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Trinidad coconut chutney

Coconut chutney, Trinidad style · Trini coconut chutney · Chadon beni coconut chutney

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Trinidad coconut chutney is dried coconut roasted until charred, then ground on a stone with garlic, hot pepper, pimento and chadon beni to a coarse paste.

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Photograph of Trinidad coconut chutney.

A coarse relish of roasted coconut

Trinidad coconut chutney is a ground condiment made from dried coconut that has been roasted until it is charred in patches. The roasted coconut is ground with garlic, hot pepper, pimento and chadon beni to a coarse, dark paste. It is a relish for the table, served beside rice, dhal and curry, and it is quite different from the sweet coconut sauces and the coconut milk curries of other cuisines.

The roasting is the flavour. The burnt-brown patches on the coconut give a toasted, smoky note that raw coconut does not have, and the coarse texture comes from grinding rather than blending to a smooth purée.

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Roasting the coconut

The dried coconut is cracked, the white flesh freed from the brown shell and washed. It is roasted over a medium flame for about five minutes a side until dark brown patches appear. The aim is colour without a crisp, burnt result. The pieces are then cooled, the black soot is scraped off, and the coconut is washed again and cut into pieces about an inch across.

The garlic, pimento and hot pepper are roasted over the same open flame, with the garlic left in its skin. Roasting softens the vegetables and smokes them, and the source turns them as they cook.

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Sil and lorha

The traditional grinding tools are the sil, a flat grindstone, and the lorha, a hand-held stone. The Trinidad Guardian notes that long before blenders and food processors, these stones ground seasonings such as garlic, peppers and pimento, and were typically used for chutney, coconut chutney especially. A food processor can replace them, and the paste is coarser and less aromatic when it is blended.

The grinding is done in stages: the coconut, garlic, pepper and pimento go first, and the chadon beni is worked in once the paste forms, so the herb keeps its green colour.

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Chutney in Trinidad

A Trinidad newspaper ties chutneys on the island to the Indian labourers who came in the 1800s, and notes that mango and tamarind trees and hot peppers were already there, making the chutneys easy to recreate. The coconut version belongs to that tradition, but the sources do not date the roasting method or say when it entered the repertoire.

Serving is with rice and dhal, with curry duck, and with doubles. The chutney is a table condiment, eaten in small amounts with the main dish.

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History

A Trinidad and Tobago newspaper ties chutney in Trinidad to Indian migration and says the recipes came with indentured labourers in the 1800s. Mango and tamarind trees and hot peppers were already present, which made the recipes easy to recreate. None of the sources read date when or where the roasted-coconut version began.

Ingredients

Scaling: source batch only

Dried coconutCracked, the white flesh removed from the brown shell, washed and cut into about 1-inch pieces after roasting.
1 whole
Chadon beniAdded to the paste at the end; also called bandania.
8 leaves
GarlicRoasted with the skin on, over an open flame.
4 large cloves
Hot pepperRoasted over an open flame.
1 pepper
Heat varies with the pepper used; the source names no variety.
PimentoRoasted over an open flame.
2 medium
SaltAdded after grinding.
4.9 mL1 tsp as recorded

Method

  1. Crack the dried coconut and remove the white flesh from the brown shell with a sharp knife. Wash the pieces.
  2. Roast the coconut pieces over a medium flame for about five minutes per side, until dark brown patches appear without burning to a crisp.
  3. Let the pieces cool, scrape off the black soot, wash the coconut again and cut it into about 1-inch pieces.
  4. Roast the garlic with the skin on, the pimentos and the hot pepper over an open medium flame, turning them regularly.
  5. Grind the roasted coconut, garlic, pepper and pimento on a sil with a lorha until it forms a paste. A food processor can be used instead.
  6. Grind the chadon beni into the paste.
  7. Empty the mixture into a bowl, add the salt, and set aside. Serve with rice and dhal, curry duck or doubles.

Places

Trinidad and Tobago

Traditional preparation · Country evidence

A home preparation in Trinidad with Indo-Caribbean chutney traditions. The roasted-coconut method is not dated.

See Trinidad and Tobagoon the mapLocation source 1 → · Location source 2 →

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