Haitian Griots

Submitted by Member 610488

"This is a traditional "Manje Kreyol" recipe which means it is part of the Haitian Creole culture.Extremely popular as a street food offered during holidays and celebrations."

 

• Ready In: 2hrs 20mins
• Ingredients: 14
• Serves: 2-4

ingredients

• 4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
• 5 scallions, coarsely chopped
• 2 teaspoons thyme leaves (prefer fresh but dried is ok)
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 2 scotch bonnet peppers, coarsely chopped
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 2 oranges, juice of
• 3 limes, juice of
• 6 whole coffee beans
• kosher salt, to taste
• 2 lbs boneless pork shoulder, diced into 1/2-inch-thick chunks
• 1 1⁄2 cups water
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

directions

1. In a blender, combine the garlic with the scallions, thyme, black pepper, chiles, onion, bell pepper, orange and lime juices, coffee beans and 2 teaspoons of salt, and puree.
2. Transfer to a resealable plastic bag. Add the pork shoulder cubes to the bag and turn to coat. Refrigerate the pork overnight.
3. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Remove the pork from the marinade and transfer to a Dutch oven or covered casserole dish. Add the water and bring to a boil. Reserve the marinade.
4. Cover and braise the pork in the oven for 1 hour and 30 minutes, stirring the cubes a few times, until tender; transfer them to a bowl.
5. Boil the braising liquid until reduced to 1 cup (approx. 10 minutes). Strain into a saucepan and boil until reduced to 1/2 cup (approx. 8 minutes). Add the marinade and boil for 1 minute.
6. Lightly season the pork with salt and add the reduced sauce. Stir well. In a nonstick skillet, heat the vegetable oil. Add the pork and cook over medium-high heat until the cubes are browned and glazed, about 2 minutes per side, then serve.

Reviews

[Debbie R.]

What a wonderful flavor! I thought this was a little tedious to produce with all the different steps, but it was well worth it. I don't have a blender, so I just minced everything. As a result, I didn't really have a paste to carmelize on the last step. However, the flavor was still really excellent. I just spooned a tablespoon of the greatly-reduced sauce over the fried pork at the end. YUM!

 

[TracyB]

First off, I was happy to see a recipe where I can use our Scotch Bonnets. Now I just need to find recipes for our Ghost Peppers and Trinidad Scorpions.<br/><br/>At first glance, this recipe looks complicated, but it really wasn't. Started it the day before, and got the meat marinating. Next day, I actually cooked the meat a couple of hours longer because I wanted it to be fork tender. Next time I make this (and there will be a next time with this!), I'm going to add a couple of extra Scotch Bonnets because it was just too tame for us. It was just so flavorful and delicious. Could've even used it as a chili verde and ate it with refried beans and tortillas.