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Insight:
The following dish is another common national dish in Haiti. Some Haitian families make it every Sunday, and on Independence Day (January First), it is prepared in EVERY household. There are many variations of this recipe. Most include chunks of potatoes and other vegetables, along with macaroni or spaghetti.
Bon Appétit and Good Health!!
Pumpkin Soup 1 (Soup Joumou)
3 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons salt
3 cloves
1½ pounds beef (such as chuck), cut into cubes
salt pork, a ham hock, or a beef bone, as desired
1 ½ pounds pumpkin or calabassa
1 carrot
1 medium taro
3 medium potatoes
1 onion
1 medium turnip
1 stalk celery
3 leaves of sorrel
3 cabbage leaves
½ cup raw macaroni
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
fresh lime juice to taste
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped
salt to taste
Crush the 3 cloves of garlic and parsley with a pestle, then combine with the next four ingredients to make the marinade.
Marinate the meat ½ hour. Put the meat, with the marinade, in a large pot and add enough water to cover the meat. Cook on low until the meat is tender.
Peel and clean the pumpkin, removing the strings and seeds. Cut it into two or three pieces. Clean/peel the vegetables and cut them into uniform size pieces.
Add the pumpkin and the following eight ingredients to the meat.
Add enough water to cover the vegetables. Simmer until they are tender.
When the vegetables are tender, remove the pieces of pumpkin and mash them or puree them in a blender. Stir 2 cups of water into the mashed pumpkin and return to the soup.
Bring the soup to a boil and add the macaroni. Boil, stirring, occasionally, until the macaroni is tender.
In a separate pan, sauté the remaining onion in the butter. When the onion is lightly brown add it to the soup.
Add 1 clove garlic (crushed). Stir in chopped parsley and fresh lime juice to taste.
Pumpkin Soup 2 (Soup Joumou)
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon lime juice
salt to taste
garlic to taste
parsley to taste
1 onion, finely chopped
2 pounds of meat (ham hock, or any meat with the bones containing marrow)
2 tablespoons oil
2 pounds pumpkin or calabassa
1 green onion
1 onion
2 carrots
2 taros
2 potatoes
2 stalks celery, chopped (about 1½ cups)
6-8 leaves of green cabbage
parsley to taste
½ cup dry vermicelli
2 slices of buttered toast, cut into small pieces
1 cup watercress, chopped
Combine the first six ingredients to make the marinade. Marinate the meat for ½ hour.
Peel and clean the pumpkin and cut it into 3 or 4 pieces. Clean, peel, and dice the other vegetables.
Remove the meat from the marinade, reserving the marinade.
Brown the meat in the oil. Add the marinade, cover and cook over low heat. Add ½ cup boiling water whenever the pan becomes dry. Cook this way until the meat is tender, turning the meat from time to time.
When the meat becomes tender, add all the vegetables, plus the parsley.
Add enough water to cover the vegetables to a depth of one inch. Simmer until the vegetables are tender.
When the vegetables are tender, remove the pumpkin and mash it or purée it in a blender. Add 1 cup of water to the purée. Return the pumpkin to the soup.
Add vermicelli.
Boil 15 minutes, adding water as necessary when the soup becomes too thick.
Add bread and watercress.
NOTE: To add flavor to the soup, one may add canned chicken broth just before serving.
