for 5-10 minutes.
- After pressure cooker cools, open up and check that the turkey is cooked. Bring to a boil and prepare to add the dumplings.
- Dust your hands with flour to create two types of dumpling shapes. First pinch small chunks of the dough and roll in your palms to form a ball. Secondly pinch a coin sized piece of the dough and roll it in the palm of your hands by moving front to back consecutively. Add spinner and balls to the pot and repeat this process until the dough is finished.
- Cook for 20 minutes or until dumpling is cooked and gravy is reduced and thick.
- Serve hot with rice.
Price Range: $500 JMD. (Price range based on type of supermarket, brand and season. Does not include Pantry Items and tax)
Eating in can be easy on the pocket yet just as fun and tasty as dining out. Enjoy!
Brawta: Rice. (Non pantry ingredients that are leftovers for future use.)