Green Bananas and Saltfish

By now you may realise that like mackerel, saltfish is really a staple food in my trini diet. We eat saltfish in accras, buljol, fry bake and also dumpling. It is a wonderful addition to the trini menu since it is fast and easy to prepare.

As you would notice I use the word fig for banana interchangeably that's because the Trini creole for banana is fig, so don't get confused over it and the other fig fruit. You would also notice I've added the arbitrary units for quantifying bananas, i.e. hand and grain, to get you accustomed to the Trini and by extension Caribbean terminology.

The saltfish is a type of salted cod that we get from Canada I believe. It also goes by the Portuguese name of bacalhau or Spanish bacalao. Hope you enjoy this one: it's really simple and, above all, tasty. This is real trini homemade food!

GREEN BANANAS AND SALTFISH

1 hand of green fig (bananas)
1 1/2 lb saltfish
3 pimento peppers, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 carrot, grated ( large side of grater)
3 med. tomatoes, chopped
1/2 large sweet pepper
1 pinch salt
1/2 tbsp. oil
1/2 cup water

A hand of fig (Banana)

A grain of fig. Mark the green fig (banana) with a knife as shown.

Place in a pot of water add 1/2 tbsp of oil ...

and a pinch of salt

Boil until the skin changes colour and the bananas are tender.

The peeled, green bananas.

Note: We usually leave the bananas in the water until we're ready to serve.

This keeps the bananas soft.

Boil the saltfish for about twenty minutes. Clean and break into smaller pieces.

Note: Even after boiling the saltfish, it may still be a little salty. To remedy this problem, place it in a bowl of water and squeeze the pieces of saltfish, handfuls at a time, and place in another bowl when finished. That should get the excess salt out. Don't over squeeze though; we need some salt to flavour the rest of ingredients.

In an iron pot, saute the onion and garlic over a medium flame until translucent.

Add the pimento peppers...

Sweet pepper...

Grated carrot...

and tomatoes. Cook for 2 minutes

Add the saltfish and mix thoroughly.

Add about 1/2 cup water and let simmer for 1 minute.

The finished saltfish. Serve over the green fig (bananas).

More recipes to come.



Felix :-)

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Plantain Porridge

I am a huge fan of breakfast, especially when it is cooked. Cynthia's post on steamed plantains reminded me of the first time I had plantains for breakfast that were not fried or steamed. I was a social work student in Jamaica in 1998 and one of my classmates, Terretta, prepared an absolutely unforgettable plantain porridge. Unfortunately, Terretta died in a traffic accident a couple years after we graduated. I have fond memories of her, but especially when I make plantain porridge. You can take a look at the recipe here. I substitute corn flour for flour and add coconut milk instead of half and half. You can spice and sweeten it to your own tastes, or add raisins like I do. I hope you give it a try, or if you already make it let me know what you do differently. Here's to great breakfast.

I'm trying... with breakfast

Those of you who have been reading me for a while, know all too well that I am really not into breakfast. Since last summer I have been making a huge effort to eat breakfast and to do so regularly. To that end, I have been having oatbran and would interchange with cornmeal porridge but it gets soooooo boring after a while. Anyway, I will keep plodding on.

Earlier in the week I woke up hungry and eyed the 2 ripened plantains. I contemplated pan-frying them, they are sugary good when they are very ripe, but, I restrained myself and decided to boil them instead and have them with a pat of herb butter. Hey, it was the butter or frying!

To wash it all down, I made some bay leaf tea.

Ingredients

2 very ripe plantains (skin should be black in many places)
A pat of butter (optional)
Water

Directions

1. Cut off the top and bottom of each plantain leaving the skin intact
2. Place the plantains into a pot and fill with water until it comes half-way up the plantains. Cover the pot, place on high heat and bring to a boil
3. Let boil until the skin on the plantains burst. Drain
4. When cool enough to handle, remove skin, slice diagonally and pat with butter and chow down!

For the Bay Leaf Tea

4 - 5 fresh or dry bay leaves
1 + 1/2 cups water

1. Add the water and bay leaves to a pot, cover and bring to a boil. Let boil for 3 minutes
2. Leave the pot covered and let tea steep for another 3 minutes or longer if you want your tea stronger
3. Sweeten to taste with sugar and a splash of milk (sweetening is optional)

Pepper Roti

I first saw this Pepper Roti on Simply Trini Cooking back in November and bookmarked it to try. I made it today and it did not disappoint. Frankly speaking, I was not sure what to expect - cheese, potatoes, carrots and aromatics as a stuffing for a roti? Hmmmm. See, the recipe here with step by step photographs and please note the following:

• I used 3/4 teaspoon baking powder instead of the 3 teaspoons that the recipe calls for (Trinidadians and Guyanese use different ratios of flour to baking powder for their roti).
• Be sure to squeeze out the excess water from the potatoes
• I used 6 cloves of garlic instead of the 10 and that was just right for my taste
• Use coriander (cilantro) in place of chadon beni (culantro)
• Use hot pepper to suit your taste
• Once the pan or tawah is heated, reduce the heat to low; this roti takes about 20 - 25 mintues to cook so that the filling can cook through
• I have a 10-inch tawah and as a result made two of these instead of just one showed in the recipe; in other words, divide the dough into 4 instead of 2

Serve very warm or at room temperature. Enjoy!