Jamaican

SORREL HOISIN FRIED ‘CHICKEN’ BURGER by Denai Moore

Every now and then you need a good burger in your life, and this one satisfies that craving. This is the kind of dish I make for my non-vegan friends. The sorrel hoisin glaze is quietly delicious and adds a fruity twist. Lettuce and pickles are non-negotiable here. There’s just something about the hot, crispy, sticky glazed oyster mushrooms and the ice-cold lettuce.

SERVES 6
PREP TIME 20 MINUTES, PLUS 20 MINUTES MARINATING TIME
COOK TIME 30 MINUTES

250 g (9 oz) oyster mushrooms
2 tablespoons Green Seasoning (see below)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon ground allspice
vegetable oil, for deep-frying
1 x quantity Sorrel Hoisin Glaze (see below)
salt and freshly ground black pepper

FOR THE WET DREDGE
400 ml (13 fl oz/generous 1½ cups) soya milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons hot sauce of your choice

FOR THE CRISPY COATING
200 g (7 oz/1⅔ cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
50 g (2 oz/scant ½ cup) cornflour (cornstarch)
1 tablespoon all-purpose seasoning
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1½ teaspoons onion powder
1½ teaspoons garlic granules

TO SERVE
6 vegan-friendly brioche burger buns
knob of vegan block butter
vegan mayonnaise
½ iceberg lettuce
gherkins (pickles)

In a bowl, toss the mushrooms with the green seasoning, soy sauce, allspice and some salt and pepper. Set aside to marinate for 20 minutes. Combine the wet dredge ingredients in one bowl and the crispy coating ingredients in another, seasoning the coating mix with plenty of salt and pepper.

Add a little of the wet dredge to the dry coating and mix in – this will create small lumps, which will become crispy pockets. Dip the mushrooms in the wet dredge, then into the coating mix and then repeat for a double coating. Tap off any excess coating mix and set aside on a baking sheet, ready to fry.

Pour enough vegetable oil into a high-sided heavy-bottomed frying pan (skillet) or saucepan to fill to halfway and gently bring to heat. Test the temperature by using a wooden spoon – if lots of bubbles appear around it immediately, it’s ready to go.

Add 4–5 mushrooms to the pan, taking care not to overcrowd. Fry for 5–6 minutes until crisp and golden. Drain off any excess oil on a wire rack. Repeat until all the mushrooms are cooked. Brush the sorrel hoisin glaze on the mushrooms and set aside.

Toast the brioche buns with a touch of vegan butter. On the base of each bun spread a tablespoon of vegan mayonnaise and add a couple of lettuce leaves. Now add the glazed mushrooms and pickles. And another dollop of vegan mayo on the top bun. Serve and enjoy!

GREEN SEASONING
SERVES 10–12
PREP TIME 3 MINUTES

This flavour bomb is great to add to stews, soups and marinades.

bunch of coriander (cilantro)
bunch of flat-leaf parsley
10 springs of thyme, leaves picked
5 spring onions (scallions), roughly chopped
2 celery stalks, roughly chopped
1 bulb of garlic, cloves peeled
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 green (bell) pepper, roughly chopped
1 Scotch bonnet
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and blend for 2–3 minutes to your desired consistency. I like mine quite fine, but you might like yours more coarse. Store in a clean jar and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.

SORREL HOISIN GLAZE
SERVES 3–4 PREP TIME 5 MINUTES
COOK TIME 10 MINUTES

Sorrel is a hibiscus drink. The floral notes really work with the sweetness of the hoisin sauce. This would work well in various dishes, especially anything crispy and fried.

400 ml (13 fl oz/generous 1½ cups) sorrel soft drink
1 Scotch bonnet
4 allspice berries
100 ml (3/2 fl oz/scant ½ cup) hoisin sauce

Combine the sorrel, whole Scotch bonnet and allspice in a saucepan, bring to the boil, then reduce by half – it should hold on the back of a spoon and be sticky. Add the hoisin sauce, then transfer to a clean jar and store for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

Cook more from this book

Buy this book: Plentiful by Denai Moore

Read the review

Plentiful by Denai Moore

The multi-talented Denai Moore is an acclaimed soul singer as well as the vegan chef behind Dee’s Table pop up restaurant and has developed recipes for Leon and Tesco among others. With her debut cookbook, Moore wants to smash preconceptions about Jamaican food which she says is ‘often misrepresented, stripped of its complexity and reduced to being a meat-heavy cuisine’. Instead, Plentiful is a collection of vegan recipes that celebrates the vibrancy and diversity of Jamaican cooking which Moore says is a ‘melting pot of different cultures’ that uses spices in a unique way.

