Callaloo

Recipe for the spicy Caribbean stew with gambas

The typical Caribbean dish Callaloo is a delicious spicy stew with callaloo leaves and gambas in coconut milk and also very popular in the Cajun cuisine.
Callaloo refers to amaranth, a leafy vegetable cooked the same way spinach or kale are cooked in the southern United States. You can also replace Callaloo in equal parts with young spinach and kale.

Ingredients (for 4 persons)

800 g of callaloo (or 400 g of young leaf spinach and kale each)
200 g of prawns or shrimp
1 scallion
1 tomato
3 cloves of garlic
¼ Scotch Bonnet Chili
1 sprig thyme
1 can of coconut milk
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp of coconut oil
1 tsp butter
salt, pepper

Preparation

Wash, trim and chop the callaloo into ribbons. Thinly slice the garlic, chop the onion, scallion and tomato and finely dice the scotch bonnet pepper.
If you use fresh prawns or shrimp, cook for about 3 minutes, then remove them from the pan and set aside.

Heat the oil in a wide pan on a medium flame, then add the onion, garlic, black pepper and scallion. Drop the heat to low and saute for about 3-4 minutes.
Then add the callaloo, cabbage or spinach, chilli, thyme, tomato and half of the coconut milk and let the whole simmer until the spinach is tender (about 10 - 12 minutes).

3 minutes before the end of the cooking time, add the remaining coconut milk, the lemon juice and the prawns, season with salt and let it simmer until the texture is as you like it. Finally, add the butter.

Serve with steamed rice.

Image source: Fotolia #88856032 © Fanfo