Bahamas

Bahamian Lobster Curry and Johnny Cakes

I made this dish on Monday, September 21 for Andy and me. I was not able to make the national dish, because I did not believe that I would be able to find any conch in Minnesota. I was very excited for this meal, but disappointed by the results.

The lobster was very easy to make, and I believe has the potential to be very good. If I were to make this dish again (and I may), I would not use the juice of an entire lemon. I'm not a huge lemon fan anyway, and there was so much lemon flavor in this dish that it should have been called Lemon Curry. The lemon completely overpowered the lobster taste. I might also use a little less curry. It's hard to tell whether it was the lemon or the curry that masked the lobster flavor, but either way, I could barely taste the lobster, if at all.

The Johnny cakes were very good, and very simple. They tasted just like biscuits. I'm going to eat the leftovers with butter and honey. Like biscuits, they'd be good sweetened up for dessert or paired with a savory dish like a stew.

Here is the lobster curry recipe, copied from the original:

Bahamian Lobster Curry

Ingredients:
- 1 onion, sliced
- 6 T. butter
- 2 T. curry powder
- 1 T. flour
- salt, to taste
- 1 c. milk
- 1 c. lobster meat (I used tail), cut up
- juice from 1 lemon

Directions:
1) Melt the butter in a pan. Add onions and fry until soft.
2) Mix flour, curry, and salt together. Add to the fried onions.
3) Add milk and let simmer for an hour on low heat. Add more milk if it gets dry.
4) Add lobster and lemon juice. Simmer for a half hour.

Serves 2-3

Here's the recipe for the Johnny Cakes, modified from the original:

Johnny Cakes

Ingredients:
- 3 c. flour
- 1 T. baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 T. sugar
- 1/2 c. shortening
- 2/3 c. milk

Directions:
1) Combine dry ingredients then cut in shortening until mixture is sandy.
2) Add milk gradually: just enough to make a small dough. Knead dough until smooth.
3) Let dough rest for about 10 minutes.
4) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
5) Spread dough in pan. Pierce with a fork several times.
6) Bake for 25 minutes. Then, sprinkle with water and bake for 5 more minutes.
7) Allow to set for several minutes.