Recipes of Surinam: Pom

Translations kindly provided by:
Dr. Brian Kimball DC
Owner/President
Pangaea Exotics Tours

So delicious can pom be!

My wife Gusta bakes me the most delicious pom i have ever eaten. I want every one to enjoy this...so tonight bake this delicious pom!

What do you have to cook now? For the chicken that goes into it see the receipe for rice chicken. For the rest of the pom: Pom root naturally. (1 kg.) salt 1 tomato celery (the most delicious is the rough Surinamese kind) cooking oil and a can of pickles.

A warning before using pom root! For those who do not know this product yet: you can not eat it raw! In Suriname you have to peel the root and grate it your self. I buy it already grated and frozen.

Make the rice chicken as in the recipe on the rice chicken page. Cut the chicken in smaller pieces than you would normally do. Do not use chicken filets; in real pom the chicken bones need to be present. A little bit protruding with the ketjap for the sauce will not do any harm! The sauce goes into the pom root just like the pickles and the celery and salt. There is a little bit of salt necessary to bring it all to taste; for a kilo of pom root a leveled tablespoon will be necessary. Grease a baking dish or caserole dish with oil and put 1/3 of the pom root mixture in it. On top of that put thin layer of tomatoes and pieces of chicken. Add the rest of the pom root; hide the chicken well underneath that. That goes in the oven. put the oven on medium heat and let the pom bake for approximately 2 hours. Not well done pom is inedible! If the temperature is right after all this time the dish should be light brown in color. Otherwise play with the temperature knob to get the best results.

And now enjoy! Pom is delicious with rice or also put between (the Surinamese way) bread.

Translator's note: It does not sound right but it is what is written.

Pom is a root like cassava but from a different family. It is a yellow root plant has big green leaves about 2-3' long. Short plant grows more like a bush.

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