Mommy Dash’s Gumbo
- 2 LBS OF FRESH SHORT STEMMED OKRA (LONG STEMMED IS TOUGH)
- 3 MEDIUM HAM HOCKS (OR USE SMOKED TURKEY)
- CHICKEN
- BEEF
- SHRIMP
- TOMATO SAUCE
- WHOLE STEWED TOMATOES
- CRUSHED TOMATOES
- 2 MEDIUM ONIONS
- FRESH CUT CORN (OR BABY EARS)
- 1/2 CUP (COOKED) LIMA BEANS
- 1 SLICED GREEN PEPPER
- SWEET RED PEPPERS
- DASH OF SUGAR
- 2-3 CLOVES OF GARLIC (DICED)
- CELERY (INSTEAD OF SALT)
- PARSLEY
Cover ham hocks or smoked turkey with water in a very deep pot. Cook on low flame, keep adding water. Cook until the meat is falling off the bone (the bone sweetens the soup).
While the meat is cooking, cut the tips and heads off of the okra. Finely slice the okra: don’t dice it! Chop your onions, peppers, garlic, celery, and parsley.
Add the chicken and the beef to the pot when the meat is almost off the bone. Add tomatoes, onions, green and red peppers, celery and garlic. Continue to cook slowly.
When it’s almost ready, add cut corn and crushed tomatoes. Add okra and shrimp on the last ten minutes of cooking. If the shrimp cook too long they will be tough.
This soup should be eaten with white rice.
Aunt Gertie’s Red Rice
- 1 CUP OF SOUTH CAROLINA WHITE RICE (DO NOT USE CONVERTED RICE)
- 2 CUPS OF WATER
- 1 CLOVE OF GARLIC
- 1/2 CUP OF CHOPPED ONIONS
- 1/2 CUP CHOPPED BELL PEPPERS
- 1 CAN OF TOMATO SAUCE
- 5 STRIPS OF BACON (OR SMOKED TURKEY)
Place the rice in a large bowl of water and scrub the rice between your hands. Keep changing the water until it is clear of starch. Pour off the water.
Use a deep, heavy pot with a lid. Cook the bacon or, if you prefer, smoked turkey with 1/4 cup of vegetable oil in the bottom of the pot. Add your onions, peppers, garlic and cook until they are done. Add the tomato sauce and 2 cups of water. When the sauce begins to boil, add the rice. Use a fork to make sure the rice is evenly distributed in the tomato sauce. Never stir the rice once it begins to boil. “Never put a spoon in rice that’s cooking...” When the rice begins to boil, lower the heat. Wrap a wet brown paper bag around the lid of the pot and cover. Slow-cook. “Every grain must stand on its own. Every grain must be red.” Slow-cook until the rice absorbs all of the sauce.
Red rice tastes even better the next day.
-Julie Dash, Toni Cade Bambara, and bell hooks, Daughters of the Dust: The Making of an African American Woman's Film (New York: New Press, 1991. viii-ix).
Scent Recipe
Mix 75 drops of peppermint oil with 35 drops of eucalyptus oil, 10 drops of clove, and ½ cup of spring water. Shake the mixture around the four corners of the room to bring the nature inside. As the mixture ages, the scent will become stronger.
-Julie Dash, Daughters of the Dust (New York: Plume, 1991: 23).
Visit the artist page on Julie Dash.
