Chocolate Cake

1½ cup self-rising flour
1 ½ tsp Baking powder

1 tsp Mixed Spice

¾ cup Margarine, softened

¾ cup Superfine sugar

3 Eggs

2 tbsp Unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tbsp Hot water

½ cup Granulated sugar

2/3 cup Water

2 Cinnamon sticks (2")

¼ cup Dark rum

2 tbsp Slivered almonds

6 oz Semisweet chocolate  

Preheat oven to 325'F

Generously grease a 5-cup fluted or plain tube pan and dust lightly with flour. Sift flour, baking powder and Mixed Spice into a bowl. Add margarine, superfine sugar and eggs.

Blend cocoa powder with hot water and add to flour mixture. Beat well with a wooden spoon 2 minutes or 1 minute if using an electric mixer.

Turn mixture into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven 1-1/4 hours or until well risen and cake begins to shrink from edges of pan.

Carefully turn out cake onto a wire rack and cool.

Combine granulated sugar and 2/3 cup water in a saucepan. Add cinnamon and heat gently, stirring to dissolve sugar. Boil 5 minutes. Remove from heat, add rum and discard cinnamon.

Place cake on a plate. Spoon syrup over cake and let stand 2 hours.  Stud top of cake with almonds.  Melt chocolate; carefully spoon over cake, spreading to give a smooth even coating.

Let stand several hours. Pipe (with a pastry bag) whipped cream around bottom of cake.

Jamaica Curry Goat

2lb (1kg) goat meat

2 stalks scallion, chopped 

2 teaspoons salt to taste

1-2 Scotch bonnet peppers, chopped, with or without seeds

Black pepper

3 tablespoons curry powder

2 tablespoons (1 oz, 25 g) butter

1/4cup (2 fl oz, 50 ml) oil

1 clove garlic, crushed

About 3 cups (1 1/4 pints, 750 ml) water

2 tomatoes, chopped

2 onions sliced

 

Cut the goat meat into small pieces; place them in a bowl, and season with the salt, black pepper, curry powder, garlic, tomatoes, onions, scallion and hot peppers (remove the seeds from the peppers if you do not want the curry to be too hot).

Allow the meat to marinate for at least 1 hour.

When you are ready to proceed, separate the seasonings from the meat and fry the meat in the butter and oil until it is lightly browned. Add enough water to cover the meat and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat cover the pan, and simmer until the meat is tender, adding more water if necessary. Stir in the seasonings in which the meat was marinated, taste, cover the pan again, and allow it to simmer for a further 10 minutes or until the seasonings are absorbed into the juice, which should now have more body without being too thick. The dish should not be at all dry. Some cooks prefer either to boil the meat first then add the seasonings when the meat is tender, or to boil the meat and seasonings together from the start. The choice is yours. Serve this splendid dish with white rice, mango chutney, fried plantains, boiled green bananas or whatever else you like.

Cold Mango Soup laced with Rum

5 mangoes

1 cup sugar

5cups Chicken Stock

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 or 2 whole cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
2 tablespoons rum
1/2 cup whipping cream
Freshly grated nutmeg, if desired

Peel, seed and chop mangoes, then place them with the rest of the ingredients except rum, whipped cream and nutmeg in a heavy saucepan. Cook over medium heat; skim any foam from top. Reduce until about 1/4 of original liquid has evaporated, then press mixture through a sieve. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour. Add rum immediately before serving. Whip cream in a small bowl. Top each serving with whipped cream and nutmeg, if desired. Makes 6 servings.

Red Pea Soup with Spinners

This  is a soup native to Jamaica
The spinners are dense dumplings that are cooked in the soup.

1 1/2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into cubes

3/4 pound pig's tail or ham, chopped
2 cups dried kidney beans, soaked overnight. and drained
4 quarts water
2 Scotch Bonnet chillies (whole)
1 sprig fresh thyme
1/2 pound potato or yellow yam
3 green onions
Salt to taste

Place meats, kidney beans and water in a large pot over medium  heat. Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer, covered, about 2 hours, or until  the beans are soft.
Add the chillies, thyme, potato and green onions.
Simmer 30 minutes or until potato is almost tender.
Prepare spinners and place on top of soup. Cover and cook 15 minutes.
Discard chilli.
Serve hot. Makes 6 servings.

SPINNERS

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 pinch of salt
About 1/3 cup water

Mix together flour, salt and enough water to make a stiff dough.
Pinch off walnut size balls. In the palm of your hands, knead and shape into long, thin dumplings.
Add to the soup during last 15 minutes of cooking.