Vegan Choko Gratin (Guadeloupe)

Any excuse to eat chokoes! I love it when my world food challenge countries lead me to chokoes, I'll always choose those recipes :) This dish is gorgeous, it's a creamy white sauce gratin topped with crunchy breadcrumbs. But instead of tender potatoes or cauliflower under that white sauce, it's juicy, melt-in-your-mouth chokoes. The freshness of the buttery chokoes matched with the comforting creamy sauce makes this perfect for all seasons, great baked comfort food for winter, but not heavy so perfect for spring or summer.

I recommend wearing gloves when peeling and chopping the chokoes, as their juices can really irritate your skin!

Ingredients
6-8 large chokoes, peeled, cored & sliced
1/2 cup nuttelex (or other vegan margarine/butter)
2 onions, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 cup plain flour
1/2 cup vegetable stock (hot)
2 1/2 cups unsweetened oat milk (or rice/almond milk)
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup breadcrumbs

To Make
1. Layer the sliced chokoes in the bottom of a large rectangular baking dish. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Melt the margarine in a medium saucepan and then add the onions and garlic. Cook until softened and translucent.
3. Add the flour and stir vigorously to make a roux. Gradually add the hot vegetable stock, stirring vigorously as you do to keep the roux smooth. Once all the vegetable stock has been added start adding the oat milk, also gradually and while stirring.
4. Once all the milk has been added, stir the roux over a low heat and add the lemon juice and the nutritional yeast. Season to taste with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Pour the white sauce over the top of the sliced chokoes and smooth over evenly. Top with bread crumbs and bake for 40 minutes.

This month I'm featuring lots of recipes from Guadeloupe!

Check out my other Guadeloupean recipe posts:

Mango Chilli Appetiser

Salsa Piquant

Creole Salsa 

Chayote con Maiz (Costa Rican Chokos and Corn)

When I started researching Costa Rican food to make this month, I quickly realised that there are a LOT of essential Costa Rican ingredients that I just can't get my hands on. I started to compile a list of the ingredients that I kept finding in recipes again and again and again. I wish I could have bought and tried all these, but I guess I'll just have to wait until I can finally travel to Costa Rica.

Things I Can't Get Near Me: 
Plantains (sob!)

Pejibayes

Yuca

Achiote (paste)

Ayotito

Arracahe

Chicasquil

:(

I also kept finding recipes online which called for chayote. Not knowing what a chayote was, I put it down on the list and discarded all the recipes. Then, in a stroke of genius which rarely occurs - I thought I might just google chayote to see what it was. To my surprise I discovered that I was actually familiar with it - I just know it by a different name: Choko. You know, these fellas:

I've eaten choko since I was a kid and I've always really liked it, although I know that not everybody is as keen! Infact I've heard rumours that McDonald's Apple Pies used to (or still do?) contain quite a lot of choko because the flesh holds it's shape well, has a mild taste and looks pretty similar to apple when cooked. I don't know if that is true, but it sounds pretty plausible to me.

It turns out that chokoes go by many different names. You might also have heard them called Christophenes. In fact according to wikipedia (get your grain of salt ready) it's also known as:

• cho-cho
• mirliton/merleton
• vegetable pear
• pear squash
• chuchu (in Brazil)
• Centinarja (in Malta)
• chouchoute
• pipinola

You certainly learn something every day! So, once I realised that chayotes were actually chokoes and that I could get my hands on them, chayote was back on the menu! I started searching around for a good choko recipe from Costa Rica and ended up being emailed one by an awesome Costa Rican named Kimberly who out of the goodness of her heart took the time to type it all up for a complete stranger. Sometimes the internet reminds you that the world is a wonderful place (even though a lot of the time it reminds you that the world is full of horrible and cruel people).

I changed the recipe very little from the one she sent me. At first glance it looks too simple to be interesting but all I can tell you is that this dish is special. It's so creamy and flavourful that it's impossibly just to eat a little bit, I find myself going back for more and more. Next time I buy chokoes I am definitely going to be making this again with them! Serve with corn tortillas (like everything else in Costa Rica) and chopped coriander to garnish.

Ingredients
3 med-large chokoes (chayotes)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
Salt and cracked black pepper
1 tin sweet corn kernels, drained (you can also use 1 cup frozen corn, or 1 cob fresh corn)
1/4 cup rice milk
1 tbsp sugar

To Make
1. Peel the choko and chop into cubes (NOTE: it is a good idea to use gloves when peeling and cutting choko, as it's juices irritate the skin and leave you with a very unpleasant dry and tight feeling on your hands).
2. Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the onions and garlic, sauté until soft.
3. Add the chopped choko, cumin, corainder, salt and pepper and cover with a lid. Cook over a medium heat for about 10 minutes.
4. Add the corn, rice milk and sugar. Cook, uncovered, until the choko is cooked (it should be tender to pierce but still firm enough to hold it's shape) and the milk has cooked down by about half. Stir well and serve.

Serves 4 with tortillas (and any other accompaniments).

This month I'm featuring lots of delicious food from Costa Rica.

Check out my other recipe posts:

Resbaladera (Rice & Barley Milk Drink)

Orange & Passion Fruit Pudding (Atol de Naranja)

Paprika de Papa (Paprika Fried Potatoes)

Home Made Salsa Lizano 

Arroz con Leche (Rice Pudding)

Gallo Pinto (Beans and Rice)

Hearts of Palm Salad with Lime Coriander Dressing

Mushroom Ceviche