Ackee and Saltfish breakfast
Wandering around the supermarket you may have come upon the Caribbean section and seen tins of strange looking fruit called Ackee. Once opened you are looking at something that looks so much like scrambled eggs you will wonder if the right thing is in the tin. Combine this with salted cod fish usually available from supermarkets as well makes one of the worlds great breakfast dishes that heralds from Jamaica but is eaten throughout the Caribbean.
The Jamaicans have created a lovely tasty breakfast with ackee and saltfish. Ackee is a fruit from a large tree and is poisonous if eaten unripe. So its best to buy tinned ackee available from most supermarkets that carry international foods. They are expensive around £4.50 a tin but the consistency and taste cannot be duplicated.
Boil about 1/2 lb of saltfish and drain (if its the very dry saltfish you may have to soak it overnight in water). In a frying pan slow cook an onion sliced, a sweet pepper sliced and a hot pepper chopped until they go translucent and soft (about 5-10 minutes slow).
Add a tin of tomatoes and some fresh thyme and maybe a little water. I also add a teaspoon of sun dried tomato paste and a tsp of sugar. Let this mixture cook slowly until reduced and tasty, add black pepper. then add the shredded saltfish and let this cook into the mix for 5 minutes before topping off with the ackee. Once the ackee is added don’t stir much as it breaks up.
To make the dumpling take 8oz plain flour and add a tsp of salt and a tsp of sugar. Then mix with water to a soft consistency and knead for about 2 minutes. Boil; a saucepan of salted water and divide the dough into 8 pieces. Flatten with the hand or a rolling pin into saucer shapes and drop into the boiling water and cook for 15 minutes. Serve with Ooft! hot pepper of course! click button below to buy
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Ackee and Saltfish
Ingredients
Main meal
- 1 tin ackee no substitute
- 500 gm salt fish soaked overnight or boiled and strained (overnight soaking makes it more tender)
- 1 Onion sliced
- 1 Sweet pepper sliced
- 1 tin tomatoes Best you can get
- salt and pepper
- 1 tsp tomato paste
- sprig thyme
Dumplings
- 500 gm plain flour
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
Main meal
- Boil about 1/2 lb of saltfish and drain (if its the very dry saltfish you may have to soak it overnight in water). In a frying pan slow cook an onion sliced, a sweet pepper sliced and a hot pepper chopped until they go translucent and soft (about 5-10 minutes slow).Add a tin of tomatoes and some fresh thyme and maybe a little water. I also add a teaspoon of sun dried tomato paste and a tsp of sugar. Let this mixture cook slowly until reduced and tasty, add black pepper. then add the shredded saltfish and let this cook into the mix for 5 minutes before topping off with the ackee. Once the ackee is added don’t stir much as it breaks up. Ackee looks like scrambled eggs
Dumplings
- Take 8oz plain flour and add a tsp of salt and a tsp of sugar. Then mix with water to a soft consistency and knead for about 2 minutes. Boil; a saucepan of salted water and divide the dough into 8 pieces. Flatten with the hand or a rolling pin into saucer shapes and drop into the boiling water and cook for 15 minutes.