Today we are going to Curry down some nice and sweet conch (conchs). As a Trini, the saying is when in doubt curry it! Curry conch is more prevalent on our sister isle of Tobago. If you ever go to Tobago there are a few things you must have, one of which is Curry Conch and the other Curry crab and Dumplings.
What exactly is conch?
Conch is a delicacy that’s enjoyed across the Caribbean Islands as well as the Florida Keys. There are a variety of ways you can cook conch from fried Conch to Conch Fritters and Curry conch, even conch ceviche. This is called sea conch and its the large conch. The meat is incredibly sweet.
The meat inside the conch gets tougher as it cooks. So in order to curry this meat it will take a long time. Infact a lot of people pressure cook the meat. Another way to tenderize the meat is to pound it out with a kitchen hammer.
If you decide to pressure cook it prior to currying it, I would reserve the water it was pressure cooked in and use that as my broth for currying it. In my opinion I feel like it loses some of its sweetness when it is pressure cooked. If you live in a state like I do where there is no ocean conch can be hard to find. I am lucky enough to find a butcher shop in my neighborhood that brings in the conch that is caught in the Bahamas.
Traditionally we like to add some coconut milk to the gravy of the curry. However it really is not required. The addition of the coconut milk adds a creaminess to the dish. Ideally Conch is served wrapped in a roti and called a conch roti. But there is also conch and dumplings, curry conch and rice…just typing this makes me drool.
Have you ever been to a soccer game or seen one on tv and there are these people blowing a huge shell and it makes a loud noise…well that is the shell of the conch that we are eating to day. Nothing is wasted. There is an episode of Naked and Afraid where the girl deep sea dives and she finds these huge sea conch that is fresh and she eats the meat raw…kind of like ceviche. That is what we are currying today.
I used a type of curry called duck and goat curry, to marinate my conch meat. If you cannot get your hands on that no problem, use regular curry.
Do not be turned off by the fact that it is a conch, this conch is definitely not the same as snails or the river conch. This is a very clean conch. Give it a try and see how you like it. Check out my Curry Stew Conch recipe that I served with dumplings.
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Click here for Curry Conch recipe.