Moore mixes the food of her childhood growing up in Jamaica with influences from East and Southeast Asia. Her take on the Thai salad larb incorporates Jamaican-style ‘green seasoning’ (made with blended coriander, parsley, thyme, green pepper and scotch bonnet) and as well as vegan fish sauce and tofu. Moore’s version of ramen uses the traditional base of Jamaican ‘brown stew’, caramelised brown sugar, then adds a kombu broth flavoured with allspice, another typically Jamaican ingredient. Topped with pak choi, tofu and noodles, the finished dish looks like ramen but it’s a creation all of Moore’s own.

Moore has gone off-piste with the book’s format too. Forget starters, mains and desserts, instead there’s chapters entitled ‘Food That I Dream About Before Going To Bed’ (i.e. breakfasts including a hominy corn porridge inspired by her grandmother’s recipe), ‘Salads That Aren’t Lame’ (beetroot with olive and scotch bonnet jam) and ‘Comfort Grub’ (squash and butter bean curry with spinners, a type of dumpling).

Although Moore says the book is intended to include ‘all the greatest Jamaican hits’, she has included many recognisable elements of the cuisine, albeit in her inimitable way. Callaloo, a leafy green, is turned into pesto for pasta, ackee fruit replaces eggs in a carbonara and there’s vegan versions of Jamaican classics like patties and red pea (kidney bean) soup. From rice and peas arancini to a Jamaican ginger and marzipan loaf, Moore brings individuality and creativity to every dish, ensuring that Plentiful will provide inspiration to any inquiring chef.

Cuisine: Jamaican
Suitable for: Beginners/Confident home cooks
Cookbook Review Rating: Four stars

Buy this book: Plentiful by Denai Moore

Motherland by Melissa Thompson

What’s the USP? The front cover of Melissa Thompson’s Motherland describes it as ‘A Jamaican Cookbook’, which is something of an understatement, all things considered. Motherland is a cookbook, yes, and it shares with its reader the food and recipes that feed and fuel Jamaicans each day. But it also shares something more than that: a history, both political and cultural, and an addressing of the many factors that create a modern cuisine.

Who wrote it? Thompson is a food writer who regularly pops up in weekend papers and glossy food magazines. Born in Dorset to a Jamaican father and a Maltese mother, this is her first cookbook. There will be no complaints if she chooses to publish a dozen more.

Is it good bedtime reading? Motherland is excellent, if not happy, bedtime reading. In Thompson’s introduction to the book she describes it as ‘a history of the people, influences and ingredients that uniquely united to create the wonderful patchwork cuisine that is Jamaican food today’. This history is scattered throughout the book – partly through the short introductions to each recipe, but mostly through powerful essays that are not afraid to cover the ground our school educations often ignore. These sections do not make for light reading, emotionally, but are fascinating and rich with a love and respect for the native people of Jamaica and its fellow Caribbean islands.

How annoyingly vague are the recipes? Thompson is descriptive without being prescriptive – the perfect balance. Here we have a book that accounts for the way real ingredients might vary, and offers crisp and clear instruction on turning the food you have at hand into something that is more than the sum of its parts.

Will I have trouble finding the ingredients? The eternal question of where to find great cuts of meat remains for many, so you may stumble in your quest for oxtail, mutton or goat. And while many supermarkets still lack the likes of breadfruit and yams, they’re still easy enough to find if you look for a good international market. Otherwise, the majority of dishes here are well within reach.

What’s the faff factor? Thompson is serving up some real comfort foods here, and comfort foods usually go one of two directions. You’ve got your slow and steady options – stews and roasts that you can more or less leave to themselves. From the Red Peas Soup to Roast Chicken with Thyme & Grapefruit, there’s plenty of those on offer. And then you’ve got the fried goodness. These dishes, be they Ginger Beer Prawns, Sticky Rum & Tamarind Wings or Curry Fried Chicken are definitely a faff, but might also be the most delicious things in here.

How often will I cook from the book? This could easily be in regular rotation in your kitchen. Thompson’s ideas are fun, flavoursome and – importantly – varied. There are all the dishes you that may first leap to mind when you think of Jamaican cooking (jerk, curry goat, and even a recipe for homemade ginger beer), but also a wealth of discoveries to be made.

Killer recipes: Peanut & Sweet Potato Stew, Oxtail Nuggets with Pepper Sauce Mayo, Crispy Ginger Beer Pork Belly, Guinness Punch Pie, Tamarind & Bay Caramel Brownies

Should I buy it? If you’re looking for a book that delivers real gastronomical insight as well as deeply flavoursome dishes to bring real cosiness to your kitchen, this is a great way into Jamaican cuisine. If you aren’t looking for that, there’s no helping you.

Cuisine: Jamaican
Suitable for: Beginner and confident home cooks
Cookbook Review Rating: Five stars

Buy the book: Motherland by Melissa Thompson
£26, Bloomsbury Publishing

Review written by Stephen Rötzsch Thomas a Nottingham-based writer. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @srotzschthomas

Motherland has been shortlisted for the Andre Simon Food and Drink Book Awards 2022