Salmorejo de Jueyes with Coconut Grits Cakes

Course: dinner, Entree

Cuisine: African American, Afro-Caribbean, Puerto Rican, Soul Food

Keyword: coconut, crab, grits

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 45

Total Time: 1

Servings:

Calories: 700kcal

This fusion of Afro-Puerto Rican stewed crab and grits made popular in Southern cuisine is ready in less than an hour or less.

1 tablespoon (15 milliliters) achiote oil or olive oil
1 small (1 cup or 140 grams) white onion diced
1/2 medium (1 cup or 255 grams) green bell pepper diced
1/4 cup (20 grams) sofrito
3 large cloves (1 1/2 tablespoons) garlic minced
2 (1 1/2 cups or 275 grams) vine-ripened tomatoes diced (or 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes)
8 ounce can (227 grams) tomato sauce
8 manzanilla olives sliced
1 teaspoon (5 grams) adobo or kosher salt
1 large bay leaf
3/4 teaspoon sazón optional
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 pound (454 grams) lump crab meat

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the raw grits, coconut milk, melted coconut oil, adobo, and black pepper until the mixture forms a thick paste.
The mixture will be fluid when you mix it initially, but it will thicken as it sits. Allow it to thicken for 5-10 minutes while you set up your steaming device.
Bring 4 cups of water to a simmer over medium heat in a steamer basket or a wide pan with a rack insert.
If your pan doesn't have a rack, you can make a rack by laying wooden skewers or dowels in the pan.
Cross a 12-inch piece of string over a second piece of string equal in length. Place your wilted rectangle of banana leaf (or parchment paper) over the cross.
Scoop a 1/2-cup of the coconut grits mixture into the center of the banana leaf and spread it out into a 4-inch circle. Try to make the surface of the coconut grits level.
Fold the edges of the banana leaf up and over the coconut grits to encase them.
Tie the strings in a cross pattern to seal the packet of grits. Continue filling, wrapping, and tying the remaining coconut grits until you've run out.
Arrange the packets of coconut grits onto the rack in your pan. Once you have one layer of packets, place the next layer, so they're over the gaps between the layer underneath them.
Steam the coconut grits, covered, for 30-35 minutes. Check the water after 20 minutes and add more as needed to keep the water level just below the rack.

Twenty minutes before the grits cakes are finished steaming, heat the achiote oil in a 4-quart caldero over medium-high heat.
Add the onion, green bell pepper, sofrito, and garlic to the pot. Sauté the aromatics for 3 minutes, or until they begin to turn golden yellow.
Add the diced tomatoes to the pot. Allow the tomatoes to sauté until they start to release their juices, frequently stirring.
Once there's at least a 1/4-cup of liquid in the bottom of the pot, reduce the heat to medium-low and stir in the tomato sauce, olives, adobo, bay leaf, sazón, oregano leaves, and black pepper into the contents of the pot.
Allow the sauce to come up to a simmer.
Cover the pot and simmer the salmorejo base for 10 minutes.
Add the crab meat to the pot after 10 minutes of simmering the salmorejo base. Try not to stir the mixture too aggressively after you add the crabmeat.
Once you add the crabmeat, you only need to simmer the salmorejo for 5-10 minutes.

Heat 1 cup of vegetable oil over medium-high heat in a 12-inch frying pan.
Peel the plantains and use your vegetable peeler to shave the plantain into very thin slices.
Fry the plantain slices in the oil until crisp, or 1 1/2-2 minutes.
Use a spider or slotted spoon to remove the plantains from the oven and drain them on a rack or paper towels. Set these aside while you plate the dish.

To serve the salmorejo, unwrap your coconut grits cakes. Discard the banana leaf, or use it as a base to serve on.
Spoon the salmorejo over the coconut grits cakes and top with the platanutres (if you made them).
Top the salmorejo with 3 or 4 platanutres or serve the platanutres on the side (like ships).
Serve while warm.

If you want to use old-fashioned grits it will add another 15-20 minutes to your steaming time.
If you want to make the coconut grits cakes with yellow cornmeal, buy coarse-cut cornmeal, and not fine.
You can make salmorejo with conch, desalinated codfish (bacalao), or chopped shrimp. Use the same weight of whatever seafood you're replacing the crab meat with.
You can use 1 can of diced tomatoes for this recipe if you don't have fresh ones.
The tomato sauce is optional. It will add more tomato flavor to your salmorejo, but it's not a must.

You want to keep the lumps of crabmeat intact so just fold it gently into the sauce after adding it to the pot.

If you want to make the coconut grits cakes ahead, you can steam, then freeze the cakes while still wrapped. Transfer the cooled packets into a freezer-safe container and freeze them for up to 3 months. Thaw them in the wrapper and heat them over steam once again.
Store cooled salmorejo in the fridge for up to 3 days. You can also store the coconut grits cakes in their wrappers in the fridge for up to 3 days.
To reheat the grits cakes, steam them for 10 minutes or until they are warmed through. You can reheat the salmorejo in the microwave for 1-2 minutes.
You can freeze the salmorejo: cool it completely and transfer it to a freezer-safe container and freeze for 2 months. Thaw it in the fridge and reheat in the microwave until warmed through.