So I’ve been on a mission to gain 10 lbs since the year started and sad to say I’m failing at that lol. One of the things I love to do is to cook and bake. For some reason cooking or baking brings me joy. I haven’t been able to cook and bake as much as I’d like to because of work and school. Now that school is about to start, I told myself I needed to find the time to cook a full meal at least twice a week.

I decided I’m going to start something new on the blog called “In the Kitchen” this is where I’ll share recipes of my favorite dishes or new ones I’ll discover weekly. I’ll try to keep these post short and sweet. Am I the greatest cook? I’m definitely not but cooking is another escape from the stress of school. If I’m serious about gaining these 10 lbs I definitely gotta make sure I’m eating right. And of course we all need a get away from the stress of life, for me TV and cooking is how I distress.

Today I’m sharing a recipe from my country and it’s called Ducana (pronounced Doo-ka-na) and Saltfish (cod-fish) and chop-up (eggplants, okra and pumpkin mashed). This is one of our national dishes and one of my favorite. Ducana is made from grated sweet potatoes, grated coconut, sugar and flour. You can also add a little vanilla essence, I added almond essence since that’s what I had on hand.

DISCLAIMER! Ingredients may vary according to the quantity of preference.

Ducana Recipe:

4 cups grated sweet potatoes

2 cups grated coconut

2 cups of sugar

1 tbsp of vanilla essence/Almond essence

1 ½ cups of flour

Directions:

Grate coconut and sweet potatoes in a blender(optional) or the traditional way.

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl in the order they appear in the ingredients.

Cut foil into 10×12 pieces of foil paper to wrap the Ducana (back home we use banana leaves to wrap them as well) but since it’s not easy to get up here the foil will suffice.

Use a large spoon to scoop the batter into the center of the foil and then fold the foil 2/3 of the way to ensure the mixture is covered. and fold the ends to prevent the batter from squeezing out. Repeat until batter is finished.

Place Ducana in boiling water and cook for about 30 minutes.

Remove them from the water and let them cool for about 10 to 15 minutes before opening them.

                                                                 Saltfish Recipe:

pack of cod fish or in this case I got a pack of Salted Pollock Fillets

1 onion

½ of a green and red pepper

2 cloves garlic

1 can tomato sauce (size can vary according to you)

½ cup vegetable oil

¼ tsp black pepper

Directions:

Soak the Saltfish in water for about 2 hours

Boil Saltfish for about 25 minutes

Let the Saltfish cool, strip the Saltfish into bite size pieces

cut onions, peppers and garlic into small pieces

pour the vegetable oil in to a frying pan on medium heat

add the onions, peppers and garlic in the frying pan. Stir until translucent

Add tomato sauce, saltfish and black pepper.

simmer to your liking.

Chop Up (eggplant) Recipe:

4 cups of eggplant

1 pack of okra

1lb of pumpkin (optional)

Directions:

Peel eggplants

pour  eggplants and okra in boiling water for about 25 minutes

drain water and pour eggplant and okra in a bowl and mash with a potato masher

add some of the sauce from the saltfish for taste and color(optional)

What are some of your favorite recipes? Leave a comment and let me know, I would like to try new recipes.