Trini Corn Soup, Pepper Sauce and Fried Bakes

Bring Caribbean flavours to your kitchen with Trini Corn Soup, Pepper Sauce, and Fried Bakes from Shivi Ramoutar. This vibrant recipe is a post party reviver that is also a family fave! It combines creamy coconut soup packed with ham hock, corn, and tender lentils, a homemade scotch bonnet pepper sauce, and golden, fluffy fried bakes. Delicious!!

Ingredients

1 lime
12 medium-sized red scotch bonnet peppers, stems removed, roughly chopped (use gloves)
Small bunch coriander
1 large bulb garlic, cloves only
150ml white wine vinegar
1 ½ heaped tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp American mustard
1 small thumb-sized piece root ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
½ papaya, peeled, seeded and roughly chopped

For the soup

2 tbsp olive oil
1 small pack of shredded ham hock (or use bacon lardons) about 100g
2 garlic cloves crushed
3 spring onions
2 large sprigs of thyme
3 medium sized carrots, quartered
4 corn cobettes (or 2 corn on the cobs, halved)
400ml tin coconut milk
1 red scotch bonnet pepper, unpierced
1 vegetable stock cube, crumbled
¾ mug (around 200g) split lentils
½ pack (about 200g) gnocchi

For the fried bakes

200g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
Small knob of butter
Oil for coating and frying

To serve

Micro coriander
Fresh chillies
Chives

Method

Print Recipe

For the Pepper Sauce (make as far in advance as possible for a better flavour), boil the lime in a small pan of water until soft and tender, about 10 minutes.Let cool.
Pop the other ingredients in a blender and blitz until smooth.Add the lime and pulse so it’s a little chunky. Season and pop into a sterilised bottle, lid on, and allow to ‘develop’ in flavour for a couple days (if possible), and season again, if necessary.
For the soup, heat the oil in a large, lidded casserole dish over a medium heat, add the ham hock and stir for a few seconds, then stir in the garlic, spring onion, thyme, cayenne pepper, carrots and corn.Cook for 5 minutes, stirring often.
Add the coconut milk, crumbled stock cube and lentils, along with 600ml boiling water, and a generous pinch of seasoning.Bring to the boil, pop in the whole scotch bonnet, then reduce the heat, pop the lid on and simmer until the lentils are soft, about 25 minutes. Stir often, adding the gnocchi for the last 5 minutes.
For the Fried Bakes, mix together the flour, baking powder and a generous pinch of salt in a bowl, rub the butter to the mixture, then gradually add water until a dough forms.Knead until smooth and supple, coat with a little oi, cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
Divide the dough into 4 small balls, flatten into a palm sized circle.Use a deep-fat fryer following manufacturer’s instructions (or a high sided saucepan) and heat the oil to 170C (or when you pop a breadcrumb in it should sizzle and turn golden brown almost immediately). Pop in the bakes, in batches and fry them until the start to puff up, flip them over and fry, until golden and puffed on both sides. Set aside using a slotted spoon on a plate lined with kitchen roll. Repeat with remaining bakes.
To serve, plate up the soup then drizzle over drops of Pepper Sauce (your home-made, or other scotch bonnet based one) and garnish, serving alongside the Fried Bakes, if you wish.

Ingredients

1 lime
12 medium-sized red scotch bonnet peppers, stems removed, roughly chopped (use gloves)
Small bunch coriander
1 large bulb garlic, cloves only
150ml white wine vinegar
1 ½ heaped tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp American mustard
1 small thumb-sized piece root ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
½ papaya, peeled, seeded and roughly chopped

For the soup

2 tbsp olive oil
1 small pack of shredded ham hock (or use bacon lardons) about 100g
2 garlic cloves crushed
3 spring onions
2 large sprigs of thyme
3 medium sized carrots, quartered
4 corn cobettes (or 2 corn on the cobs, halved)
400ml tin coconut milk
1 red scotch bonnet pepper, unpierced
1 vegetable stock cube, crumbled
¾ mug (around 200g) split lentils
½ pack (about 200g) gnocchi

For the fried bakes

200g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
Small knob of butter
Oil for coating and frying

To serve

Micro coriander
Fresh chillies
Chives

Method

For the Pepper Sauce (make as far in advance as possible for a better flavour), boil the lime in a small pan of water until soft and tender, about 10 minutes.Let cool.
Pop the other ingredients in a blender and blitz until smooth.Add the lime and pulse so it’s a little chunky. Season and pop into a sterilised bottle, lid on, and allow to ‘develop’ in flavour for a couple days (if possible), and season again, if necessary.
For the soup, heat the oil in a large, lidded casserole dish over a medium heat, add the ham hock and stir for a few seconds, then stir in the garlic, spring onion, thyme, cayenne pepper, carrots and corn.Cook for 5 minutes, stirring often.
Add the coconut milk, crumbled stock cube and lentils, along with 600ml boiling water, and a generous pinch of seasoning.Bring to the boil, pop in the whole scotch bonnet, then reduce the heat, pop the lid on and simmer until the lentils are soft, about 25 minutes. Stir often, adding the gnocchi for the last 5 minutes.
For the Fried Bakes, mix together the flour, baking powder and a generous pinch of salt in a bowl, rub the butter to the mixture, then gradually add water until a dough forms.Knead until smooth and supple, coat with a little oi, cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
Divide the dough into 4 small balls, flatten into a palm sized circle.Use a deep-fat fryer following manufacturer’s instructions (or a high sided saucepan) and heat the oil to 170C (or when you pop a breadcrumb in it should sizzle and turn golden brown almost immediately). Pop in the bakes, in batches and fry them until the start to puff up, flip them over and fry, until golden and puffed on both sides. Set aside using a slotted spoon on a plate lined with kitchen roll. Repeat with remaining bakes.
To serve, plate up the soup then drizzle over drops of Pepper Sauce (your home-made, or other scotch bonnet based one) and garnish, serving alongside the Fried Bakes, if you wish.