Get To Know Bites Of Nassau Food Tour Guide SeDale on November 22, 2015
At Tru Bahamian Food Tours, we think that our Bites of Nassau Food Tasting & Cultural Walking Tours are special in large part because of the incredibly interesting personalities charged with leading our guests each day. In another instalment of our Get To Know blog series, we’re featuring one of our awesome tour guides. If you haven’t been introduced already…meet SeDale!
SeDale: In my family, Sunday dinners are a big deal. It’s a meal everyone in the family looks forward to because my mother is such an amazing cook! Some of her best dishes are: steamed chicken, fried snapper, minced crawfish, and (my favourite by far) baked Bahamian macaroni n’ cheese.
SeDale: I like that Bahamian meals consistently rely on simple ingredients that we grow in our own backyards like tomatoes, onions, green peppers, limes, and hot peppers. One of the things I enjoy most about mealtimes in The Bahamas is the people and characters that gather together to eat. No topic is off limits and you’re guaranteed to laugh… a lot!
SeDale: I wanted to share the best of The Bahamas with visitors from around the world. I think of myself as a people-person and I like hearing our guests’ travel stories and family backgrounds. Visitors that arrive here have a lot of questions and I hope to be able to help make their stay easier, more enjoyable and of course, more delicious.
SeDale: I honestly love seeing the looks on our guests’ faces when they taste traditional Bahamian food for the first time. I also like sharing the history of downtown Nassau and introducing the diversity of our culture and cuisine to people who least expect it.
SeDale: When I’m not leading a tour you can find me sharpening my skills as a woodworker. I’m a very hands-on guy and was introduced to a well-known Bahamian carpenter who has been showing me how it’s done over the past year. My other hobbies include baseball (I’ve played since I was a little boy and played in college in the US too) and boating and fishing with family.
SeDale: Without question, I would head to East Africa! I’ve always wanted to explore African countries- Ethiopia in particular because I have a friend who lives there and has told me that they do not use silverware while eating. I love the idea of digging in! Who needs utensils?
SeDale: For me, they’re on par. I’ll be honest- when I’m cooking, there is always someone around to “supervise” but I take instructions well and am learning more and more each time. One of my favourite things to prepare myself is minced crawfish, which involves frying down herbs and vegetables then adding crawfish into the pan for simmering. With this meal, I serve rice and corn as a side dish to round it out.
SeDale’s Bahamian Minced Crawfish Recipe
Ingredients:
2 Crawfish Tails
1 Onion
1 Green Pepper
1 Tomato
1 Goat Pepper
1 Clove Garlic
1 TBSP Tomato Paste
1 Tsp Lemon Juice
½ Tsp Thyme
¼ Cup Cooking Oil
Pinch Salt & Pepper
Method of Preparation:
Place cleaned Bahamian crawfish tails into a pot with enough water to cover the crawfish tails. Place lid on the pot and allow to cook over medium heat for 30 minutes. Remove all meat from the shell and then mince with a fork, pulling apart the meat as you would pulled pork.
In a large frying pan over medium heat add cooking oil, onions, green pepper, garlic and thyme; sauté until tender and add crawfish it is slightly browned. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, salt and hot pepper cook for 5 minutes stirring continuously. Add a dash of water, reduce heat and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.