What a find in the San Antonio Green Market this week! Locally grown cush cush, cool and moist and newly dug! Dioscorea trifida (it's a vine with a tri-lobed leaf) is one of the most important tropical yams native to this part of the world. This delicately flavoured and lilac tinted yam is a source of slowly absorbed carbohydrates with minerals and vitamins. Because it is not a dense root - like dasheen or cassava - it is easy to eat slices of it, just boiled. It's hard to describe the flavour, but if you are fond of topi tambu - those little snack roots - then you can appreciate the subtle crunch and light flaky character. As far from potato as you can imagine a root to be.
I made sure to have enough cush cush so I could eat one plain - just so! And others to serve with my stir fried pork tenderloin and mushrooms.
Pork tenderloin, one loin to serve two persons
Brown sugar, heaping teaspoon
Star aniseed, one crushed
Ginger, small piece sliced fine
Garlic, two or three cloves crushed and chopped
Balsamic vinegar, two tablespoons
Onion, large, sliced
Mushrooms, handful sliced
Pimento or sweet pepper, sliced
Watercress, small bunch
Black pepper, coarse ground
Olive or grapeseed oil, two or three tablespoons
Cushcush, two fist-sized, boiled and sliced
Season tenderloin with garlic, ginger, sugar, balsamic vinegar and star aniseed for a few hours or overnight.
An hour before you eat, boil cushcush in water to cover until a knife goes in easily (abut 20 minutes). Cool, peel and slice.
Heat oil. Saute onion and pimento. Pan-fry pork, browning on all sides. Add marinade, cover and allow to cook on lower heat for 10 to 15 minutes. Add mushrooms and slight salt to taste. Continue to cook for 10 to 15 more minutes at low heat and covered. If necessary, add a tablespoon of water to keep the meat moist. Add watercress in the last minute of cooking.
Serve over sliced cushcush.
Check the Saturday market in Santa Cruz Trinidad for fresh greens and freshly dug roots!(http://www.facebook.com/GreenMarketSantaCruz)!
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| You must love the lilac tint in the heart of a great cushcush! |
I made sure to have enough cush cush so I could eat one plain - just so! And others to serve with my stir fried pork tenderloin and mushrooms.
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| Cushcush - thinner skinned than other yams, with fine wrinkles. This skin peels easily when cooked |
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| Locally grown sweet potato |
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| Locally grown dasheen: hairier and thick skinned: this also goes well with stewed pork - add boiled dasheen slices to the pork stew. |
Pork tenderloin, one loin to serve two persons
Brown sugar, heaping teaspoon
Star aniseed, one crushed
Ginger, small piece sliced fine
Garlic, two or three cloves crushed and chopped
Balsamic vinegar, two tablespoons
Onion, large, sliced
Mushrooms, handful sliced
Pimento or sweet pepper, sliced
Watercress, small bunch
Black pepper, coarse ground
Olive or grapeseed oil, two or three tablespoons
Cushcush, two fist-sized, boiled and sliced
Season tenderloin with garlic, ginger, sugar, balsamic vinegar and star aniseed for a few hours or overnight.
An hour before you eat, boil cushcush in water to cover until a knife goes in easily (abut 20 minutes). Cool, peel and slice.
 |
| Enjoy its subtle crunch and flakiness - plain so! |
Heat oil. Saute onion and pimento. Pan-fry pork, browning on all sides. Add marinade, cover and allow to cook on lower heat for 10 to 15 minutes. Add mushrooms and slight salt to taste. Continue to cook for 10 to 15 more minutes at low heat and covered. If necessary, add a tablespoon of water to keep the meat moist. Add watercress in the last minute of cooking.
Serve over sliced cushcush.
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| Cushcush is the star of this plate, surrounded by pork, mushrooms, onions and wilted watercress! |
Check the Saturday market in Santa Cruz Trinidad for fresh greens and freshly dug roots!(http://www.facebook.com/GreenMarketSantaCruz)!
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