Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Keshi Yena
A shell of Edam or Gouda cheese stuffed with spiced chicken, olives, capers, and raisins, then baked until molten.
Curaçaoan · medium · serves 6
prep 30 min · cook 45 min
~607 cal · 49g protein · 18g carbs · 37g fat · 2g fiber · 11g sugars · 19g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Keshi yena, meaning stuffed cheese, is the national dish of Curacao and a delicious artefact of the island's colonial history. It is said to have begun with the hollowed-out rinds of imported Dutch cheeses, which resourceful cooks (often enslaved households) filled rather than waste.
A shell of Edam or Gouda is lined with, or wrapped around, a savoury-sweet filling of spiced, shredded chicken cooked with onion, tomato, olives, capers, and raisins, then baked until the cheese softens and melts around the meat.
The interplay of mild, melting cheese and the salty-sweet, caper-studded filling is the whole point, a flavour that speaks of the Dutch-Caribbean crossroads. Keshi yena is celebration food and a proud symbol of Curacaoan ingenuity and identity.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, egg-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
1.5 lb chicken, cooked and shredded
1 lb Edam or Gouda cheese, thinly sliced (or a whole shell)
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 bell pepper, diced
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/3 cup green olives, sliced
2 tbsp capers, drained
1/3 cup raisins
2 tbsp piccalilli (or sweet pickle relish)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 lime, juiced
2 tbsp
to taste salt
to taste black pepper
Instructions
1
Warm the oil in a wide pan over medium heat and soften the onion and bell pepper for about 5 minutes, until translucent and fragrant.
2
Add the chopped tomatoes (and the jackfruit and lentils if going meat-free) and cook 5 minutes more, until the tomatoes break down into a sauce.
3
Stir in the shredded chicken, olives, capers, raisins, piccalilli, and cumin. Season with salt and pepper and simmer 8-10 minutes until thick, then brighten with the lime juice and let it cool slightly.
4
Oil a heatproof bowl or several ramekins and line them completely with overlapping cheese slices, letting some overhang the rim to fold over later.
5
Pack the warm filling firmly into the cheese-lined mold, then fold the overhanging slices over the top and cover any gaps with more cheese.
6
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30-40 minutes, until the cheese has melted into a golden, bubbling shell around the filling.
✎ Chef’s note
Many Curaçao cooks beat a few eggs into the cooled filling and bake the moulds in a water bath for an hour, which sets the inside into something closer to a savoury custard. The dish began with enslaved cooks stuffing the discarded rinds of their masters' Edam and Gouda.
7
Let it rest 5 minutes to set, then invert onto a plate so the molten cheese dome holds its shape, and serve hot.
Willemstad tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Willemstad. The account of keshi yena's origin is that enslaved people in the Dutch West Indies filled the discarded rinds of Gouda and Edam with meat scraps, and keshi is simply Papiamento for the Dutch kaas. Aruba makes it as much as Curacao does, so it is shared rather than local to this harbour.
🗺️
Curaçao. The origin account for keshi yena is that enslaved people filled the emptied rinds of Gouda or Edam with meat, raisins, olives and capers, and keshi is simply Papiamento for the Dutch kaas. It belongs to Aruba as much as to Curacao, and modern cooks bake it in ramekins as often as in a cheese shell.
🌍
North America. Almost every regional cooking here records who arrived and on what terms. Enslaved West Africans brought rice, okra, black-eyed peas and the techniques behind Lowcountry and Creole food; Chinese railway labour and later Italian, Jewish, Mexican and Vietnamese arrivals built the way the cities eat; and Indigenous foodways sit underneath all of it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Curaçao
Arepa di PampunaSweet Curaçaoan pumpkin pancakes, spiced with cinnamon and anise and fried until lacy-edged, a Dutch-Caribbean morning treat.
KadushiA thick, green cactus soup with salted fish and okra, a truly local Curaçaoan dish born of the arid island.
Bolo PretuA dark, dense fruitcake of rum-soaked fruit and browning, the celebration cake of Curaçao and the Dutch Antilles.
Browse all Curaçao recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven, Mould or tin.
Storing it: Keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and reheats covered in the oven. Most bakes can be assembled a day ahead and baked when needed.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Keshi Yena?
A shell of Edam or Gouda cheese stuffed with spiced chicken, olives, capers, and raisins, then baked until molten.
Where does Keshi Yena come from?
Keshi Yena is a Curaçaoan dish from Willemstad, Curaçao.
Can Keshi Yena be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Keshi Yena recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Keshi Yena safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Keshi Yena take to make?
About 75 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 45 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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