Caribbean Rum Ceviche

In the West Indies which is otherwise known as the Caribbean Region, there’s always the sport of cricket. When these minute island nations put together teams of players that can win sport matches against mighty countries such as England, Australia or India, there is always reason for celebrations. At the cricket matches one can hear loud long notes similar to the sound made from a trumpet, but from a conch shell. Conch, pronounced ‘conk’ refers to the queen conch species of aquatic shelled animal found only in the warm waters of the Caribbean, especially so around the coral islands such as Tobago, Barbados, Grenada, The Grenadines and the Tobago Cays and more popular with others, Jamaica and the Bahamas. A creature as old in earth time as the queen conch, some sixty five millions years, carries with it a certain mystique, at once exotic and beautiful. Caribbean inventiveness has created innumerable dishes with conch meat, all of which require several dashes of hot scotch bonnet pepper sauce, and only to be served up with rum and more rum and then some after, rum cocktails. So lets gets this party jamming as I let you have my secret ceviche recipe. We will need one kilogram of conch meat. Ok, with the rising cost of living these days this is something that is easier said than done, or in my destitute case, it would be easier to substitute with crab meat or your favorite choice of seafood as this dish is diverse in its very nature. Squeeze the juice of three limes, measure out two tablespoons of olive oil, salt to taste, about five tablespoons of rum, and then four more shots of the rum secretly into a tea cup nearby which you can consume on the neat, in private. Then you can act up like you got a little ‘o’ bit of the Captain in you. Carrying on with the ingredients list now, we will also need three yellow onions sliced thinly and one large red ripe tomato thinly sliced. Chop four tablespoons of fresh cilantro and again, chop finely one habanero pepper with the seeds removed. Cube the seafood meat and pound it to tenderize it if needed. In the case of fresh conch meat, the pounding process is always necessary. However if you were to use a more delicate meat from a crab, lobster or shrimp, the tenderizing process is somewhat unnecessary. After messing up your kitchen with this step, grab a skillet and poach the meat in a little water, just enough to cover the meat, for not more than five minutes. Drain and reserve the liquid and then mix all the other ingredients in a deep bowl. Add the seafood to the bowl and then add four or five tablespoons of the reserve liquid. Toss to coat and let it sit in the refrigerator for two hours and then garnish with hot peppers when serving. This recipe is a sure way to keep warm and be the hit of the pot luck party this fall.Now picture the European planter, home after a day on horseback overseeing his slaves in the hot sugar cane fields of the Caribbean. His first order of his house slaves is to serve him up a rum punch. It is served, as he lounges back on a plush plantation chair at his verandah, a shield from the blazing tropical sun. We must give credit to the slave as the creator of the first Planter’s Punch and as a result there are many variations to this recipe as there were sugarcane growing islands in the Caribbean. This recipe is from Trinidad. Shake two ounces of aged Trinidad rum, one ounce lime juice, half ounce sugar syrup and two dashes of Angostura bitters, with some shaved ice in a shaker. Pour it into a tall glass and top it up with red soda, any kind or brand of soda will do, so long as it is you preference to include it into the recipe. I prefer to use straight up root beer or cream soda if it is available. Garnish your drink with fruits and keep at it till later!