Recipe to enjoy: Cook-up

Cook-up (cook up) is a hugely popular Guyanese meal in which all the ingredients are put into one pot and cooked up together. The main ingredients are rice, meat, peas or beans, spices and coconut milk. Any kind of meat may be included in a cook-up. I've only had cook-up with meat once and I wasn't a huge fan. Some favorites include salted pork, pig tails, salt beef, but I prefer to have barbecue chicken or fried fish as a side. Favorite peas are yellow split peas and black-eye peas. Other ingredients include onions, garlic, parsley and thyme. It is often eaten with hot pepper sauce, or my preference is mango achar which is a "pickled condiment" that adds a bit more flavour. I found the following recipe and haven't tested it, but it looks like it has the right ingredients. Okras can be substituted for any kind of pea or bean you want! And I would assume you could just remove the meat from the recipe and not have to adjust anything else. When I get a recipe from a local, I'll test and share it!


Okras Cook-Up Rice

by Anne-Marie Whittaker

This is the Guyanese version of this popular rice dish. In some islands it is done u with salted cod instead of beef.

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients: 1 lb stew beef cut up into ¾ inch pieces 2 Tbsp tomato ketchup 3 Tbsp Barbadian Seasoning (see below) 2 Tbsp vegetable oil 3 salted pig-tails soaked in hot water and left to stand for four hours 1 tsp basil 1 tsp marjoram 1½ cups coconut milk 8 oz okras cut into cartwheels 3 seasoning peppers * cut in half (optional) 3 cups long grain rice washed and soaked in water for 2 hours seasoning salt to taste 3 cups water

Method:
Season the beef with Barbadian Seasoning and ketchup. Heat the oil in a saucepan and stir-fry the beef for 5 minutes.
Drain and cut the pig-tails in half and add to the pot. Continue to stir-fry for a further 5 minutes.
Next, add three cups of water, the coconut milk, herbs, seasoning peppers and simmer for 30 minutes or until the beef is tender. Add the okras and continue to boil for a further 5 minutes.
Drain the rice and add to the contents of the pot; stir, then add enough water to just cover the mixture.
Adjust the seasonings, for example add seasoning salt and a little more Barbadian Seasoning, and herbs. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to the lowest level, cover and simmer for 25 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed.

Note:
Seasoning pepper *: a variety of pepper that has very little heat but a strong aroma and flavour.

Barbadian Seasoning

by Anne-Marie Whittaker

This seasoning is the secret to the success of many mouth-watering Barbadian dishes. It is found in almost every home and comes in several variations. This one is particularly nice.

Ingredients:

• 1½ cups vinegar
• 2 oz thyme
• 2 oz parsley
• 1 lb onions
• 5 oz green onions
• 2 oz marjoram
• 4 Scotch Bonnet peppers or habanero (add more to make it hotter)
• 4 oz garlic
• ½ oz ground clove
• 2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• 4½ tbs salt

Method:
Remove the stems from the thyme and marjoram and place in a blender with vinegar. Liquefy.
Place the onions, green onions, parsley, peppers and garlic in a food processor and process for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Blend this together with the seasoned vinegar in a mixing bowl.
Stir in the salt, Worcestershire sauce, ground clove and black pepper. Bottle and refrigerate.
Leave it to stand for one week, before using as required.

Note:
Barbadian Seasoning will keep in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.

http://recipes.caribseek.com/Guyana/okras-cook-up-rice.shtml