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Bahamian guava duff
Guava duff: steamed guava roll with butter sauce
Guava duff is the Bahamas' best-loved dessert, served at Junkanoo season, Sunday dinners and Nassau restaurants alike: a soft dough spread with sweet stewed guava, rolled up, wrapped in cloth or foil and steamed until tender, then sliced and drowned in a warm butter sauce. Traditionally the sauce has rum in it, which is only lightly cooked, so the rum version is for adults only; the vanilla sauce below makes it alcohol-free for everyone. The most common mistake is rolling the duff too tight, which stops it rising; leave room in the wrapping for it to swell. Chef's tip: sieve the guava pulp to remove the hard seeds, and keep the thick paste for the filling.
- Total time
- 135 min
- Difficulty
- hard
- Serves
- 8
Ingredients
For the guava filling
- 2 lb ripe guavas(or 2 x 400 g tins guava halves, drained)
- 3 ½ oz sugar
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
For the dough
- 10 ½ oz plain flourplus extra for rolling
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 ¾ oz sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 3 ⅛ oz cold buttercubed
- 1 egg
- ½ cup milk
For the sauce
- 3 ½ oz buttersoftened
- 4 oz icing sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- ¼ cup evaporated milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp dark rum (optional)adults only; leave out for alcohol-free
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Method
0/8 doneStep 1: Peel and halve 2 lb ripe guavas, scoop out the seeds and sieve them with a little water to save the pulp. Chop the shells.
15 minStep 2: Cook the guava, sieved pulp, 3 ½ oz sugar, 1 tbsp lime juice and ½ tsp ground cinnamon in a pan over a medium heat for 15–20 minutes, stirring, until thick and jammy. Cool.
20 minStep 3: Mix 10 ½ oz plain flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 ¾ oz sugar and ¼ tsp salt. Rub in 3 ⅛ oz cold butter until it looks like breadcrumbs. Beat 1 egg with ½ cup milk and stir in to make a soft dough.
Step 4: Roll the dough on a floured surface into a 25 x 35 cm rectangle about 5 mm thick. Spread with most of the guava, leaving a 2 cm border, and roll up from the long side. Pinch the ends to seal.
10 minStep 5: Wrap loosely in buttered foil, leaving space for it to rise, and twist the ends shut.
Step 6: Steam over a pot of simmering water, covered, for 1½ hours, topping up with boiling water. It's done when firm and springy, and a skewer pushed in comes out without raw dough.
90 minStep 7: For the sauce, beat 3 ½ oz butter and 4 oz icing sugar until fluffy, then beat in 1 egg yolk. Set the bowl over simmering water and whisk in ¼ cup evaporated milk and 1 tsp vanilla extract for 4–5 minutes until warm, smooth and slightly thickened (it should be steaming hot). For the adult version, whisk in 2 tbsp dark rum at the end.
5 minStep 8: Unwrap the duff, slice thickly and serve warm with the sauce spooned over.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 520 kcal
- Protein
- 6 g
- Carbs
- 74 g
- Fat
- 23 g
- Fibre
- 5 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does bahamian guava duff take?
- About 135 minutes in total: 45 minutes to prepare and 90 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 8 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- What can I use instead of sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
- What can I use instead of lime juice?
- Lemon juice, same amount.
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