Starting with the Bahamas in the north and ending with Trinidad and Tobago just above Venezuela, the islands of the Caribbean are particularly unique because they have been influenced by different communities from across the world, from Africa, India, China, Syria, Lebanon and beyond. All of which helps make our cuisine so eclectic, yet somehow also so similar right across the culinary culture.Bhaji rice with salted pork (pictured top)Spinach is often called bhaji in the Caribbean, no doubt derived from the various Indian communities who migrated here. This is just one of the many delicious one-pot rice dishes found in our traditional cooking, and features spinach, pumpkin, coconut milk and salted pork. The latter would normally mean salted pig tail, but here I’ve used pork shoulder, because it’s a little more accessible and because it has much more meat on it and is far less fatty. You’ll need to salt it for at least two days in advance.Prep 25 minSalt 48 hr+Cook 1 hr 30 minServes 4-6For the salted pork500g pork shoulder, trimmed and cut into medium chunks2 tbsp fine sea salt
1 tbsp white sugarFor the rice stew
3 tbsp olive oil, or rapeseed oil1 brown onion, peeled and finely diced3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed8 okra, thinly sliced200g fresh spinach leaves, finely chopped150g pumpkin flesh, or butternut squash flesh, grated500g jasmine rice, rinsed400ml can coconut milk
