Make ground provisions enticing

Rice is the staple of choice in Jamaica. Many young people do not like ground provisions but I find this dislike is because of presentation and monotony in preparation. We mainly boil starchy foods which tends to leach their flavours into the boiling water.

I think boiling is used because it is quick, requires no additional ingredients and some cooks have no idea how else to prepare these foods. I have visited many other Caribbean islands and they present ground provisions in many tasty and varied ways. Many of these staples can be creamed, combined with foods and flavoured with milk, herbs and vegetables to make mouth-watering dishes.

Boiled dumplings

I am even more disappointed when I go to some of our hotels and apart from boiled ground provision and wheat-flour dumplings boiled and fried, we do not show off the diversity of our staples. I was at a popular hotel in Ocho Rios recently for a conference and was disappointed in the lack of variety in Jamaican foods. I spoke to the chef about the opportunity lost in parading our cuisine and he said casseroles and other preparations of staples just take too much time. Wow, this is a shame!

Our staples are excellent sources of unprocessed carbohydrates. They are also rich in vitamins, minerals and fibre. The fibre content is even better when they are scrubbed and prepared in their edible skin.

Roasted ground provision

For home preparation, baking is one method which requires little attention. The toaster oven can give an excellent finished product. Partially cooking staples in the microwave can also shorten cooking time. Sweet potato, Irish potato, yam, corn, beet, pumpkin and many other starchy vegetables and tubers can be prepared in this manner.

Scrub the vegetables with skin properly using a brush as you will be consuming the skin.

Cut into medium pieces if the potatoes or other vegetables are large.

Make two diagonal cuts into the yam and large potatoes.

Wrap in foil.

Bake until when squeezed with a towel or mitten covered hand they feel soft. Do not overcook them because they will become dry.

These staples can be served in the foil with your choice of meat or fish and fresh vegetables. There is no need to add butter as they are bursting with flavour when prepared in this manner.

Rosalee M. Brown is a registered dietitian/nutritionist who operates Integrated Nutrition and Health Services; email: yourhealth@gleanerjm.com.