Pom
A baked Surinamese casserole credited to the country's historic Sephardic Jewish plantation community — Portuguese and Spanish Jews who fled the Inquisition and by the 1730s owned roughly a quarter of Suriname's plantations — combined with the culinary knowledge of the Afro-Surinamese cooks who staffed their kitchens, and later enriched by Javanese indentured laborers' soy sauce. The dish's name comes from pomme de terre (potato), the original filling; when potatoes ran scarce, Afro-Surinamese cooks substituted grated pomtajer root instead, which is what gives the dish its defining ingredient today. This is a distinct Diasporic Jewish-Surinamese heritage, unrelated to and centuries older than the modern state of Israel.
⚠ Contains: Gluten, Soy. Always check your own ingredients — this isn't a guarantee for severe allergies.
Ingredients
- 800g grated pomtajer (or taro root)
- 1 whole chicken, cut into pieces
- Juice of 2 Seville oranges (or a mix of lime and orange juice)
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- Celery leaf, chopped
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tbsp soy sauce (optional)
- Breadcrumbs, for topping
- Salt and pepper
Steps
- Marinate the chicken in the citrus juice, salt, and pepper for at least an hour.
- Sauté the onion, tomato, and garlic to make a sauce base, then add the marinated chicken and brown lightly.
- Grate the pomtajer and toss immediately with a little citrus juice to prevent discoloration.
- Layer the chicken, sauce, and grated pomtajer in a casserole dish, alternating layers, seasoning with nutmeg and celery leaf.
- Top with breadcrumbs and bake until set and golden, about 60-75 minutes.