Caribbean Callaloo

Caribbean Callaloo is the national dish of Trinidad and Tobago and is eaten island wide throughout most of the Caribbean. It’s full of nutrients and especially rich in iron, folic acid and lycopene. Sometimes it's a soup and other times it's a thick sauce to accompany meat or vegetables. There are several ways to make it, some like adding crab or salt fish, or keeping it vegetarian with provisions (root vegetables), split-peas, okra, or other leafy green vegetables apart from the local dasheen leaves (a.k.a taro, eddo, kalo). Coconut milk is often added for its richness. In Grenada they traditionally add their local spices, a popular one being nutmeg. Every Caribbean country has its own twist on making callaloo soup. Either way, it's delicious.

Callaloo is a must-have on the table for the traditional Sunday lunch in Trinidad and Tobago. Here is my healthy plant-based version of the soup!  If I have learned anything about Caribbean cooking, it's that it is very forgiving and if you want to make substitutions, go right ahead!  Play with the spices and just keep taste-testing as you go!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (or virgin coconut oil)

4-5 cups chopped dasheen leaves (can use kale or spinach as well), boiled*

1 large chopped onion

4-5 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup diced tomato

1 large diced potato (optional; can substitute with any other provision)

2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger root

2 teaspoons ground turmeric

2 teaspoons ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground dried thyme

1 small chopped hot pepper (optional)

5 cups homemade vegetable stock

1 cup coconut milk (optional to add richness; can substitute for more vegetable stock)

2 tablespoons lime juice, or to taste

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

*Note about cooking dasheen leaves: Dasheen leaves and many other veggies have both soluble and insoluble oxalate (calcium oxalate, oxalic acid). When you boil them (at least 45 minutes for dasheen leaves), the soluble oxalate leaches out of the veggie into the boiling water. You must then throw out the boiling water. The oxalate is not deactivated in any way. It has just moved places. The insoluble oxalate is still in the root/veggie. Most people's bodies will deal with the left-over oxalate, but not all people's bodies will. If you find that you have a lot of itching, burning sensations in your mouth after eating the taro root, or in the genital/anal region up to three days later--don't eat it anymore! This also goes for other high oxalate foods such as rhubarb, spinach, almonds (and most other nuts), chocolate and sweet potatoes.

Directions:

Sautee your boiled dasheen leaves (and other leafy greens) on low to medium heat with the olive oil, onion, garlic, tomato, potato, ginger, turmeric, coriander, thyme, and hot pepper for about 5 minutes. Add two cups of vegetable stock, and blend mixture in a blender (or use a hand blender stick). You can leave some of the mixture out if you like chunks in your soup, but I prefer mine smooth. Return your blended mixture to the pot, adding the remaining vegetable stock, coconut milk, lime juice as well as sea salt and pepper to taste. You may add more water if your soup is too thick. Simmer for 15-20 minutes. Serve as a soup to be eaten by itself or on top of brown rice, dumplings or fish.