Caribbean Cornmeal Pone
Pone is the baked cornmeal (or cassava) cake of the Caribbean, dense and chewy, spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg and traditionally rich with grated coconut and a heavy hand of sugar. This version keeps the cornmeal, the pumpkin, and the warm spices but leaves the coconut out and sweetens entirely with blended dates and raisins, so the sweetness comes with its fiber attached. Coarse stone-ground cornmeal keeps the grain intact, and grated butternut and sweet potato hold the crumb moist as it bakes. Ground flaxseed does the binding an egg would. It is a dessert you cut into squares and eat out of hand, and it travels well to a potluck.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups Polenta / coarse cornmeal
- 3/4 lb Butternut squash, peeled and grated
- 1/2 lb Sweet potatoes, peeled and grated
- 8 wholes Medjool dates, pitted
- 1/2 cup Raisins
- 2 cups Unsweetened soy milk
- 3 tbsp Ground flaxseed
- 1 1/2 tsp cassia cinnamon, ground
- 1/2 tsp Nutmeg, freshly grated
- 1/2 tsp Allspice, ground
Method
- Blend the dates with 1 cup (240 ml) of the soy milk until completely smooth. This date paste is the only sweetener; blending it into the milk spreads that sweetness evenly through the batter the way dissolved sugar would, so no single bite is bland and none is a lump of fruit.
- Stir the ground flaxseed into the remaining 1 cup (240 ml) soy milk and let it sit 5 minutes until it thickens to a gel. Ground flax plus liquid is the binder that holds the pone together in place of the eggs a traditional recipe leans on.
- In a large bowl combine the cornmeal, grated squash and sweet potato, raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. Pour in both the date milk and the flax gel and mix well. The batter should be thick and spoonable but not stiff; add a splash more soy milk if the cornmeal drinks it all up.
- Scrape into a parchment-lined 8-inch (20 cm) square pan and smooth the top. Bake at 350 F (175 C) until the top is set, deep golden, and a knife comes out clean, about 50 to 55 minutes. Grated squash and sweet potato keep the inside moist while the cornmeal sets into the chewy, sliceable body a pone is prized for.
- Let it cool completely in the pan before cutting, at least 30 minutes. Warm pone crumbles; cooled, it firms up so you can lift clean squares and eat them with your fingers. It keeps three days covered and is better on day two.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 180 calories, 4 g protein, 4 g fiber, 30 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
