Cookbooks

Caribbean food is not well known in this part of the world so it's intriguing to browse through The Pepperpot Club: A Celebration of Caribbean Cuisine by Jonathan Phang (Hardie Grant Books).

The author, whose parents were from British Guyana but grew up in London, shares recipes, memories and photographs of his family, who among them represent the six races of the Caribbean - Chinese, mixed European, East Indian, African, North American and indigenous Amerindian.

You can almost smell the exotic aromas from the traditional dishes - pepperpot, jerk chicken, shrimp creole, sweetcorn pudding, callaloo and crab, and the famous Caribbean black cake, a rich, moist fruit cake with liqueur-soaked fruit and burnt sugar syrup.

Some recipes sound familiar, like oxtail stew, curried mince or macaroni cheese, but they have the addition of West Indian pepper sauce or fiery scotch bonnet chillis. Even bread-and-butter pudding is made exotic, with rum, Caribbean mixed essence and tropical fruit.

This is a substantial book that people who love exploring exotic cuisines will relish.

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