When we visited Kaieteur Falls in Guyana, we had a delicious, local box lunch from our tour guide. One of the two desserts was pone, which reminded me a lot of mochi. It’s got a chewy texture from grated cassava, and the spices and coconut add extra flavour. Amazingly, it is easy to make at home. And you can make it vegan by replacing the butter wit margarine or oil. I found many recipes online and adapted it to what I could find in the UK. However, the one thing I would do differently is not to put the coconut strips in, and maybe use grated coconut. Unfortunately, the frozen, grated coconut I found had pieces that were too large and it made it difficult to cut and serve the pone.
Ingredients
500g cassava root, peeled and grated (or grated and frozen)
30g grated coconut (fresh or frozen)
110g brown sugar
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
Pinch of ground ginger
Large pinch of black pepper
Pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
300 ml coconut milk
Instructions
Preheat oven to 175C (350F).
First, peel and grate cassava root and set aside in a large mixing bowl. Next, add the grated coconut. For cassava and coconut, if you are using frozen versions then defrost first. Then add brown sugar, butter, spices and vanilla. Mix well.
Then stir the coconut milk into the bowl to form a uniform batter.
Finally, pour the mixture into a greased or silicone 9-inch square baking tin.
Bake for around 50 minutes until the mixture is mostly firm. Then remove from the oven and cool. When cool, cut the pone into pieces to serve at room temperature.
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