As well as the two main islands there are lots of smaller ones too with beautiful names - Prickly Pear Island and Wicked Will Island for example! They were 'discovered' and named by Christopher Columbus in 1493. The nickname of Antigua is 'land of 365 beaches'!
The country was once part of the British Empire and the culture and language is influenced by this.
Antigua and Barbuda food is typically Caribbean with the national dish being called Fungie - it is similar to polenta.
This was a special meal as the children had decided they wanted to make it for Gary's birthday. So we had the fun of watching them prepare the food!
The main dish was Pork Chops with Bacon wrapped Bananas and the side was a dish called Ducana.
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| We started with a Dark and Stormy using some Antigan rum. mmmmmmm |
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| Making the Ducana. |
Ducana is a type of sweet potato dumpling. The recipe includes, sweet potato, grated coconut, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla extract, nutmeg, flour and raisins. Everything is mixed together in a food processor and then wrapped in banana leaves - or foil - and boiled in water until it become spongy.
When the Ducana was ready to be cooked the pork chops were rubbed with butter and cumin before being grilled(broiled).
The bananas were cut into pieces and the bacon, which had already been partly cooked, was wrapped around them. They were placed under the grill when the pork chops were nearly ready.
The Ducana should be boiled for 30 minutes. We cooked ours for a lot longer but they didn't turn into little dumplings but remained soggy piles of very sweet potato smelling a bit like Christmas pudding. We decided we would eat them soggy rather than spoil the cooked pork.
So this is our Antigua and Barbudan meal. Pork chops with bacon wrapped bananas and Ducana. I guess we forgot the vegetables!
Well the pork chops were really good with the slight flavouring from the cumin. The bacon and bananas were a bit weird, but it is difficult to go wrong with bacon!
The Ducana was 'interesting'!!!!!!!! It was very very sweet and tasted more like dessert than main course but it was edible and certainly added to the sweet and savoury side of the meal!
Thank you Charlotte, Thomas and Pam for a fun evening!
