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For Caribbean Food Week try these tasty recipes with a tropical twist

Creamy curries, rum-soaked bananas and new ways with jerk seasoning - we love the tropical tastes of the Caribbean, but you don't need a holiday to enjoy them

It’s Caribbean Food Week next week in the UK (19-25 August) and so you can get involved, we’ve come up with four simple Caribbean-inspired recipes you can make at home.

Rum bananas, anyone?

Caribbean Prawn Curry Lettuce Cups
These lettuce leaves are filled with prawns cooked in a creamy mild Caribbean curry sauce - perfect served as a starter or a light snack. They take just a few minutes to make. Makes 8 cups.



Ingredients:
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp Caribbean Mild Curry Powder
180g fresh raw, peeled prawns
2 tbsp coconut cream
pinch of salt
quarter tsp dark brown muscovado sugar
8 little gem or gem heart lettuce leaves, washed and dried
1 small spring onion, finely sliced
2 tbsp finely chopped sweet red pepper

Method:
Gently heat the olive oil in a non-stick frying pan. Stir in the curry powder and fry for about 1 minute, until fragrant. Tip in the prawns, coating them in the spices and then pour in the coconut cream - you just need enough to make a sauce that will cling to the prawns. Add a pinch of salt and the dark brown sugar and cook gently, stirring, until the prawns are pink all the way through - about 3-4 minutes.

Once the prawns are cooked, spoon them onto the waiting lettuce leaves, scattering over the spring onion and red pepper just before serving.


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Fried Rum Bananas
A perfect recipe for using up any stray bananas in the fruit bowl, and it takes just a few minutes too. Serve with vanilla ice cream. Serves 2.



Ingredients:

1 tbsp salted butter
2 tsp dark brown muscovado sugar
2 bananas, not too ripe
a splash of rum

Method:
Peel the bananas and cut them in half, lengthways. Melt the butter in a frying pan and then stir in the dark brown sugar. Once the sugar is bubbling, gently drop the halved bananas into the pan and turn to coat them in the sticky mixture. Add just a splash of rum and then shake the pan so that the bananas are well coated. Serve them hot, with a scoop of ice cream and the juices from the pan spooned over the top.


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Spicy Jerk Beef Burgers with Pineapple

It’s up to you how spicy you make these burgers - alter the quantity of Jerk seasoning to suit you. Serve with crunchy oven-baked sweet potato fries. Serves 4.



Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
450g good quality minced beef
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves, pulled from their stalks
1 small onion, very finely chopped
1-2 teaspoons (or to taste) Jerk seasoning
pinch of salt
4 slices of fresh pineapple
4 burger buns of your choice
mayonnaise, lettuce and sweet potato fries to serve

Method:
In a bowl, combine the beef, onion, thyme, and Jerk seasoning. Mix thoroughly, but don’t overdo it. Heat a griddle or frying pan and form the meat into four patties. Rub olive oil over each one and cook for 4-5 minutes per side, depending on thickness. At the same time, if you have room, griddle the pineapple slices for 1-2 minutes per side, just enough to soften them and make those distinctive griddle marks. Once the burgers are cooked through, serve them in a bun with the pineapple, a little mayo and shredded lettuce.


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Griddled Pineapple with Whipped Toasted Coconut Cream
Coconut cream can be used as a silky, fragrant alternative to whipped cream. Here, we’ve served it with griddled pineapple slices and stirred through some toasted desiccated coconut for flavour and texture.

Serves 4.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp desiccated coconut
250ml carton of coconut cream, refrigerated overnight
1 tsp icing sugar
2 tsp coconut oil (or a flavourless cooking oil)
1 medium-sized fresh pineapple, skin removed and cut into 8 slices

Method
In a dry, non-stick pan gently toast the desiccated coconut until just golden brown. Immediately tip it onto a plate to cool - don’t leave it in the pan or it might burn.

While that’s cooling, take the cold coconut cream out of the fridge and cut the top off the carton. When you tip it upside down, you will notice some watery liquid that comes out first - strain this off and then tip the thick cream that’s left into a bowl. Add the sugar and whisk until fluffy. Set to one side.

Heat the griddle and rub the oil over the pineapple slices. Cook them for 1-2 minutes per side, until they’ve just softened and transfer to a serving plate. Now that the desiccated coconut has cooled, fold 1 tbsp into the whipped coconut cream. Serve the cream with the pineapple slices and scatter some of the remaining toasted coconut over the top.

Will you be cooking any Caribbean-inspired recipes for Caribbean Food Week this year?