Plate 03 of 10

Hudut with Fish Sere

Name: Hudut with Fish Sere
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 85 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Belize
Ingredients: 4 Green plantains, peeled and cut in thirds; 2 Ripe plantains, peeled and cut in thirds; 6 g Fine salt, for the boiling water; 1 kg Firm white fish steaks, snapper or kingfish, 3 cm thick; 800 ml Coconut milk, full fat; 1 medium Onion, sliced; 1 Sweet pepper, sliced; 4 cloves Garlic, crushed; 2 Tbsp Culantro, chopped; 1 whole Habanero, unbroken, stem on; 8 g Fine salt; 1 Lime, for the fish

The Garifuna plate of the southern coast. Green and ripe plantains boiled and pounded together while hot into hudut, a smooth, elastic mound. Beside it the sere, coconut milk simmered with onion, sweet pepper, garlic and culantro, then firm fish steaks poached in it with a whole habanero left unbroken, so the soup carries the pepper's perfume and none of its fire.

Prep: 35 min
Cook: 50 min
Serves: 6
Difficulty: Medium

Researched · Kitchen testing pending

A wooden bowl of pale coconut soup with white fish steaks, sliced onion, strips of red and green pepper and a whole orange habanero, beside a wooden bowl holding a smooth mound of pounded plantain.

Hudut is the dish of Dangriga, Hopkins and Punta Gorda, the Garifuna towns of Belize’s southern coast, and it is eaten on Garifuna Settlement Day, the 19th of November, with drums going on the beach. It is two things served together: the hudut, boiled green and ripe plantain pounded in a wooden mortar into a smooth, elastic mash, and the sere, a coconut-milk soup of whole fish or steaks cooked with onion, pepper, garlic and culantro.

The pepper goes in whole and comes out whole. That is the rule for nearly every soup in Belize, and it is why the sere tastes of habanero without burning.

Ingredients

Hudut
4Green plantains, peeled and cut in thirds
2Ripe plantains, peeled and cut in thirds
6 gFine salt, for the boiling water
Sere
1 kgFirm white fish steaks, snapper or kingfish, 3 cm thick
800 mlCoconut milk, full fat
1 mediumOnion, sliced
1Sweet pepper, sliced
4 clovesGarlic, crushed
2 TbspCulantro, choppedor cilantro, stems and all
1 wholeHabanero, unbroken, stem on
8 gFine salt
1Lime, for the fish

Two plantains, one mash

Green plantain is nearly all starch and pounds up firm; ripe plantain brings sugar and softness. Two green to one ripe is the balance that gives hudut its faint sweetness and a texture that holds a spoon.

The whole pepper

A habanero simmered intact releases its aroma through the skin while the seeds keep the capsaicin inside. Break it and the sere becomes a different dish. Fish it out before serving.

The five tastes on this plate

Salt is in the sere and the hudut water. Fat is coconut milk. Acid is the lime on the fish. Heat is the habanero's perfume, never its burn. Umami is the fish and its poaching liquid.

Equipment

Large pot, for the plantains
Mortar and pestle, or a sturdy bowl and a heavy wooden pestle
Wide pot or deep skillet, for the sere
Instant-read thermometer

Garifuna kitchens pound hudut in a tall wooden mortar called a hana. A potato masher gives a coarser result; a food processor turns plantain to glue. Pound.

Method

Boil the plantains25 min
Put the green and ripe plantain pieces in the large pot, cover with water, add the salt and bring to a boil. Cook 20 to 25 minutes until a knife slides through the green pieces with no resistance.
Put the green and ripe plantain pieces in the large pot, cover with water, add the salt and bring to a boil. Cook 20 to 25 minutes until a knife slides through the green pieces with no resistance.
Start the sere12 min
While the plantains boil, pour the coconut milk into the wide pot with the onion, sweet pepper, garlic, culantro and salt. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook 12 minutes until the onion is soft and the milk has thickened slightly.
While the plantains boil, pour the coconut milk into the wide pot with the onion, sweet pepper, garlic, culantro and salt. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook 12 minutes until the onion is soft and the milk has thickened slightly.
Pound the hudut10 min
Drain the plantains and pound them at once, while hot, in the mortar. Work in batches, pounding and folding until the mash is smooth, elastic and free of lumps. Shape into 6 rounded mounds and keep warm under a cloth.
Drain the plantains and pound them at once, while hot, in the mortar. Work in batches, pounding and folding until the mash is smooth, elastic and free of lumps. Shape into 6 rounded mounds and keep warm under a cloth.
Poach the fish12 min
Squeeze the lime over the fish steaks and season them lightly. Lower them into the simmering sere, set the whole habanero on top, and poach at a bare tremble, never a boil, 10 to 12 minutes until the flesh flakes and reads 63 °C at the bone.
Season fish lightly with lime. Lower into the simmering sere and add the whole, unbroken habanero. Poach at a bare tremble, never boiling, 10–12 minutes until fish flakes and reaches 63 °C at the bone.
Serve
Lift out the habanero. Ladle the sere and a steak of fish into wide bowls and set a mound of hudut beside each, to be broken off and dipped into the soup.
Lift out the habanero. Ladle the sere and a steak of fish into wide bowls and set a mound of hudut beside each, to be broken off and dipped into the soup.
06
Sensory cues of doneness
- Visual: ivory soup flecked with green, the fish opaque white and flaking at the edges; the hudut smooth, pale yellow, glossy.
- Auditory: the sere barely whispering; the pestle's dull thump as the plantain gives.
- Olfactory: coconut, culantro and garlic, with the habanero's fruit floating above them.
Look for ivory soup flecked with green, opaque fish flaking at the edges, and smooth, glossy pale-yellow hudut. Keep the sere barely simmering; expect coconut, culantro, garlic and fruity habanero aromas.

Storing it

The sere keeps 2 days refrigerated; reheat gently to a simmer without boiling so the fish stays whole. Hudut stiffens as it cools and is best eaten within the hour; leftover mash can be warmed with a spoon of the sere stirred in.

Troubleshooting

Lumpy hudut.: The plantain cooled before pounding. Drain and pound at once, while it is too hot to touch comfortably.
The sere split into oil and curds.: It boiled. Coconut milk separates above a simmer; keep it at a tremble.
The soup is fiery.: The habanero broke. Use a firm, unblemished pepper and lift it out with a spoon, not a fork.

Substitutions

One-to-one swaps, with the technique change each one needs.

Ingredient substitutions

Ingredient	Replace with	Culinary impact and technique adjustment
Fish steaks	Thick fillets of grouper, cod or halibut	Poach 8 minutes; no bone to check, so go by 63 °C
Culantro	Cilantro with its stems, double the amount	Milder; add half at the start and half at the end
Habanero	Scotch bonnet, or a red chile left whole	Scotch bonnet is the closest in aroma

Scaling

Half

Two green and one ripe plantain; 500 g fish in 400 ml coconut milk.

Double

Pound the plantain in batches of three pieces. Poach the fish in two pots rather than one crowded one.

What to serve it with

A wedge of lime and a bottle of habanero sauce for those who want fire
Fried plantain chips, for crunch against the mash
Cassava bread, the Garifuna ereba, to mop the bowl

Questions

What is culantro?

A long-leaved herb with a stronger, earthier version of cilantro's flavour, sold as recao or sawtooth coriander in Caribbean and Asian markets.

Can I use only green plantains?

Yes; the hudut will be firmer and less sweet. Pound with a spoon of the hot plantain water to keep it supple.

Is hudut eaten with a spoon?

With the fingers, traditionally: a piece is pinched off the mound and dipped into the sere.