Caribbean Staples Made “Healthy as a Motha”

Take, for example, the kaleidoscopic riot of flavors in the Buss Up Shut Roti Plate at HAAM, a Caribbean restaurant that opened in Williamsburg last fall. A paratha roti, pliant and chewy—the so-called busted-up shirt that gives this iconic Trinidadian dish its name—is piled on a large dish, surrounded by a big, vivid-orange swipe of earthy-sweet mashed pumpkin; a scoop of tender stewed greens; and a dollop of curry mango that’s sharp and deep and hot enough to make every neuron in your brain fire at once. HAAM, it turns out, is an acronym for “healthy as a motha,” but there’s nothing dutiful or diminished about the dish. It elicits pure sensory happiness.