← Nouns Cooking · Caribbean

Ingredients

• 250 g boneless saltfish (salt cod)
• 1 can ackee (540 g can), drained
• 2 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 1 Onion, sliced
• 2 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
• 3 Spring onion, sliced
• ½ Scotch bonnet chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
• 1 mixed red and green pepper, sliced
• 2 Tomato, chopped
• 1 tsp dried thyme (or 3 fresh sprigs)
• ½ tsp Black pepper
• ¼ tsp Allspice (optional)

Method

1. Soak the saltfish in plenty of cold water overnight, changing the water once or twice, to draw out the salt.
2. Drain, cover with fresh water and simmer for 15 min. Drain again, let it cool a little, then flake it into bite-sized pieces, picking out any skin and bones. Taste a flake: if it is still very salty, simmer it again in fresh water.
3. Rinse the drained ackee gently under cold water in a sieve and leave it to drain.
4. Heat the oil in a wide frying pan over medium heat. Cook the onion, garlic, spring onion and scotch bonnet for 3–4 min until soft, then add the peppers, thyme, black pepper and allspice (if using) and cook for 2 min more.
5. Stir in the flaked saltfish and cook for 3–5 min so it soaks up the flavours, then add the tomatoes for 1 minute.
6. Add the ackee and fold it through with a spatula or two forks, very gently, just until hot, about 2–3 min. It is soft and breaks easily, so do not stir hard.

Tips

• Use only tinned ackee or fruit that has opened naturally on the tree: unripe ackee is toxic.
• Serve with fried dumplings, boiled green bananas, roasted breadfruit or hard dough bread.
• Wear gloves to cut or blend scotch bonnets, keep your hands away from your eyes and wash the board, knife and blender well afterwards.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

BBC Good Food CaribbeanPot.com