This superb, tastebud-tantalizing dish, a tradition of the the indigenous peoples of Guyana, is interchangeably called pepperpot, tuma pot, and boily boily. In the the Wapishana dialect, it is called damolid. Photo by Tourism Guyana.
First Published: 6th of November, 2021 by Patrick Carpen.
Last updated: January 12, 2024 at 19:35 pm
While people in the capital city (Georgetown, Guyana) and along the coasts refer to pepperpot as meat cooked in casareep, the indigenous peoples in Guyana’s hinterland refer to another dish made with fish as pepperpot. For this reason, disambiguation is needed, so, to avoid confusion, I’ll refer to the pepperpot made with fish (the subject of this article) as tuma pot.
I first had the opportunity to sample tuma pot, shown in the pictures in this article, while visiting the Rupununi, and I must say, as you can imagine, that the food is astonishingly delicious. But what’s more astonishing is how simple it is to make.
Tuma pot is so easy to make that even a child can do it. But it doesn’t stop there. Like the pepperpot made with meat, tuma pot can also last several days with simple reheating and without the need for refrigeration.
To get this recipe, I interviewed an indigenous woman from St. Ignatius village whom, for the purposes of this article, I will refer to as my “guest.”
According to my guest, the indigenous people usually make tuma pot in a clay pot as opposed to steel or aluminum pots, because, according to her, it wouldn’t keep for long in pots other than clay pots. In the clay pots, coupled with the strong preservative properties of casareep, you can preserve the tuma pot for several days – up to two weeks – by reheating it three times per day. “But,” my guest explains, “in other types of pots, such as the traditional steel or aluminum pots, you would have to consume it within one day since it would be likely to spoil overnight.”
By now I’m sure you’re excited to learn the secret to this mouth-watering dish. So without further ado, let’s dive into the “meat of the matter.”
Ingredients
To make this amazing tuma pot dish, you will need the following ingredients:
Please note that the most common fishes used to make tuma pot are peacock bass (lukanani), tambaki, basha, houri, haimara, patwa, yakatu, and butterish, but any fish can be used.
2 lbs of fish of your choice
4 teaspoons of casareep
1 teaspoon of Salt
About 20 hot peppers
2 liters of water
About 10 blades of shallot
Instructions
Wash and clean the fish. Put water on fire to boil in a pot large enough to cover the ingredients 4 times. Add fish and allow to boil for 2 minutes. Add casareep and stir for another 2 minutes. Add salt and stir for two minutes. Wash hot peppers and throw into the pot. Chip shallot blades and stir into the mixture. Allow the mixture to boil for about 30 minutes on high heat. Remove and serve hot with rice, farine, cassava bread, or whatever you choose.
Yes, this nutritious and amazing dish is really that simple to make!
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Nice, I enjoyed reading and felt like eating ?
20 hot peppers?