Kreyol Colombo

CT farmer's market fresh veggies

Pierrette, our fabulous Guadeloupean chef, made a chicken colombo, a signature Creole dish, her first night with us, and it was a knockout. She served the bright yellow concoction right right out of our comically large pots. It was a stewy dish with tons of vegetables and bone-in chicken thighs and legs (pretty much the only way chicken comes on the island.) As we ate we took turns guessing which vegetables we were eating; there were the usual key players: carrots, potatoes and onions, but definitely a few unfamiliar ones as well. When we asked her later she claimed to have used whatever vegetables we had around, which included some kind of yucca-like root vegetable as well as some under ripe green mangoes. It was decently spicy as she also threw in a couple small peppers that I later found out Guadeloupeans slice and throw in just about everything. All served over steamed white rice, which cut some of the spice, it was delectable – hearty, nutritious, and exotic.

I found that by cutting all the vegetables to similar sizes and thicknesses that they all cooked evenly

The real secret to this dish is the seasoning, which I bought in a small, unmarked plastic bag at a spice market on the mainland one afternoon with Pierrette. I tucked the little tied off bag in my luggage and it managed to perfume most of my clothes on the way home. Without the spice, there is no dish. It’s pretty uncomplicated. I have no idea what is contained in that magical blend, but definitely some curry judging by the scent and the bright yellow color the dish ends up coming out. As about 10% of Guadeloupeans are of Indian descent it makes sense that there would be some blurring of the food cultures.

Seasoned chicken with sliced veggies on top

I improvised my Amerian version of colombo with the pretty vegetables John and I bought up at the Coventry Farmers Market this past weekend, and imagine you can really use whatever you feel like. 

Chicken Colombo (Serves 4) 

A few tablespoons of olive oil

1 smallish eggplant, cubed

1 squash (I used golden zuchinni), cut into disks

~1 pint of small potatoes, scrubbed, skin-on and halved

1 large green pepper, cubed

4 large carrots, halved and cut into segments

1 medium white onion, cut into rings

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 small red pepper, minced
A few thin slices of a green pepper that turned out to be way hotter than we thought when John had a coughing fit just cutting it
Juice from 1 small lime
4-5 heaping tablespoons of Colombo seasoning, depending on how spicy you like it
1 package of about 5 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (there we skinned our own bone-in parts)

I heated a few tablespoons of olive oil in a deep pot and laid the chicken down at the bottom. I then sprinkled ~2 tablespoons of the Colombo seasoning over the thighs and then added the chopped vegetables on top, topping them off with about 2 more tablespoons of seasoning. I cooked the whole thing, covered, for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, mainly to keep the chicken from sticking to the bottom and to more evenly coat the veggies with the seasoning. The juices from the chicken and the liquid from the vegetables combined with the spices to create a nice sauce. You could probably add a half a cup of water and some cornstarch if you wanted more of a stewy version. I didn't do this but imagine that some lime juice would be excellent squeezed in at the end.

Not very well presented but delicious final product

I made a vegetarian version for my Mom and I in which I simply left out the chicken. It cooked exactly the same, with an olive oil base for the vegetables, however, I added about a half a cup of water throughout the 30 minutes of cooking. 

I served both over some rice I cooked using about ½ a tomato bouillon Pierrette also gave me and added some fresh chopped parsley at the end.

I also boiled a couple plantains (halved, still in their hard green skin), but accidentally bought the green skinned, white, starchier variety instead of the sweeter kind with yellow skin. I recommend the latter.

And voila, my parents were able to try my version of a traditional French West Indies dish.