Tasty Ackee and Saltfish
Ackee and saltfish is a hearty dish full of fish and vegetables that is eaten for breakfast. Like many traditional Caribbean foods, it is usually eaten with breadfruit or dumplings. It is more prevalent in the Caribbean Islands than in West African countries where it originated. Like many Caribbean dishes, you can find this in Jamaica; it's the national dish. Also, you can find it Haiti, Cuba, Barbados, as well as other islands.
Ackee is a reddish yellowish fruit that is originally from West African countries like Cameroon, Gabon, and Ghana to name a few. Not all of the Ackee fruit is edible. The seeds in particular are poisonous. Only the inner yellow fleshy part of the fruit is edible.
My husband tried Jamaican ackee at a coworkers house. He said it was good and spicy. This dish is a little difficult to find in a Caymanian restaurant. However, the ingredients are all available in the grocery store. So, with the large number of Jamaicans here on the island, I imagine it is cooked and eaten often.
Ackee and Saltfish
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb of saltfish (salted codfish)
- 12 fresh ackees or 1 can of ackees
- 1/2 teaspoon of thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 3 tablespoons of butter
- 1/2 scotch bonnet pepper
- 1 bell pepper
- 1 tomato
- 1 onion
Preparation
- If you use fresh ackee, extract the inner yellow flesh.
- Boil the ackee in water and then throw out the water.
- Set the saltfish in water overnight to remove the salt.
- Boil the saltfish for 20 minutes to remove more of the salt.
- Remove all of the bones and skin, then cut the saltfish into smaller pieces.
- Once the ackee and the saltfish are ready, you can chop them up.
- Saute the saltfish with butter and thyme.
- Add finely chopped scotch bonnet, chopped onion, chopped bell pepper, and chopped tomato to the mixture.
- Add the ackees, but do not stir or they will fall apart.
- Add black pepper to taste
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