Love Caribbean Food

Never tried this style of food?

Then do - you'll be in for a treat!

Caribbean food is not only amazingly tasty - but it's wonderfully healthy too being generally low in fat and with high levels of vitamins and vegetable protein.

Watford now boasts two excellent and authentic Caribbean food outlets.

Bonnerz in North Watford (St Albans Road) and Mingos (now Patwarls) in Vicarage Road, both serve excellent, authentic Caribbean dishes - so there's every opportunity to discover the exotic flavours and friendliness of the Caribbean on your doorstep.

Although primarily catering for takeaway customers, you're always welcome to eat-in if you prefer - they're typically unpretentious places but you can be sure of a warm 'islands welcome' - as well as a tasty and satisfying meal.

Both restaurants offer free home delivery - so as a novel alternative to the traditional barbeque, why not relax and give your summer garden party a Caribbean flavour to toast Britain's summer sunshine this year - with a variety of great tasting Caribbean food for you and your guests to feast upon.

Jean Moyo, previously owner of Mingos Afro-Caribbean Takeaway has kindly offered to share with flea readers some of the secrets of this wonderfully healthy cuisine. In this edition, she tells you how to make Rice and Peas one of the most common staples in the Caribbean - served in some form with almost every meal.

Wot! No Peas ???

The uninitiated may be surprised to learn that there aren't any peas in Rice & Peas! When we say peas in UK, we generally think of round green things in pods (or shelled and frozen in plastic bags!). But the "peas" in Rice & Peas are really beans, the name of the dish being derived from the Pidgeon Pea, Cow Pea or Congo Pea, various alternative names used for the Gungo Bean, grown as a staple food in many parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Like many ingredients used in a Caribbean kitchen, the Gungo Bean is an amazingly healthy food. It contains 28% protein as well as five times more vitamin A, and three times more vitamin C than the green pea that we're familiar with - and what's more, it delivers nitrogen back into the soil where it grows - so its a natural fertilizer too!

In the Caribbean, the season for the Gungo Bean is quite short, so many other similar pulses are used, most commonly the kidney bean which is readily available in UK. In fact, a wide range of dried red beans (or even tinned ones) can be, and indeed often are used in the preparation of this dish. The genuine Caribbean chefs at Patwarls and Bonnerz would never use the tinned variety, but if you're cooking this style at home, you'll find using tinned kidney beans allows you to prepare your healthy Caribbean treat in a fraction of the time!

So - wait no longer - go try it. We can promise you won't be disappointed.

NOTE: Mingo's was renamed Patwarls in 2011 and is no longer managed by Jean Mayo. However, don't let that deter you - Patwarls Cariibean Restaurant and Takeaway offers top quality Caribbean food to delight your palate - so why not give them a try?

This article was created on Thursday, 22nd April 2010. It was last tinkered with on Thursday, 16th June 2011.

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