Hi, folks. I recently purchased a Caribbean cookbook and have been enjoying many of the recipes in it. There's one I'd like to make this weekend that calls for "ground rice" and I don't know what that is. It's for a spiced rice pudding with coconut, if that helps.

Tonight we had a coconut-cumin dish with a side eggplant stuffed with sweet potato & pepper. Both were excellent.

Any Caribbean recipes that y'all would like to share that would put one in mind of the Caribbean and make one long for travel?

ej

It's rice! and it's ground!

It's a coarse flour texture. I'm not a baker but my Dad used to make the most scrummy Bakewell Tarts and would only use ground rice for the cake part, no flour - he said it made the cake part lighter

No recipes I'm afraid, I've decided I'm allergic to cooking \/

okay, i totally had that one coming.

So, can you buy it already ground? Do you buy regular rice and just put it in a blender or food processor? And if it is already ground, would the rice pudding lose the traditional rice-y consistency?

Bakewell Tarts sound great. What are they?

Thanks!

Hi ejcrowe. What's the book title and author? I also recently bought one. Can't think of title and author right now. Will look when I get home. Haven't tried any recipes yet but the pictures in the book look YUMMY!!
I bought another cookbook a couple of months ago (not Caribbean) but it had a jerk chicken recipe. I had a girls luncheon (just the girls - 8 of us - no husbands, no kids) and made it. One of my girl friends is of Jamaican descent, another one is married to a Jamaican (so they know their jerk chichen) and ALL OF the girls thought my chicken was fantastic...and let me tell you, these girls don't lie, they tell it like it is!! eeewwww...i just quoted that annoying Dr. Phil!!

Hi, caribtraveler--I'm at work now, too, and can't think of the name but I'll get back to you on that. There's a photo for every recipe and it gives all measurements in both metric & US units. The jerk recipe sounds great--I'd love to know the name of your book when you get home if you get the chance to post it.

ej,

Bakewell Tarts have a pastry shell, a layer of jam, almond flavoured cake and topped with icing

http://www.perennialtearoom.com/brow...well-Tart.html

Yum-O!

And no! I don't think you can ground your own

"Eat Caribbean" by Virginia Burke is the book I haven't used yet. It does have a jerk chicken recipe. I'll have to try it once. That recipe is very similar to the chicken recipe I served to the girl friends. That chicken dish is actually called "Caribbean-spiced chicken" and is in the Williams-Sonoma "The Essentials of Roasting" book.

caribtraveler, the name is The Caribbean, Central & Souther American Cookbook, published by Hermes House and written by Jenni Fleetwood and Marina Filippelli.

I bought it as a remainder directly from a remainder distrubutor, but you could probably find a cheap copy at www.abebooks.com (better than Amazon, in that you're buying directly from a bookseller).

Let us know which jerk recipe you end up liking better.

ejcrowe: So I bought your book this morning via abebooks.com.
Looking forward to trying some of the dishes. Thanks!

hope you got a good price on it, caribtraveler. that book site is a dangerous one for me to browse!

I've looked at a couple of local grocery stores now for ground rice and have not been able to find it. alya, or anybody else, do you have any recommendations for finding some? I live in New England and our grocery stores are mostly WholeFoods, Stop & Shop, and Big Y, if that helps. Thanks!

Got the book in the mail today. YUM!

caribtraveler, hope you enjoy it. over the weekend we made the coconut ice cream & fried bananas for dessert and had coconut shrimp and a rice dish with okra.

Still looking locally in Massachusetts for ground rice. Any suggestions out there?

ej,

I have 'sleuthed' for you and found this link.

http://tinyurl.com/rpook

Apparently rice flour can be used as a subsitute - Whiole Foods use rice flour in a lot of their recipes - for e.g:

http://tinyurl.com/omkmx

Alternatively - fine semolina flour

P.I Alya, Mission accomplished

Alya, you're the best! Thank you for posting that. I'll keep you posted on the rice pudding that I make with the ground rice/rice flour.

i read "an embarrassment of mangoes", about a canadian couple who quit jobs, take off, and sail to and all around the carribbean for a year, and they included some great recipes!! ejcrowe...whats your favorite island?
;-)

otto, i like to say that my favorite island is the one I last visited or the one I'm researching for my next visit. In that case, it would have to be Tortola from my visit last summer, or Vieques, for my upcoming visit in May.

I've got Embarrassment of Mangos at home and tried to read it, but for whatever reason it didn't engage me. I'll try to remember to find it again and check the recipes out, though. Thanks for the tip!

ejcrowe...i was commuting 2 hrs each way at the time, and was reading alot. and, i think it was winter when i read it, so although it was a "light" read, it certainly took me away!