The St Albans Black History Research Group featured the subject of Saturday Soup in their recent Our Stories exhibition. Here, local resident Velma Richards speaks to BHRG member Cllr Sandy Walkington about the tradition:
When I asked local resident Velma Richards whether she had any mementos of her childhood in St Kitts, she initially said no, they had been disposed of when her grandparents died. But then she said, “Well there is ‘Saturday Morning Knock-You-Out Soup’”, she made this for her children every Saturday and it would be the same for every West Indian family.
Here is her recipe as relayed by her to me:
V: Knock-you-out soup is, you start off with kidney beans, I used to boil them up but now you can buy them in tins, I use tinned soup and you can have neck of lamb in it or stewing steak, actually you can have whatever you want in it as the meat base and then you put ordinary potatoes in and sweet potato if you want it, yam, and tin of oxtail soup for flavour, salt and pepper. And then you just make the dumplings, which is self-raising flour, pinch of salt and a knob of butter mixed with cold water, form into a dumpling shape, drop it in and put the lid on.
SW: And this is something you had every Saturday?
V: Something I do every Saturday.
SW: And did your nan do the same every Saturday?
V: Yeah – every black person in England do it on Saturday.
Passport photo of Velma Richards newly arrived in St Albans from St Kitts