Happy New Year!

I had an enjoyable Christmas and New Years with friends and family, for the first time, I didn’t do much of the cooking, I was determined this year that I wanted to have a break from the kitchen and have some quality time with people I love, which I did. Nevertheless my brain was still ticking away with recipes and new projects for the coming year and so having made it through the first week back at work, I am ready to kick things off again with Loretta’s Kitchen!

Many of us have started the new year with resolutions: lose weight, start a new course, learn a language etc…,maybe all three. Well how about adding to your list, ‘try out new cuisines, fruits and vegetables’? If you can’t afford to travel this year, you can bring the’exotic’ to your kitchen ;-).

To help you out, I thought I would introduce some of you to an interesting fruit. Known as ‘Breadfuit’. Breadfruit found mainly in the Caribbean (although native to Tahiti), is a large dense fruit the size of a melon. When sliced open you’ll filled with white sponge like layers. It has no particular smell or taste, a bit like potato. And just like potato its usually roasted, fried or in this case curried.

I grew up eating roasted breadfruit: it would sometimes be steamed or boiled first before frying or roasted in the oven before being served with fish or eating at breakfast. Its very high in protein so a good substitute for chicken.

Be sure when you select Breadfuit that it is firm in texture. And when you boil or steam it, not to overcook it, as can get mushy.

I opted to create my own curry here, but you can always use a curry powder if you wish. The tamarind and coconut bring a nice sweetness to the dish.

Enjoy.