A Taste of Southside - Miss Likkle

This week in A Taste of Southside, we meet Ionie Thompson, otherwise known as Miss Likkle, who it is reputed makes the best conch soup on the island.

The community of Southside, central Kingston, where she has lived for 57 years, is the beneficiary of support by Restaurant Week, and like-minded corporate entities through City Life Ministries.

Having spent all her life living and working on Barry Street in the area, Miss Likkle, a spunky woman with blonde and purple hair, began her career selling delicious boiled corn with dried coconut about 15 years ago.

Six years ago, she added to her Friday and Saturday menu, a spicy, thick conch soup made with pumpkin, carrots and okra, on the corner of Barry Street and South Camp Road.

The mother of seven (one deceased) cooks for a living to provide for her family - something she thoroughly enjoys. Her weekly preparation for the corn pot and soup is an activity she takes pride in, from purchasing the ingredients at the market and her preferred fisherman, to maintaining the quality that her customers have come to expect in every sip. Miss Likkle thrives on interacting with her customers and can be seen at any given time with a grin on her face and a quick compliment.

'I love being around people, and I love living here and I have no regrets,' she told Food. She continued, "Every now and then, violence causes a drop in sales, but I work around that," she ended.

Miss Likkle also doesn't believe in denying those who can't afford the $150 price per cup. At the end of the day, she gives soup to the elderly in the community or the less fortunate. Try her recipe below and enjoy.

Recipe

16-18lb conch

5lbs yellow yam

3lbs white yam

1¹/²lbs dasheen

2lbs Irish potatoes

10lbs pumpkin

2lbs carrots

5-6 doz okras

3 heads of garlic

200g of salt

³/⁴lb scallion

2 bags of pimento seeds ( about ³/⁴ cup)

2 bundles thyme

¹/² doz ripe, green and red Scotch bonnet peppers

8-9lb of (sprat, macka back and whiting) fish

Vinegar

Procedure

(1) Clean the conch with vinegar and cut conch in small pieces.

(2) Wash and strain conch multiple times with vinegar and water and place in a large pot.

(3) In another pot, put on fish and water to boil for 20 minutes to make fish tea/broth. Once done, strain fish tea/broth in conch pot with conch.

(4) Add more water to main pot by mixing water with remaining strained fish.

(5) Peel and prepare pumpkin and add to pot to boil. Stir pot with contents for about 10 minutes.

(6) Cut up the remaining ground provisions and add to boiling pot. Allow to cook for 15 minutes.

(7) Take out cooked ground provisions and puree to give the soup body. Place pureed provisions back in pot.

(8) Allow to cook for 10 minutes while stirring periodically. Check conch periodically until soft.

(9) Cut up remaining produce - carrots, okra, and seasonings. Once conch is soft, add remaining ingredients.

(10) Add salt to preferred taste, then cover pot for another 10-15 minutes.