When last yuh had corned beef and cabbage? Well I could tell you that it's been a while for me, because corn beef is Mr. Corned Beef these days. lol!!! Besides the high price of corned beef in Trinidad, I still think that corned beef has gotten a bad rap ever since.
For some people, corned beef was only cooked when you wanted to cook very fast...I remember a popular advertisement that portrayed this well. The housewives were watching their midday soap opera when the husband comes home from work hungry. Not wasting time, the quickest meal the wife could make was with, you guessed it, corned beef. I think it was corned beef and macaroni or a corned beef casserole or something... But then a casserole would take a long time to bake so probably it was the corned beef and macaroni.
Then the other reason for the bad rap is if you only know how to cook corned beef, you weren't considered much of a cook. In other words people will say " yuh cyah cook". I could just imagine the menu...corned beef and dumpling, hops bread and corned beef, corned beef and roti, spaghetti and corned beef balls !!! Oh! and we can't forget the ever popular CRIX and corned beef. LOL!!!!! So you see what I mean? Everytime you're in "Ah jam" the first thing you do is run to the cupboard and look for a tin of corned beef.....
As I was saying, Mr Corn Beef has been the scapegoat of many a "hurry cook" in Trinidad and Tobago (and continues to be) but I think it's time that we look at different recipes using corned beef. Let's see... I posted curry corned beef and rice sometime ago and was pleased with it's taste. The corned beef and cabbage is another traditional recipe and I know of corned beef pies ( both the fried type and the pastry) Oh yes! ...the corned beef and macaroni and the corned beef casserole. But it would be nice to hear of other original Trini recipes using corned beef. I might just try them out and post too! Now don't laugh but this one now came to me ...how about corned beef..... on a stick? ... hahaha! lol!! (Watched too much "Madagascar" lately )
Anyway, I really enjoyed cooking this traditional corned beef recipe. I hope you do too! Here's Corned Beef and Cabbage Trinistyle.
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 medium cabbage, shredded
3 tbsp oil
2 pinch salt
2 tbsp green seasoning
Heat the oil over a medium flame and saute the garlic and onions
When the onions are tender, add the shredded cabbage...
and allow to cook for about one minute
Cover and allow to steam for about 2 minutes
Then add the corned beef, green seasoning and salt,and mix into the cabbage evenly. Cover for another minute and a half.
The finished corned beef and cabbage.Serve over rice or with bake
There we have it. Nice and simple but loaded with hearty goodness. I had mine with a little pepper at the side and it was fantastic. It just doesn't get any better than this. Ah gone!
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