Craig and Shaun McAnuff cook up the perfect Caribbean rundown

Caribbean cooking is all about atmosphere — and some punchy vegetables, say London brothers Craig and Shaun McAnuff
Craig|Shaun McAnuff22 August 2019

‘Growing up in a Caribbean household, food was a massive thing,’ say Craig and Shaun McAnuff. ‘It was a big influence in our lives growing up.’

These two brothers from south London have always been drawn to cooking, not least for the atmosphere it creates: ‘You look forward to eating, not just for the food, but for how it brings the family together,’ they tell me. ‘We have an annual barbecue for our nan: jerk chicken, rice and peas, the whole shebang.’

Their new book, Original Flava, is full of the family recipes Craig and Shaun learnt in their nan’s kitchen. Their Ital Rundown dish is a ‘Rastafarian recipe, all plant based. It’s basically a combination of different veggies, all cooked down in coconut milk.’ And while it may be inspired by the brothers’ heritage, the dish also has British inflections. ‘It uses root vegetables which are common in Caribbean but also British cooking, like corn on the cob, sweet potato and pumpkin,’ they say. ‘Serve it with rice or dumplings, and then take it to work the next day for lunch.’

Original Flava’s recipes are diverse but rooted in the value of home cooking. ‘Whatever was going on in the family, once the food was there everyone forgot everything else,’ they say, laughing. ‘It makes for good common ground.’

Ital rundown

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 medium onion, diced

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 Scotch bonnet pepper, deseeded and finely diced

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Handful of fresh thyme sprigs

Thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely diced

1 tsp ground pimento (allspice)

200g sweet potato, peeled and cut into small chunks

200g pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into small chunks

1 large corn on the cob, cut into 4–6 segments

1⁄2 cho cho (chayote), cored and cut into thin wedges

200ml vegetable stock

1 each of red, yellow and orange bell peppers, deseeded and sliced

100g greens (such as kale or spinach)

200ml coconut milk

Recipe

Add the vegetable oil to a pan over a high heat and sauté the onion, garlic and Scotch bonnet for around 5 minutes until soft.

Add the black pepper, thyme, ginger and pimento and stir them in, then add the sweet potato, pumpkin or squash, corn, cho cho and stock. Bring to the boil and cook for around 15 minutes until the veg are soft.

Add the peppers and greens and mix together, followed by the coconut milk. Give it a stir and simmer for 5 minutes before serving.

‘Orignal Flava: Caribbean Recipes from Home’ is published 22 Aug (Bloomsbury; £20)

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