Book of Days Tales

Today is Independence Day in Suriname. Suriname (or Surinam), officially known as the Republic of Suriname (Dutch: Republiek Suriname), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south.  In 1667 Suriname was colonized by the Dutch, who governed the nation as Dutch Guiana until 1954. At that time it was designated as one of the constituent countries  of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, along with the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles (dissolved in 2010). On 25^th November 1975, Suriname left the Kingdom of the Netherlands to become independent. A member of CARICOM (Caribbean Community), it is often considered a Caribbean country and has had frequent trade and cultural exchange with other Caribbean nations.

Surinamese cuisine is highly varied because the population originates from a variety of cultures, and is unlike the cuisines of other South American countries . Surinamese cuisine is a combination of many international cuisines including Indian, African Creole, Javanese, Chinese, Dutch, Jewish, Portuguese, and Amerindian. Common ingredients are chicken, salted meat and fish, rice, cassava, tayer, long beans, okra, and eggplant.

For a spicy taste, Madame Jeanette peppers are used. Madame Jeanette (Capsicum chinense) is a hot pepper originally from Suriname. The fruits are shaped like small bell peppers but with fierce heat (100,000-350,000 on the Scoville scale). The peppers ripen to reddish-yellow. Madame Jeanette peppers are used in almost all of Surinam cuisine. The plant is very prolific. It grows fairly small and dislikes cool sites. It will grow indoors.

Tayer is a species of Xanthosoma, a genus of flowering plants in the arum family, Araceae, related to taro. The genus contains about 50 species that are native to tropical America. Several are grown for their starchy corms, an important food staple of tropical regions Taro can be substituted.

Pom tayer is the national dish of Suriname. It is a baked casserole of layers of tayer and chicken.  It is considered mandatory to serve pom tayer at all celebrations.

Ingredients

1 whole chicken (2 to 3 lbs)
1 lb chicken sausage, sliced
2 ½ lbs tayer (or taro root)
1 lb can diced tomatoes
2 onions, peeled and chopped
3 stalks celery, diced
chicken stock
1 tbsp of nutmeg
juice of one orange
juice of 2 lemons
3 cloves of garlic, pressed
1 hot chile (Madame Jeanette or as hot)
1 tbsp sugar
½ cup of vegetable oil
salt and pepper

Instructions:

Cut the chicken into pieces. Traditionally it is chopped into chunks bone and all, but you can cut the meat from the bone. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

Heat the oil in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat and sauté the chicken pieces and chicken sausage in batches until lightly browned. Set aside.

In the same pan, sauté the onions for 7-8 minutes. Add the tomatoes, garlic and celery.

Add the chicken, chicken sausage, and hot pepper and cover with stock.

Cook covered over medium low heat for 25-30 minutes. Drain the cooking liquid into a bowl and keep it aside.

Peel and rinse the tayer. Grate the tayer. Mix it with some of the cooking liquid from the meat as well as the orange and lemon juices to make a sticky dough. Add sugar.

Spread half of the tayer mixture in a well greased covered baking dish. Spread the chicken mixture on top and then cover with the rest of the tayer.

Pour the remaining juices over the top and bake for two hours: one hour covered at 425°F/230°C, and one hour uncovered at 350°F/175°C, until the top is brown.

Serves 8-10