Cou-Cou

"The national dish of Barbados when eaten with flying fish;loosely based on the middle eastern cous-cous but the okras make the difference!"
 
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photo by Mamas Kitchen Hope photo by Mamas Kitchen Hope
photo by Mamas Kitchen Hope
Ready In:
25mins
Ingredients:
6
Serves:
6
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ingredients

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directions

  • Put water to boil in a medium-size pot. Thinly slice okra and add to boiling water. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes, until soft. Lower the heat.
  • Meanwhile, combine corn meal with cold water and mix well.
  • Add corn mixture to the okra. Add salt.
  • Mix well and cook on low, stirring constantly with a flat wooden spoon or "cou-cou stick".
  • When mixture breaks away cleanly from the side of the saucepan, the cou-cou is ready.
  • Butter a bowl, turn the mixture out neatly onto it, shaking it so that it takes on the shape of the bowl.
  • Turn it out on to a serving dish, make an indentation in the top and place a knob of butter in it.
  • What makes it unique and distinguishes it from its now more fashionable cousin the Italian polenta, is the addition of okra. In some islands, cou-cou is spiced up by peppers and yellow-butter.
  • --------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

Questions & Replies

  1. How much water goes in with the initial okra boil? Is it 2 cups as well, like the water that gets added to the cornmeal later?
     
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Reviews

  1. This was a real surprise for me. Being from okra country I was raised on it and love it raw, boiled, fried, or pickled. Of course I had to double the okra. I doubt that it cost more than a dollar to make but tastes like a million bucks. THis is my surprise find of the month. I can make a meal of it with plenty of butter! Thanks hon, I LOVE THIS DISH!
     
  2. This tasted good BUT I had major trouble with the directions. After over 30 minutes of stirring CONSTANTLY the cou cou still did not pull away from the pan cleanly. It was VERY thick. I poured it into the bowl but there was NO way that I would have been able to turn it out and have the impression of the bowl retain shape. It was a still a slimy free flowing blob. So I baked it for 30 minutes at 350- the center was still slimy and not set. It did hold its shape so I could turn it out. I cut into it, scraped the gooey part away and ate the portion that had set. It tasted great.... just never set. ?????? I would make this again if provided with some better direction. Sorry it didnt work for me. Thanks Sage
     
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

I love to cook, read recipe books and food magazines,spend time in kitchen stores, grocery stores, gourmet shops, learning new cooking techniques, trying new kitchen gadgets,tasting exotic foods,enjoying a wonderful meal. I've always had a herb garden; now I have containers on my patio with my must have herbs. It seems, everything tastes better with fresh herbs!
 
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