Caribbean browning (burnt-sugar seasoning)
Caribbean browning is a dark liquid of deeply caramelised sugar, used in small amounts for colour and a smoky, bitter-sweet flavour in stews and black cake.
Chadon beni sauce
Shado beni sauce · Shado beni hot sauce · Chadon beni hot sauce
A bright green Trinidadian hot sauce of chadon beni (shado beni, culantro) with garlic, hot pepper, lime and water, blended to a pourable sauce for grilled meat, wings and eggs.
Overview
Chadon beni sauce is a fresh green hot sauce from Trinidad built on chadon beni, the local name for culantro. It is a raw, blended sauce rather than a cooked or fermented one. Its colour comes from the herb, and its sharpness comes from garlic, lime juice and hot pepper.
Chadon beni is the herb's Trinidadian name. The sauce is closely related to the green seasoning paste, but it is thinned with water and used as a table or snack sauce rather than as a cooking base.
Sources for this section
Background
The author links this recipe to a green sauce he tasted at a breakfast buffet at a Port of Spain hotel during a visit for Carnival in 2009. A chef made the sauce fresh daily, and the author asked for some to take home. The recipe is his version of that sauce.
The page offers no other history and no dated source for the sauce or its name.
Sources for this section
Method and texture
Garlic goes into the food processor first, then the lime juice, salt, water and hot pepper. The herb goes in last and is puréed for three to four minutes, with the mixture pushed down so that the herb is worked evenly. The result is a pourable green sauce; the page gives no target texture.
The water is the only liquid besides lime juice, and the page includes no vinegar or oil. Because the sauce is raw, the flavour depends on the freshness of the herb and garlic and on how much pepper is used.
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Heat, substitutions and use
The pepper count sets the heat. The page recommends one hot pepper, or as many as the cook can handle, and says to add more if the sauce is not hot enough. Cilantro may be used in place of chadon beni. The herb is not the same plant, and the page does not compare the two, so a cilantro sauce is a substitution rather than the same sauce.
The author suggests using the sauce wherever hot sauce is used, including on grilled meats, chicken wings, side dishes and eggs at breakfast.
Sources for this section
Storage
The page says to use the sauce fresh or refrigerate it, and it gives no storage time or freezing instructions. A reader comment says that a batch without vinegar may last about a week. That comment is not the author's guidance, and this record does not turn it into a limit.
Sources for this section
History
The author ties the recipe to a green sauce served at a hotel buffet in Port of Spain during Carnival 2009, which a chef made fresh each day. The page gives no dated history of the sauce beyond that.
Ingredients
Scaling: the page gives one bunch of herb and a single lime; scale the herb, lime and garlic together and adjust the pepper to taste.
Chadon beni (shado beni)Washed and rough-cut.
1 bunch
Cilantro may be substituted, as the page allows.LimeJuiced.
1 lime
Hot pepper
1 pepper
As many as you can handle, or more to taste.1.2 mL¼ tsp as recorded
59 mL¼ cup as recorded
GarlicPeeled and sliced.
3 cloves
Method
- Peel the garlic, slice it and place it in a food processor.
- Squeeze the lime juice into the processor, then add the salt, water and hot pepper.
- Wash and rough-cut the chadon beni or cilantro and add it to the processor.
- Purée for about 3 to 4 minutes, stopping to push the ingredients down so that everything is worked evenly.
- Taste for salt and heat, and add more pepper if the sauce is not hot enough.
- Use fresh, or put the sauce in a container and refrigerate it.
Conditions
Active time4 min
Places
Trinidad and Tobago
Documented preparation · Country evidenceThe author ties the sauce to a green sauce he tasted at a hotel buffet in Port of Spain; the page gives no wider regional history.
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Sources
CaribbeanPot.comMethod · History · Uses
Shado Beni Hot SauceIngredients: 1 bunch shado beni (or cilantro), 1 lime, 1 hot pepper, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 cup water, 3 cloves garlic.
Method: process garlic, lime juice, salt, water and pepper, then the herb, for 3 to 4 minutes, pushing the mixture down; adjust salt and heat.
Storage: use fresh or refrigerate; no storage time or freezing instructions are given; a reader comment says it may last about a week without vinegar.
Background: a green sauce served fresh daily at a Port of Spain hotel buffet during Carnival 2009, which the author asked to take home.
Uses: suggested anywhere hot sauce is used, including grilled meats, wings, side dishes and eggs.
Cited in: Overview; Background; Method and texture; Heat, substitutions and use; Storage