West Winds: Recipes, History and Tales from Jamaica

Product Information

Riaz blends authentic Jamaican ingredients and dishes with popular trends - discover recipes for nose-to-tail and vegan cooking. Why not also recreate popular takeaway food, Oxtail and Butterbean, or feel as though you're on the beach with a Langoustine Soup. This cookbook has everything - main meals, sauces, soups, juices and preserves, bakes and desserts.

Meanwhile, cook the okra. Heat the coconut oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and add the chilli flakes. Add the okra and fry for 3-4 mins, until they start to brown slightly, then flip them over and fry for another 3-4 mins. Transfer to some kitchen paper to drain, and tip any excess oil from the pan into the curry. Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan/400°F/Gas 6) and grease and line the base of a 24cm round cake tin. (If making a double-layered cake, use 2 tins and double the quantity of the cake mixture and frosting.)

Essential kit

The hidden Caribbean isn’t a place but a legacy of the complex history, people, and food that exists outside the limelight of Caribbean culture. Put the tofu in a shallow bowl and add the soy sauce. Gently turn it until coated, taking care not to break up the slices. Add three tablespoons of the cornflour, then turn to coat all sides of the tofu and set aside.

What’s it about? Celebrating Jamaican culture, cuisine, and history, West Winds is a uniquely rich and deeply personal cookbook. Award-winning writer Riaz Phillips draws on his own memories of growing up in the Caribbean diaspora of London, as well as of his time spent living in Jamaica, to create a set of over 100 vibrant and intensely flavoursome recipes, interspersed with travel and food photography. From hearty soups and bakes to thirst-quenching drinks, these recipes are rooted in centuries of Jamaican traditions, folktales, and anecdotes. Riaz also explores how veganism, healthy eating, fermentation, and zero-waste cooking formed part of Jamaican cuisine long before they became modern trends. Whether you want to delve deeper into your heritage or discover new facets of regional Caribbean cuisine, West Winds will help you bring the spirit of traditional Jamaican cooking to your kitchen. In retrospect, both point to the same Western reverence and sanctity towards eating certain animals, and the seeming disgust of consuming others. While goat is widely available at local butchers across Britain, particularly in areas with a high ethnic population, it has never fully entered the British culinary repertoire and it’s likely this prejudice is the reason. Although goat (and mutton) was favoured during the Tudor period of British history, especially in pies, it doesn’t seem to have caught the national imagination since.The Caribbean food scene in the UK is akin to a private members’ club. Invite-only. Unless you run in certain circles, you might not know much about it. Family recipes, the best butchers, where to buy a quality Dutch pot, how to make the perfect dhal puri roti… The community is powered by word of mouth, not to mention the sheer breadth of culture emanating from the islands, each of which is unique. Put simply, it can be intimidating for an outsider. Enter Riaz Phillips, who’s on a mission to make Caribbean cooking feel more accessible. In a bowl, combine the dark soy sauce or ketchup, vinegar, maple syrup or sugar, the browning, if using, and 90ml water, then set aside. In a separate bowl, mix three tablespoons of water with the remaining cornflour. Riaz Phillips is a writer, video maker, and photographer. He was born and raised in London, but he’s passionate about the Afro-Caribbean food he ate growing up. So passionate that he self-published his first book. Belly Full: Caribbean Food in the UK is an in-depth look at Caribbean people and restaurants around the UK. It tells the oral histories of the chefs, butchers, grocers, and bakers who bring the food of a warm island to a cold one. Team Infatuation: Congratulations on the publication of West Winds. What made you want to write Belly Full, Community Comfort, and now West Winds? TI: There’s a gap in the syllabus when it comes to imperialism and colonialism. Do you think that food could be a good vehicle to turn that into more mainstream knowledge?

Arrange the blanched vegetables on the lined baking tray and place in the oven. Leave the oven door ajar and cook for 4-5 hrs, turning the veg every hour, until dried and crisp. Introducing West Winds– a joyous celebration of Caribbean cooking, with a special focus on the sensational flavors of Jamaican cuisine. Winner of the Jane Grigson Trust Award 2022, the all-encompassing Caribbean cookbook West Winds introduces everyone, everywhere to the enriching and mouth-watering flavors that Jamaica has to offer. Add the potato and bell pepper, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Taste the meat, if it’s not as soft as you’d like, cook for a further 20 minutes, or if the sauce is too dry, add 3–5 tablespoons of water and heat through. Turn off the heat and let sit for 20–30 minutes before serving with rice & peas or Syrian flatbread. cooking, it is also rooted in the exploration of the island’s heritage and culture. Featuring colorful and sun-drenched imagery, and easy-to-follow instructions, the versatility of Jamaican cuisine is apparent.Riaz blends authentic Jamaican ingredients and dishes with popular trends – discover recipes for nose-to-tail and vegan cooking. Why not also recreate popular takeaway food, Oxtail and Butterbean, or feel as though you’re on the beach with a Langoustine Soup. This cookbook has everything – main meals, sauces, soups, juices and preserves, bakes and desserts. What’s inside: A celebration of the lesser known Caribbean culture, rooted in tales and memories of the history and heritage of the eastern reaches of the Caribbean. Introducing West Winds - the most-talked about cookbook of 2022 and a joyous celebration of Caribbean cooking, with a special focus on the sensational flavours of Jamaican cuisine. Winner of the Jane Grigson Trust Award 2022, the all-encompassing Caribbean cookbook West Winds introduces everyone, everywhere to the enriching and mouth-watering flavours that Jamaica has to offer.

That same curiosity about people, what they eat, and how they cook infuses this book. It’s loaded with gorgeous photos that transport you to warmer climes and recipes with narrative vignettes woven into the headnotes. It’s delicious food, yes, but there’s always a story there, too. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion and saute for two minutes, add the garlic, ginger and the white part of the spring onions, then cook for another two minutes. RP: There should be a diversity of diversity. Everybody needs to toe the same line and, at the end of the day, they are businesses that people are running as well. Newer restaurants are always trying to reach a wider audience, but at their heart, they usually do want to appeal to the native audience as well. If they didn’t they could just go completely off the chain and just do burgers and wraps. There's always an element to them that they want to keep things authentic in ways, but to reach a wider audience. TI: When it comes to newer Caribbean restaurants, do you think it’s important that they serve other communities as well as their own? RP: For sure. The multifaceted nature of the Caribbean means that no matter where you're from in the world, there's almost always something that relates to where you're from. You know, there's a rich culture of Caribbean Chinese food. Most of the curries originated from North India. A lot of baked stuff originated from Portuguese Jews.

Did you know that there has been growing interest in Caribbean food worldwide, with the highest number of searches taking place in Australia, India, Western Europe, and the US. There has also been a strong rise in Caribbean cooking in the UK, which has remained a popular search over the last year. Whilst there are not many Caribbean cookbooks on the market, especially those that include vegan food, baking, and zero-waste dishes, West Winds successfully taps into fashionable food trends such as fakeaways, veganism and baking. Add the carrot, pepper and tomato, if using, and three tablespoons of water, then stir until combined. Cover with the lid and cook for two minutes. Add the tofu and heat through, adding an extra two to three tablespoons of water if needed. Cover and heat through, then serve with a scattering of the green part of the spring onions. Want to feel like you’re on a walk in Jamaica with a local, talking to his friends and sharing plates of food? Then this is the cookbook for you.