Snesi/Chinees Tayersoep (Eddo/Taro Soup)

This is another wonderful one-pot soup so popular in Suriname. Although named for the Chinese tayer or Eddo, which is a root tuber similar to a potato in shape, this soup is more than just this one exotic ingredient. As with many Surinamese soups, the actual meat ingredients can vary each time you make it, as it is an opportunity to use whatever meat you have in the house at the time. Chicken thighs, pigs' tails, salted beef, pork rib pieces, chicken feet are favourites found in soups like Bruine Bonen Soep, Pindasoep and also Chinese Tayer soup.

Eddoes (or Taros as they are also called) are a popular plant throughout the Caribbean region and are thought to have been introduced there from China, hence the name Chinese Tayer. They resemble hairy potatoes, and when peeled have a similar look also. They take quite a bit longer to cook than potatoes however, so if you wish to mix your soup with both eddoes and potatoes you will need to add the eddoes to the pot at least 20 minutes before the potatoes.

The real star of this soup though is coconut milk! It gives such a rich yet delicate flavour to the soup and also helps to thicken the liquid. Coconut palm trees are common throughout Suriname, so there is no shortage of supply. I even planted a few coconut shoots in our yard in Suriname myself; hopefully I will be able to reap the benefits in a year of ten!!!

Ingredients

2 chicken legs, skin and fat removed

200g salted beef/zoutvlees

200g pork rib pieces, excess fat removed

1 large white onion

2 tomatoes

3 L water

4 chicken stock cubes

2 beef stock cubes

10 Allspice/Pimento berries

1 bay leaf

8 Eddoes/Chinese Tayer roots

6 potatoes

2 400ml cans Coconut milk

1 tsp Laos powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 Madame Jeanette/Adjuma pepper

2 celery leaf stalks

sunflower oil to fry

Method

If using salted beef, put this in a medium sized pot with enough water to cover and boil gently for about 15 to 20 minutes to release most of the salt in the beef and also to soften the meat. Remove from the salted water and discard this. Cut the salt beef into small cubes.

Chop the chicken legs into smaller pieces, about 5 pieces each depending on the size of the legs. Trim any excess fat from the chicken and also from the pork rib pieces. The pork ribs are not a rack of spare ribs that you might put on the barbecue, rather they are smaller bony pieces of pork, known as krabbetjes in Dutch.

In a large soup pot, fry the chicken, pork and salted beef in a little oil until browned all over. Drain any excess liquid from the pot.

Peel and finely chop the onion and chop the tomatoes and add these to the meat. Fry for a further 3 minutes. Add 3 litres of cold water to the pot, and the chicken and beef stock cubes, bay leaf and Pimento berries. Bring the water to the boil and cook for about 10-15 minutes.

Next, peel the eddoes/Chinese tayers, and rinse under cold water. Cut the eddoes into chunks of about 3cm. This will usually mean just cutting the eddoes in half, but larger eddoes can be cut into 3 pieces. Add these to the soup water. Season the soup with the Laos powder, salt and pepper.

Peel the potatoes and cut them into pieces the same size as the eddoes. About 20 minutes after the eddoes were added to the pot, it is time to add the potatoes. I prefer the quicker cooking varieties as, strangely enough, these, err, take less time to cook! Chop the celery leaves finely and add these as well to the soup pot. Place the whole Madame Jeanette pepper gently into the soup. This is left whole as the desired effect is to get the aroma of the pepper without the heat. Be careful that the pepper does not split, or your soup will be very hot!

Roughly 10 minutes after the potatoes have been added to the soup you can add the 2 cans of coconut milk. Make sure to shake the cans well before opening as the milk may have separated slightly in the can. Stir the coconut milk well through the soup and continue cooking on a medium high heat for another 5-10 minutes.

Serve the soup on its own, or as is more common in Suriname, with white rice.

Njang Switi! Enjoy!

DID YOU KNOW?
Coconut milk contains a high amount of coconut oil. This oil contains lauric acid, which is a saturated fat that raises blood cholesterol levels, and is found in similar levels in breast milk!

DID YOU KNOW?
Chinese tayer is a root popular vegetable among the Maroon communities in the interior of Suriname. The Maroons are descendants of runaway slaves who fled the plantations into the rainforest, where they lived off the produce of the jungle. Chinese tayer is able to grow in high water levels and can be found in swamp areas, which flood frequently during the long rain season.