Provision Soup: Delicious and Satisfying

Provision Soup is a popular meal and it is most times cooked with meat (chicken, beef, etc.) or as a vegetarian dish. It is quite a satisfying meal. Ground provision is very close to my heart when it comes to Trini-Caribbean cooking. They go along great with so many other things you can find in a Trini kitchen. You can have provision and saltfish, smoke herring, callaloo, smoke bone…. almost anything. Of course you may remember that I did Provision and Saltfish already so today I’m showing you another way we Trinidadians love to cook provision.

Ground Provision

As a quick reminder for those who don’t know; ground provision refers to a collective group of root crops that we grow in the Caribbean such as dasheen (taro), eddoes, tannia, cush cush, sweet potato and yam and added to this group is green bananas and plantain. These have been a staple in the diet of all in the Caribbean as long as I know and, in my opinion, are a healthier option to all the fast foods that exist today. Most of our Caribbean recipes include some provision.

I was doing a little surfing the other day and saw that in Tobago there’s an annual blue food festival, where they use dasheen, also called blue food to make all kinds of dishes.  Some of the dishes are the traditional types and others are very creative like dasheen chocolate chip cookies, dasheen muffins, dasheen wine and dasheen anchar ( that one I have to try!) .I think we need more festivals like these to bring about an awareness of what we have here in Trinidad and Tobago and possibly develop a cottage industry out of it…..here I go dreaming again! But really, I could see something good coming out from such a venture. Maybe it will happen in due time. In the mean time I will continue posting our Trini recipes that are interesting and delicious.

Before I go; since I started this blog I’ve noticed something about food. Many Trinis abroad have always told me how the food I post makes them feel close to home. In my opinion, I feel food has a cultural identity or a connection, just like music, that makes people have that sense of belonging to a country or specific group in a society; A “this is mine” feeling or to say it in trini ( dat is we ting). A feeling that makes you feel proud of your nationality. Have you ever felt this way about food? …. Just something I have noticed so far on this journey. I’m sure many readers may have that one dish that gives them that “close to home” feeling. Feel free to share your comment. I would love to hear about it.

Provision Soup Recipe

Anyhow, the provision soup is complete in itself, but for all those “meat mouths” out there you can add some smoke bone or pigtail to enhance the soup’s flavour. Just remember to pressure cook it first. Here’s provision soup .

PROVISION SOUP

Ingredients:

1 yam
3 large potatoes
7 green bananas
1 cup split peas
2 medium dasheen
7 eddoes (about 1 lb)
4 bouillon cubes (optional)
1 soup pack (e.g. maggi vegetable soup)
1 carrot
1 hot pepper
4 pimento peppers
1 cup flour

Instructions;

Pressure cook the split peas.

Wash and peel the provision and place in a large pot to boil.

In a bowl crush the bouillon cubes and mix in the soup pack. Allow to simmer

Note: For the really health conscious you can substitute the bouillon cubes and soup pack with your favourite seasonings. In my case I could add chive, chopped chadon beni, celery, onion, garlic, fine leaf thyme and big leaf thyme.

In a bowl mix the flour and a little water ( about 2/3 cup ) to make the dumpling. Roll out the dough length ways and cut into ½ ” pieces.

When the provision is just about cooked ( test it with an ice pick or knife), add the split peas and the dumpling. The dumplings should be done in 10 to 15 minutes time. Add salt to taste.

The soup looks ready now. Serve hot.

That’s it for another post. See you soon. Bye!

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Provision Soup

Course Soups

Cuisine Caribbean, creole

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings 9

Author Felix (Simply Trini Cooking)

Ingredients

• 1 yam
• 3 large potatoes
• 7 green bananas
• 1 cup split peas
• 2 medium dasheen
• 7 about 1 lb eddoes or malangas
• 4 small or 1 large bouillon cube s (optional) see note
• 1 soup pack e.g. maggi vegetable soup see note
• 1 carrot
• 1 hot pepper
• 4 pimento peppers
• 1 cup flour
• Salt to taste optional

Instructions

• Pressure cook the split peas with the chopped carrot and pimento peppers until soft. Wash and peel the provision and place in a large pot to boil. In a bowl crush the bouillon cubes if desired and mix in the soup pack.
• Add the the bouillon cube mixture and the hot pepper to the pot. Allow to simmer.
• In a bowl mix the flour and a little water ( about 2/3 cup ) to make the dumpling. Roll out the dough length ways and cut into ½ ” pieces.
• When the provision is just about cooked ( test it with an ice pick or knife), add the split peas and the dumpling. The dumplings should be done in 10 to 15 minutes time. Add salt to taste.

Notes

For the really health conscious you can substitute the bouillon cubes and soup pack with your favourite seasonings. i.e. chive, chopped chadon beni, celery, onion, garlic, fine leaf thyme and big leaf thyme.