Trini Food – 15 Dishes To Help You Discover The Cuisine of Trinidad and Tobago

Someone recently asked me to describe the cuisine of Trinidad and Tobago (or as we like to call it: Trini food) and I was stumped. Not because I didn’t know, but because it’s impossible to narrow down Trinidadian food to just a few dishes. To understand Trini food and exactly what makes up the cuisine of these two islands, you need to understand where it’s people came from. Trinidad was discovered by Columbus for Spain. Over the years different countries laid claim to the islands until it finally ended up in the hands of the British as one country, and became part of the empire.

It was during these transitionary times that the foundations for Trinidadian food were laid. The flavours and techniques of the more popular dishes came from countries across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and India. Looking at the list below you can see those distinct influences, like the curry dishes from India, and dasheen from West Africa, but there are also many popular dishes that came from the combining of these influences, which resulted in some flavourful staples.

Look at the list below and if, or rather when, you visit Trinidad and Tobago you’ll know what to order. It’s not a complete list but it’ll provide you with a good idea about the cuisine of Trinidad and Tobago.

Doubles

Undoubtedly the most popular street food in Trinidad and Tobago is doubles. When someone mentions Trini food this is what often pops into my mind. Originally, doubles were mostly eaten for breakfast, but today you can find a “doubles man” on any street corner at any time of day all over the country.

A doubles is a vegetarian sandwich made up of 2 baras (pieces of fried dough) that are filled with curried chickpeas. The chickpeas themselves are delicious, but then it’s topped with a variety of sauces that just explode with flavour.

Most vendors serve their own pepper sauce along with tangy tamarind sauce, kuchela, coconut chutney, and pickled cucumbers. You can even find some vendors adding chicken or curried goat to their doubles. By the way, it’s always called doubles, whether you’re ordering one or ten you always say doubles.

Photo Credit: @spicyisle via Instagram

Bake and Shark

The Bake and Shark sandwich from Richard’s in Maracas Bay is so damn good that celebrity chef, Andrew Zimmern, declared it one of the best sandwiches in the world!

The bake is actually fried dough that’s sliced open and filled with deep fried fillets of seasoned shark, yes, I said shark. Again, it’s all about the toppings at Richards. You can help yourself to fresh pineapple, mango, different chutneys, tons of different sauces, tomato, lettuce, and of course, pepper sauce. The combinations are endless.

Even though you can find bake and shark at many restaurants and food stalls around the country, Richard’s is often touted as being the best.

Bake and shark Photo credit: @plan_tnt via Instagram

Cuisine Of Trinidad And Tobago – Roti

Everybody eats roti. Roti in Trinidad is like rice in some Asian countries. It’s eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The two most popular types of roti are paratha, AKA “buss up shot”, and dhalpuri. Paratha is soft, flaky, and looks like a busted up shirt, hence the name. Dhalpuri is filled with ground split peas and often used to wrap filling of meats and vegetables. Paratha is used to dip or pick up your sides.

Both are eaten with either curried vegetables or curried meats, such as chicken, beef, goat, or duck. Regardless of which kind you’re eating, one thing is constant: there are no utensils when it comes to eating roti.

Pelau

If you’re heading to the beach you’re more than likely bringing a pot of pelau with you. It’s a one-pot dish that starts off with chicken that’s been marinated in green seasoning and then caramelized in oil and sugar.

After a few minutes of cooking rice, pigeon peas, vegetables, herbs, and coconut milk are added and allowed to cook down. Some people add pigtails, some use other meats but the method of cooking is almost always the same.

It’s usually served with a side of coleslaw, green salad, or zaboca (avocado).  Pelau is another dish that’s synonymous with the words Trini Food. This is one dish that perfectly exemplifies the cuisine of Trinidad and Tobago because of the combination of cooking techniques that go into making it.

Trinidad Pelau Photo credit: @pickyeatersnyc via Instagram

Aloo Pie

This isn’t a traditional pie. It’s more like a soft dough that’s filled with spiced mashed potato (aloo is the Hindi word for potato) and then deep fried.

The potato is sometimes spiced with cumin, chadon-beni and garlic. When it comes out of the oil it’s cut open and drizzled with pepper and/or tamarind sauce and then filled with the same curried chickpeas that’s found in doubles, which is why you’d often find vendors selling both items. And yes, you can get them with curried goat or chicken.

Chow

The Caribbean islands are blessed with an abundance of tropical fruits, some native, some brought over from other parts of the world.

Trinidadians have mastered the art of combining sweet fruits, like pineapple and mango, with salt, scotch bonnet peppers, garlic, and chadon-beni to make what’s called chow.

Actually, anything can be used to make a chow, once you use the basic ingredients of fruit, salt, chadon-beni and pepper. When we were growing up, mangoes that were just about to ripen were our first choice, but when we didn’t have mangoes we used any other fruit or vegetable we could find.

