Delightful Creole Caribbean Flavours : Ducuna - St. Vincent and the Grenadines

St. Vincent and the Grenadines Flavours

What is Ducuna? Why does it look like Conkies (Barbados) and Paime (Trinidad and Tobago)?

Ducuna is very popular in St. Vincent and Antigua. It is made with sweet potato, coconut, spices and tannia, wrapped and boiled in banana leaves. It is also steamed in banana leaves and has a finished look like paime, pastelles or conkies. Ducuna as I know it was made by the older persons while growing up. Today, you don't see much people making it especially the younger ones.

I always love making Ducuna and my colleagues enjoy this treat. Sweet potato is very expensive in Trinidad to purchase so I don't get to make Ducuna very often but when I do, we enjoy every bite of this delicious treat. Ducuna can be served alone or with other dishes such as saltfish. I prefer eating ducuna by itself as a treat. The worse part for me in making Ducuna is the grating of the coconut. Like I have said in my previous posts, this was always a disaster although now in my adult life I have learned to master how to grate it. It takes too much time. For Ducuna; however, you have to grate the coconut over using a magic bullet or blender because you don't want water getting in the mixture.

So here goes it, I found a recipe online and thought it might help anyone who wanted to learn how to make it. I tried out the recipe as well and it was great. If you're someone into spices like I am, you can add a little extra cinnamon or nutmeg to the mixture.

Ducuna

Ingredients:

Banana leaves
2 cups of sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper (or black pepper)
1/2 cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 cup of grated tannia
1-1/2 cups of grated coconut
4-1/2 cups of grated sweet potatoes

Directions:

1. Put the tannias and the potatoes into a mixing bowl.
2. Add the sugar along with the other ingredients, mix well.
3. Next fold about half cup mixture in the steamed banana leaves cut into squares.
4. Finally, tie and steam the Ducana on a rack over boiling water in a large pot.
5. Boil until its firm and cooked.