Creating Memories – Honduran Coconut Dinner (Non-vegan recipe)

Background Story

Let me preface this by saying that five and a half years ago I went vegan and even though I reintroduced some dairy into my diet about 3 years back, I do not eat meat, including fish. But, since my reasons are mostly health related, (i.e. not about the animals, though I am proud not to be involved in animal cruelty) I took this project upon myself.

My grandmother turns 96 years old in February. She is not a fragile old woman in a wheelchair. She may use a walker, but she is a force to be reckoned with. Ask anyone who’s ever met her. She literally introduces herself almost immediately followed by her age. She wants everyone to know that she is close to 100. She will also preach and witness to you if you give her a chance.

My grandmother is the strongest woman I know. She gave birth to 9 children naturally, no epidural, sometimes not even at the hospital. She doesn’t even have stretchmarks! (Or so she says…) Talk about goals. I think one of the reasons my grandmother has lived this long and remained on her feet is due to her diet. She grew up on the islands in Honduras, Roatan and La Cieba mostly. Her diet consisted typically of fruits, vegetables, and grains, but if they had meat it was fresh caught local seafood.

One of their traditional meals is called Coconut Dinner. It’s an everything but the spoon type of soup. They’d make it with whatever seafood they had, mostly conch, crab, or fish, and throw in lots of roots and some veggies. They add fresh coconut milk as well as homemade flour to thicken this soup up and have a hearty meal.

Growing up my grandmother would sometimes make this for us. It was always one of my favorite meals. It was also something I missed after going vegan, especially since she hasn’t even made it in so long. I don’t know how long I have left with my grandmother, but I want to cherish each moment, as well as preserve her history and culture. I chose this meal to learn from her first (though she recently taught me how to fry up fresh fish for my husband) because it was my favorite. I also want to take what I learned and try to recreate it into a vegan meal on a future date so that I can continue to enjoy this family classic.

Instead of photos of the process, I took short video clips, because this is more than just a recipe, but a living legacy of my grandmother. So, join me as I create a memory and a meal.

The Process

A couple days before we planned to make this we went to a not so local fish market that had frozen conch, because it was not available anywhere near us that I knew of. My three-year-old complained the whole time that it was stinky in there. LOL. The night before we cooked I put the conch in the fridge to start the defrosting process, and the morning of I took it out to to fully defrost about 3 hours before we began cooking.

We started off by getting a pot of water boiling. While that happened, she took the defrosted conch and washed it with water and lemon. She reminded me that I need to make sure to always wash all my fruits, veggies, and especially meats before I cook them.

Once it was cleaned, it was time to smash it. I didn’t have one of those kitchen mallets on hand, because I never eat anything that needs that kind of mashing, so I cleaned my husband’s hammer and wrapped in in a Ziploc as an extra precaution. It works, ok!

She mashed the conch up to help make it more tender. I was extremely impressed with her strength. Like I said, she is fierce for being 95 years old.

Once it was all mashed up, we tossed it into the boiling water. If you like smaller pieces, you can chop it up first. We didn’t. She then proceeded to put an impressive amount of salt in the water. I couldn’t tell you how much. Maybe about 2 tbsp. She taste-tested it to make sure. Next, we covered the pot with the lid slightly open, so it can return to a boil but not boil over.

About 5 minutes later she uncovered it to scoop out this thick white froth that appears in the water. Once you do that you can lower the heat to medium/low to maintain a boil and cover the pot. From here you need to let the conch boil for an hour and forty minutes, but you will need to periodically check for more froth and dispose of it.

While that was boiling we prepped our other items. She peeled the yucca and Malanga. I tried to help with the yucca and she kept shaking her head. I didn’t know how to peel yucca, I always buy the frozen kind. I didn’t know how deep you need to peel. You have to take off not just the obvious skin but just below that there is a thin layer of white skin you need to dig under as well. If correctly peeled you should expose the meat, which had some dark vine-like lines running down it. We then rinsed the yucca and Malanga. Be careful with the Malanga, it is quite slippery even before you add water.

She then had me chop the yucca and Malanga and place in a large bowl on the side. We also washed, peeled, and chopped the plantain and green bananas, and about ¼ a large onion and ¼ a large green pepper. I placed those in the bowl as well.

Once the hour and forty minutes were up we double checked to make sure the conch was almost completely tender. She tested it by eating a piece. Since it was soft enough, we took out all the pieces and cut them into smaller pieces. Then we added the coconut milk, pepper, onion powder, and water. We used the can of coconut milk and filled it with water to try and use every last drop of the coconut milk. Then we covered the pot and brought it back to boil. Once boiling we added all of our chopped items from the bowl. Make sure the water covers the veggies, if not, add more water as needed. We got it boiling again and cooked for an additional 25 minutes.

While that was boiling we prepared our flour mix. We combined the flour with water until it was semi-liquid. Once the 25 minutes were ready we added the flour mix to the water to help thicken it up. This part is optional. If you want it more like soup, omit the flour. If you want it to be thicker, creamier, and more filling, add the flour.

We let it cook ten more minutes, stirring occasionally, especially scrapping the bottom as everything was getting softer and could easily stick to the bottom. It was during this time that I decided that even though I like my liquid thick, I still prefer more broth in my dinner/soup. So, I doubled my liquids and seasonings (another can of coconut milk, another can of water from coconut can, more salt, pepper, onion powder, and flour mix. I now had a thicker soup but with lots of liquid.

And then you are done! My grandma tasted the soup and said it was really good. I barely did anything, so it was all due to her. My three-year-old on the other hand complained the house stunk. LOL. But I am excited to recreate this meal minus the conch, so I can really enjoy it myself.

Honduran Coconut Dinner

(Coconut Seafood Soup)

Servings: 6-10

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 2 hours 15 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours 25 minutes

Meal Type: Dinner

Allergy List: Seafood, shellfish, wheat, gluten, coconut

Ingredients:

Lemon
1 – 2 lbs. of defrosted conch
2 – 4 tbsp. of salt
1 – 2 yuccas
1 – 2 malangas
1 – 2 green plantains
2 – 3 green bananas
¼ large onion
¼ large green pepper
1 can of coconut milk*
1 tsp pepper*
1 tbsp. onion powder*
4 tbsp. flour * (optional)
water

* These items may be doubled to make the soup more liquidy. You can also add more or less to taste due to personal preferences. More flour = thicker soup, less flour = runnier soup.

Directions:

Get water boiling
Wash defrosted conch with water and lemon
Mash conch with mallet
Place mashed conch in boiling water
Add salt (taste to confirm that it’s salty enough, if you prefer you can do this step before you add the conch)
Cover with the lid slightly open and bring to boil and cook for 1 hour 40 minutes
About 5 minutes later use spoon to scoop out the thick white froth that shows up in the water. Check periodically for more.
Close lid completely and boil on medium. If water gets low add more
Peel the yucca and malanga and chop. Place in large bowl.
Chop 1/4 a large onion, 1/4 a large green pepper and place in bowl.
Wash, peel, and chop plantain and green bananas and place in bowl.
After the 1 hour and 40 minutes of boiling take the conch out and cut it into smaller pieces and then return to pot. Add coconut milk, pepper, onion powder to conch in water. Fill the coconut can with water and add to pot. Taste liquid and add more seasonings to taste. Return to boil.
Add chopped veggies, add more water if necessary to cover all veggies. Cook an additional 25 minutes.
Add flour mix to pot. Cook am additional 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until all veggies and conch are tender.