The recipe for awara broth with Europcar French Guiana.

At Easter, Guianese have a tradition of gathering around the awara broth. The celebrations begin on Good Friday and end on Easter Monday. The broth is eaten at Easter and Pentecost, but gourmets keep it in the freezer to enjoy it all year round !

 With your car rental, Europcar French Guiana helps you find the best restaurants preparing awara broth. Ideally, for this trip, prefer an SUV type car, such as the Dacia Duster, or a 4x4 with a large trunk, such as the Nissan NAVARA rented from Europcar French Guiana. If you prefer to do it yourself, here is a small recipe for 8 people.

Ingredients for the awara broth recipe

Awaras :

• 2 kg of awara paste

Salting :

• 600 g of salted pig's tail

• 600 g smoked pork belly (fat)

• 600 g of salted beef

Smoked meats :

• 1 kg of smoked chicken

• 1 kg of smoked fish

Crustaceans :

• 700 g of crab claws / canker crab

• 700 g of shrimps

Vegetables :

• 1 kg of spicy cucumbers

• 1 kg of green beans

• 1 kg of spinach

• 750 g eggplant

• 1 kg of long cucumber

• 1 kg of white or green cabbage

Spices and others :

• Onions

• Garlic

• Thyme leaves

• Parsley sprigs

• Pepper

• Chives

• Salt

• 2 small fresh peppers

Preparation of awara paste :

1. The first step is to pound the awara fruit with a large wooden pestle to turn it into awara paste. The objective is to separate the central seed (black in color) from the flesh and skin of the awara.

2. Knead with your hands. Add warm water to the mixture (on the flesh and skin of awara). Continue to mix with your hands so that the fibers separate from each other.

3. Squeeze your mixture so that the pulp comes off the fibers completely. Set aside the juice, which should be strained through a sieve. The juice will be the base of your broth, it must be cooked for 3 days. Note: this broth during cooking will be reduced and thicken.

Preparation of the broth :

Desalting the cured meats

The day before preparing the broth, desalinate your pig's tail, your salted meat and your smoked bacon in bowls in the fridge overnight. Discard the water from the next day. Rinse your salt meats again and cut them into pieces.

Cut the vegetables

Wash the vegetables: long cucumber, eggplant, green beans, hot cucumber, green/white cabbage, spinach. Your prickly cucumbers should be scraped (with a knife), then cut in half. Cucumbers should be peeled and cut in half to remove the seeds, then diced. Your eggplants should be peeled and diced. For the cabbage, you should also peel, wash and cut into large pieces. Rinse your green beans in cold water and cut them roughly. Rinse your spinach leaves as well.

Prepare the meats and shellfish

Cut your meats: smoked chicken, smoked fish. Clean your shellfish: crab claws, shrimp.

Steps for the broth

• Bring the awara paste and juice to a boil in a large pot.

• Add the pieces of pig tail, salted meat.

• Cook the mixture over medium heat for about 2 hours.

• Stir very regularly.

• Caution: The black oil that will rise to the surface must be removed during cooking.

• After the 2 hours have passed, add the pieces of eggplant, the long cucumbers, the spicy cucumbers and the cabbage. Stir to prevent the ingredients from sticking to the bottom of the pot.

• After 2 hours, add your green beans.

• Still on low heat, add your spinach leaves and the pieces of smoked bacon.

• All your vegetables should cook well for 40 to 50 minutes.

• Towards the end of the cooking, you can add your smoked pieces: smoked chicken, smoked fish.

• Let it simmer for about 20-25 minutes.

• Add your shellfish and spices (except for the chili pepper) while stirring your broth.

• To finish, add your chillies.

• Turn off the heat.

You want to reproduce this incredible recipe but are missing some ingredients? Go to the market in Cayenne ! You will find everything you need.

Discover also the recipe for calalou, a French Guiana dish inspired by an African dish made with salted meat.