Thursday, July 16, 2020

Trinbagonian Pelau

 

Trini pelau is an iconic meal-in-a-pot dish of chicken, pigeon peas and rice that are cooked with fresh herbs, vegetables and coconut milk and are enjoyed by friends and family members that come together for a lime (social gathering). The pelau dish is served at beach, river, Christmas and house party limes and often cooked at river get-togethers on makeshift firesides. The dish is flavoured and coloured by caramelising brown sugar and then sweltering the seasoned chicken to give that sweet and savoury taste, the Caribbean flavour that everyone loves. Pelau can also be prepared and simmered without the meat to appeal to the palate of the vegetarians because of our diverse culture.

The origin of Pelau in Trinidad and Tobago came from East Indian indentured labourers and influenced by African food traditions of stewing of meat that epitomise to the Trini culture. Pelau is a quick fix meal that has spread across Trinbagonians household and its uniqueness is the ability to taste totally different from house-to-house. So, what are your views on pelau? Is it an easy dish to concoct? Put it in the comment below…….


3 comments:

  1. Pelau As A Trinidadian Food In My opinion Is A Difficult Food To Cook, Due To The Fact That Pelau In Itself Is A Dish All About Layering of Flavors. One Does Not Simply Dump All Ingredients Within An Iron Pot And Put To Simmer, It Has Stages To It's Concoction. Hence I Understand Why Pelau Differs In Varying Households, What Might Taste Good To One Person Might Not Appeal To Another, Basically One Size Pelau Doesn't Fit All. I Must Admit, All While Reading This Article, My Mouth Was Watering For Pelau. Job Well Done On The Writing And Use of Word. Keep Up The Good Work.

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    1. Yes....I understand your point of view....and no we don't just place all the ingredients in the pot and all to to cook... As you rightfully mentioned, there are various stages in the preparation and cooking of Pelau....

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    2. Hey, you can check out this website to give you step by step process in making the Pelau.....
      https://cookingwithria.com/2011/07/trinidad-pelau.html

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