Fungie and Pepperpot (Antiguan National Dish)

Instructions

1. Cover the salted meat with cold water and soak for 2 hours, changing the water once. Drain, then boil in fresh water for 20 minutes and drain again.
2. Heat the oil in a large pot and brown the stew beef for 5 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, scallions and thyme and cook for 3 minutes.
3. Add the salted meat and the 1 liter of water. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes, until the beef is tender.
4. Add the pumpkin, sweet potato, eggplant, okra and whole scotch bonnet. Simmer for 15 minutes until the vegetables are soft.
5. Stir in the spinach and black pepper and cook for 10 minutes more. Mash some of the vegetables against the pot to thicken the stew, then remove the pepper.
6. For the fungie, mix the cornmeal with the cold water until smooth. Bring the 600 ml of water and the salt to a boil and pour in the cornmeal mixture, stirring constantly.
7. Cook over low heat for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring hard, until very stiff and pulling away from the pan. Stir in the butter if using.
8. Wet a spoon and shape the fungie into balls. Serve with the pepperpot ladled alongside.

Tips

• Keep the scotch bonnet whole for fragrance without much heat. Taste the pepperpot before adding any salt, since the salted meat contributes a lot.
• Spinach is a good stand-in for callaloo. For a vegetarian pepperpot, use extra pumpkin and okra, skip the meat and add a spoonful of oil at the end.