Saheena

Saheena is made with dasheen (taro) leaves, yellow split pea flour, turmeric, and a variety of spices.

There are two camps of saheena lovers in Trinidad. One camp prefers the dasheen leaves chopped up then added to a batter made with split pea flour and fried. The other prefers the dasheen leaf slathered with the batter, rolled up, sliced, and then deep fried. Personally, I’m in the “rolled up leaf” camp because, to me, that’s more traditional. I love breaking apart the layers and dipping them in different chutneys.

Saheena Photo credit: @tntfoodlovers via Instagram

Gyro

Yes, you read that right. You need to have a Trinidadian gyro. Trinidad has a big Syrian/Lebanese population and their cuisine is quite popular.

It was only natural that this Middle Eastern favourite made the jump from the confines of brick and mortar restaurants to a staring role in the street food scene of Trinidad and Tobago.

The base of the gyro is the same with spit-roasted meat, but some of the pickled veggies are replaced with local vegetables and sauces. As always, a chadon-beni sauce and pepper sauce are added to our local gyros.

Curried Crab and Dumpling

This is the signature dish of Trinidad’s sister island, Tobago. These crabs are nothing like snow or king crabs. It takes a long time and a lot of napkins to get through a plate of crab and dumplings, so put aside at least an hour for this dish.

Utensils are useless. You need to break apart the shell with your hands and suck out the meat. The crab themselves are tiny but very sweet. The dumplings are your basic flour dumplings but they’re the perfect sponges for soaking up the coconut curry sauce that the crabs are cooked in.

Crab and dumpling Photo credit: @mytrinibox via Instagran

Black Pudding

The name for this is a bit deceiving because it’s not a pudding at all, it’s a sausage made with pig’s blood, tons of local herbs, and various spices. It’s definitely an acquired taste. You’ll often find vendors outside a local rumshop selling this sandwiched inside a local bread called hops, or by itself on a sheet of wax paper with a good lashing of fiery pepper sauce.

Corn soup

At the end of every late night fete (party), you’ll find vendors with huge pots of corn soup bubbling away. This after-party meal may sound like a soup but definitely eats like a meal. It’s usually packed with corn, potatoes, pumpkin, carrots, yellow split peas, root vegetables, and tons of herbs in a rich coconut based broth.

Occasionally you’ll find some with pigtails added for extra flavour. After a big bowl of this, you’ll be energized  and ready to head to the next fete.

Pholourie

Pholourie is another very popular street food. The golf sized bites are made from from a batter of chick pea flour that has been seasoned with tons of garlic, onion, cumin, tumeric, peppers, and other spices then deep fried. The pholourie is dipped in different chutneys before being eaten, the two most popular ones being tamarind or mango chutney.

Pholourie Photo credit: @spicyisle via Instagram

Cuisine Of Trinidad And Tobago – Callaloo

Callaloo has the consistency of soup and is a staple in Sunday lunches, which is when it’s commonly eaten with rice and stew chicken. Jamaica also has a dish called callaloo but different than the Trinidadian version.  In Trinidad, we use both the leaves and stems of the dasheen (taro) plant. Jamaica’s version uses a different type of green.

In Trinidad, the leaves and stems are cooked down with pumpkin, okra, onions, herbs, peppers, coconut milk and crabs to make a very rich dish. This is often considered the national dish of Trinidad and Tobago.

Buljol

Buljol is made from salted cod. The cod is soaked in boiling water, often overnight, to rehydrate and remove the salt from the fish. The next day it’s flaked then mixed with sweet peppers, onions, tomatoes, garlic, scallions, scotch bonnet peppers, and olive oil. It’s usually eaten with bread or fried bake and a couple of slices of avocado. This is one of my absolute favourite things to eat for breakfast.

Pastelles

Pastelles are traditionally made during the Christmas season. It’s very similar to a tamale. It’s made with cornmeal that is then stuffed with beef or chicken that has been seasoned with fresh herbs. Raisins, olives, and capers are also added to the meat. This flavour package is then wrapped in banana leaves and steamed. When banana leaves aren’t available some people use foil, but it just doesn’t taste the same. Throughout the Caribbean and Central America, you can find different versions of these pastelles. In Columbia, they use rice as the base. In El Salvador, they use a cornflour base and add potatoes and carrots to their meat mixture.

Pastelle Photo credit: @pastellesbykhell via Instagram

Conclusion

So there you have it, 15 dishes you have to try when you visit Trinidad and Tobago. Of course, the staples of Trinidadian food aren’t limited to just these dishes, and it’s impossible to properly describe the cuisine of Trinidad and Tobago without mentioning all of them. As you sample these dishes, you can taste the Indian influences in the doubles and roti. You can see the West African roots in the callaloo with the dasheen leaves and okra. You can taste the Spanish influence in the pastilles. Trinidadian food is perfectly exemplified in a pot of pelau, with a variety of techniques, influences, and ingredients coming together in a single pot to make something delicious.