Hi Everyone it has been a long time since I last posted on my food blog :( ! But guess what I'm back with another exciting food adventure!
So last week (read: Saturday) I woke up at about 8 in the morning, and decided to visit Nickerie. Nickerie is a district in Suriname that lies West of Suriname next to the Corantijn river and borders with Guyana. Nickerie is known as a rice district, because more then 80% of rice is cultivated there for the locals and export. From Paramaribo it's a trip of 3,5 to 4 hours that is if you drive according to the speed signs on the roads. Nickerie is a popular destination for people of Paramaribo, it's border districts and tourists. Nickerie is also known for it's fish the Kwie Kwie, which is sold along the way by rice farmers or fishermen. They wink with their hand palms to let you know if they have the kwie kwie fish to sell. The people of Nickerie are known as hospitable. The Nickerie Zeedijk is also a place of interest, because it lies on the border and that's were the river flows into the Atlantic ocean. It's a spectacular view if you ask me especially sunset (see picture above).
So back to my trip...
We woke up did the necessary things before you leave your house for a long trip to the west of Suriname.
Around 10:30 am our trip started, I only had my morning coffee for the day and didn't have anything for breakfast (which was a unusual thing for me, because the first thing I do in the morning is search for food lol). The road to Nickerie goes throughout 2 districts Saramacca and Coronie. The roads you drive on aren't really the best especially when you drive a small car like mine, but nevertheless it's worth the trip. We arrived around 2:30 pm local time in Nieuw Nickerie (main place) and drove to our apartment which I had confirmed through whats app earlier in the morning. After that we drove to my family whom had a prayer service earlier in the morning, because of the demise of my cousin (rip). When Hindus have prayer services for the death they usually cook a lot of dishes. My experience was that we had to eat left overs, because we reached our destination far beyond the expected time. The prayer service is held around 7 am and has to end before 12 pm. I asked my relatives at what time the prayers ended and it was: 10:30 am. This means that food is served as soon as the prayers ceremony is over and if you arrive like me at about 3:00 pm on the spot...you're late! We sat for a minute or ten and then decided to eat.
In Nickerie it's normal that people eat out of the Tulip leaf on certain occasions; for us as city people it's something special so we always ask for the leafs to eat in when were in Nickerie.
On the picture on the left you see food in a leaf (Tulip). It's typical Hindustani/Indian food (see my post about Nauta food in Suriname). On the leaf we have: dhaal (mixture of yellow peas , mung boon), bitter melon in tomato's and black curry, fried cassava, potatoes with garter in curry and a tjutney made out of mango's.
The food was delicious! It's definitely an experience to eat out of a leaf.
For dinner we were advised to eat at a local popular restaurant named 'L Esperance. At about 8:30 pm we arrived there and sat comfortably on a terrace. A friendly waiter came to us and asked us what we would like to order. We ordered for drinks and of course our dinner! This was nasie (fried rice) prepared by an Indonesian cook. On the picture left you can see two kinds of fried rice. One is white fried rice and the other is a traditional brown fried rice. The brown fried rice consists of , baked banana, sliced garters, chicken in soy sauce, kroepoek (Indonesian snack), tomato, cucumber and sliced/ baked potatoes. The white fried rice consists of chicken, paprika, eggs, peas, kroepoek, tomato, cucumber and sliced baked potatoes. For the price we paid for a plate it was definitely a bargain. deal, because in Paramaribo you pay twice the price for this amount of food. We enjoyed our dinner and left for home after that. Ow yeah, I forgot one thing: W waited for almost an hour before we got our food, but in the end it was all worth it!
On Sunday morning we went to the local market were locals sell their food in stalls in front of the market. This has become tradition in Nickerie that people sell their food and drinks on Sunday mornings in stalls. We walked along the stalls and looked into the display cabinet as to what they had to offer. There were of course a variety of dishes and snacks. Most of the people selling are either Javanese or Indians. On the picture below you can see that I bought a Javanese bamie (noodles) with chicken, baked banana, sliced cucumber in vinegar, tomato, egg strings and sliced garters. It was delicious, it had that old vintage taste that has become very rare these days.
So that was my adventure for this time in Nickerie and stay tuned for my next adventure!
Eet smakelijk (bon apetit)
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