My mom came to visit for the holidays and while she was here she made the BEST Metemgee!  I filmed her making it as well as fresh Coconut Milk which I shared on my channel earlier in the week.  Metemgee or metem is essential a dish made of ground provisions (root vegetables) such as cassava, eddoes and white sweet potatoes as well as plantains and cooked in seasoned coconut milk.  It is all cooked in a savory broth of coconut milk and spices until tender.

This dish is similar to oildown from other Caribbean islands such as Grenada and Trinidad.  This is a stick to your ribs kind of meal. The broth which is best made with homemade coconut milk, is flavored with some sort of salted meat like salt beef, pigtail or saltfish like I’ve done this time.

Metem is also has duff – a light and airy type of dumpling that is my absolute favorite part of the dish.  Metemgee is the perfect dish for cold weather because it’s like a big hearty warm hug; it’s quite filling so a nap will be required after a bowl!  I’ve shared this recipe on the blog before but thought it needed an update as well as a video!  Head on over to Youtube for this video and more and don’t forget to subscribe to my channel.  Now on to the recipe!

Get the Recipe GUYANESE METEMGEE

5 from 2 votes

Ingredients
 

  • 1 tsp oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 wiri wiri pepper
  • About 10 sprigs thyme
  • 4 cups homemade coconut milk
  • 4 cups water
  • ½ lb salt fish, soaked overnight
  • 2 tbsp green seasoning
  • about 1/2 lb cassava, cut into 3 inch pieces
  • 2 white sweet potato, boniato cut into 3 inch pieces
  • 2 plantains, cut into thirds
  • 2 eddoe cut into equal pieces
  • Duff:
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 ½ tsp baking powder
  • 1 ½ tbsp sugar
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 1 ½ tsp room temperature butter
  • ¾ cup water

Instructions
 

  • In a large stock pot, heat oil. Add onion, thyme and pepper and saute for 2-3 minutes, Add coconut milk, water, salt fish, green seasoning and bring to a boil. Break salt fish into chunks and add to pot. Add cassava, sweet potato, eddoe to the pot then add plantains on top and cook for 20 minutes.
  • When plantains are tender, remove and continue to cook until the other vegetables are tender.
  • While the vegetables cook, make the duff.
  • Place all purpose flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a bowl and mix to combine. Add room temperature butter to the flour mixture and rub in the butter.
  • Add water and mix to form dough; let dough sit for about 10 minutes.
  • Roll dough into logs about the size of a finger then press gently in the middle. Place duff into pot.
  • Cover the pot and cook for at least 5 minutes. Do not open the pot or the dumplings will fall and become dense.
  • Turn heat off, Remove duff from metemgee. Serve metemgee with duff.

Video

Author: Jehan Powell