Green Fig Souse

Souse... where does one begin...

Basically, souse in the Caribbean is pickled meat. From pig feet, to chicken feet to cow heel. Soaked in a delightful brine flavoured with onions, cucumbers, lime and shadon beni (culantro --> a relative herb to cilantro).

I say delightful because the sauce itself is drinkable on it's own.

Tainted by gelatinous bits of trotters though, is another story.

But what was once considered peasant fare, is now a major street food item and 'liming' staple here in T&T. Loved by those who've grown up with it, to the adventurous who happen to enjoy picking their teeth with chickens' toenails. 

Legend has it that souse has magical properties when it comes to curing the inebriated of a hangover with its heavy salt and the shadon beni content.

I wouldn't really know. The best hangover cure in my books will always be instant ramen.

My mission here was to create a vegan version of this dish. Same yummy sauce!! Just replaced the feet with the more stomachable green fig. Basically a green banana that has been boiled and peeled. 

This dish can also be considered paleo to those who are radical enough to sport that label.

Here we go.

I used a yellow bell pepper instead of the green

GREEN FIG SOUSE

Makes one giant bowl - serves about 10

Ingredients
2 lbs of green bananas (about 10 'grain' of fig as the locals put it)
5 cucumbers, cut circular
1 red bell pepper, julienned
1 green bell pepper, julienned
3 pimento peppers
1 red onion, sliced thinly
3 cloves garlic, crushed
juice of 4 to 5 limes (hooray for Vitamin C!!)
A few handfuls of parsley, roughly chopped
10 leaves of shadon beni (or cilantro)
salt and crushed black peppercorns to taste
lil drizzle of extra virgin olive oil for flavour** optional

Preparation
Separate the bananas from each other.
Place in a large pot and fill with enough water to cover the bananas.
Add a generous splash of vinegar and oil to the water (do not skip this step unless you want a sticky black sap forever coating the sides of your pot!!).
Boil on medium heat until the banana skin splits, about 10 to 15 minutes from boiling. The skin would have turned brown by then. Don't panic, it's normal.
Turn off the heat and rinse under cold water. When cooled, peel the bananas and set the skins aside. You can either discard the skins or keep for a delicious pot of Jungle Soup (basically a split pea soup where anything goes. The skins are super rich in fibre).
Once the banana flesh has cooled, cut on the diagonal to form bite sized pieces.
Add just enough cold water to barely cover the bananas and flavour with salt and crushed peppercorns.
Blend together the shadon beni, garlic and pimentos with the lime juice and add to the bananas. Mix in the onion, cucumbers, bell peppers and parsley. Add a few splashes of hot pepper sauce if you enjoy having your tastebuds scorched.
Leave to marinate for at least 2 hours until serving. Keep chilled!

Notes
Souse traditionally calls for watercress (or 'cressels' here). My version says that parsley is the better choice.

Sa7ten!!