Mummy Dash's Gumbo
email: Geechee Girl
Go
to: Aunt Gertie's Rice Culture
and Red Rice recipe, Click here
I was raised on gumbo; in my house we also called it Okra Soup. Gumbo has been described as the "poor man's meal," or a "Saturday disy," prepared when you emptied your refrigerator at the end of the week. As far as I'm concerned, Gumbo is a luxury. It takes all day to prepare (to do it right) and the fresh Okra required tomake it can difficult to locate and expensive. As with many gourmets, Mummy Dash doesn't use precise measurements. For best results, rely on your own sense of taste.
2 lbs. of fresh short-stimmed Okra
3 medium Hamhocks (or use smoked turkey)
Chicken
Beef
Shrimp
Tomato Sauce
Whole stewed tomatoes
2 medium onions
Fresh cut corn (or baby ears)
1/2 cup (cooked) lima beans
1 sliced green pepper
Sweet red peppers
Dash of sugar
2-3 cloves of garlic(diced)
Celery (instead of salt)
Parsley
Crushed Tomatoes
Cook ham hocks or smoked turkey with water in a very deep pot. Cook on low flame, keep adding water. Cook until the meat is falling off the bone (the bone sweetens the soup).
While the meat is still cooking, cut the tips and heads off the okra. Finely slice the okra: don't dice it! Chop your onions, pepper, garlic, celery and parsley.
Add the chicken and the beef to the pot when the meat is almost off the bone. Add tomatoes, onions, green and red peppers, celery and garlic. Continue to cook slowly.
When it's almost ready, add cut corn and crushed tomatoes. Add okra and shrimp in the last ten minutes of cooking. If the shrimp cook too long they will be tough.
This soup should be eaten with white rice.
From Daughters of the Dust:
The Making of An African American Women's Feature Film
1992, New Press, NY ISBN 1-56584-030-5
Back to Daughters Index | Julie
Dash Filmography | Daughters of the Diaspora
History&Influences | Gumbo
YaYa | Ask Nana | Awards
| Lectures
For more information about Geechee Girls Productions contact Geechee Girl.