Pepperpot

This national dish of Guyana is not the prettiest of dishes, but it is certainly one of the tastiest. The key ingredient, cassareep, is made from cassava root, and adds flavour as well as a dark brown colour. We always ate this dish for breakfast on Christmas morning with Jamaican hard dough bread for dipping in the gorgeous dark and gelatinous gravy.

• serves

  6

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  3:15 hours

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 2–3 tbsp groundnut oil
• 450 g (1 lb) pork shoulder chops, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 450 g (1 lb) stewing beef, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 3 pigs trotters, chopped into large chunks
• 150 ml (5 fl oz/⅔ cup) cassereep
• 1 large cinnamon stick, broken in half
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp West Indian pepper sauce
• 2 Scotch bonnet chillies, halved, seeded and finely sliced, plus extra to garnish
• 12 cloves
• salt and freshly ground
• black pepper

Instructions

Heat the groundnut oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat and brown the pork, beef and trotters on all sides, in batches if necessary. Return all the meat to the saucepan and season. Add enough water and cover with a lid, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hour.

Add all the remaining ingredients and bring back to the boil. Then reduce the heat again and simmer for about 2 hours until the meat is tender and the gravy is thick, dark and glossy. Garnish with a red Scotch bonnet, and serve on warmed plates with bread or rice.

Recipe and image from The Pepperpot Club, Jonathan Phang (Hardie Grant, $49.95, hbk)

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.