Ackee & Saltfish Recipe

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Ackee and saltfish is Jamaica's national dish. That's not surprising, since the ackee is Jamaica's national fruit. It was imported to Jamaica from Ghana prior to 1778. Ackee is traditionally cooked with salted codfish in a rich tomato-based sauce.

Ackees on the tree

Jamaican Festival Dumplings

Hi! Foodhedonist's  10 Popular Jamaican Recipes is available for purchase on Amazon.com! It will feature this amazing recipe, along with other popular & delectable delights! 

Festivals are also referred to as "festival dumplings" and are essentially the same thing as a fried dumpling or a johnny cake, just with a different shape. There is a dumpling in the frying pan in the picture below  - the round "festival." Festivals are great with  ackee and saltfish, escovietched fish, jerked chicken or jerked pork! Speaking of which, I had some escovieched fish with festival went I went to Gloria's in Port Royal last Christmas. My mother would make festivals every Saturday morning for breakfast, with some ackee and saltfish.

Ackee, saltfish and festival

Brown Stewed Chicken!

Hi! Foodhedonist's 10 Popular Jamaican Recipes is available for purchase on Amazon.com! It will feature this amazing Brown Stewed Chicken recipe, along with other popular & delectable delights! 

I wanted a taste of the Caribbean to celebrate the end of this long drawn out winter! So, brown stewed chicken seemed like a good option. So, here goes!

Stir Fry Shrimp

I love this dish because it is so easy to make. And tasty! Plus, it is healthy as well. Can’t go wrong there. 

So, this is one way to make this yummy dish:

• 1 tablespoon oil

• 3 tablespoons soy sauce

• 2 tablespoons Chinese cooking wine

• 1/4 cup water

• 1 tsp cumin

• 1 tsp black pepper

• 1/4 tsp sesame oil

• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic

• 1 tablespoon finely chopped or grated ginger

• 1 cup diced onion

• 1 stalk escallion

• 1 cup sliced carrot

• 1/2 teaspoon japones chile pepper or one sliced habanero pepper (without seeds)

• 24 large shrimp, shelled and deveined

• Approx. 2 cups of mixed vegetables

• Add corn starch to thicken sauce if desired

Add the oil to the pot. Then add the black pepper, cumin, sesame oil, the onions, scallions, peppers, garlic and ginger to the pot. Stir for one minute. Add the shrimp and carrots and stir for another two minutes. Add the soy sauce and cooking wine. Cook for about 3 minutes. Add the carrots and mixed vegetables. Place heat on low. Add the water at this point. If you desire a thicker sauce, mix the cornstarch with the water in a cup, then add to the pot. Cook for another minute. Serve over white or brown rice.

Jamaican Stewed Peas

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This is a very tasty Jamaican dish that is relatively easy to make. It is traditionally made with salted pig tails, which can be substituted with fresh beef or oxtail (if you can afford it!). This dish can be converted into a vegetarian meal by bypassing the addition of meat altogether.

[ ]  1 lb kidney beans (red peas)

[ ]  2 cups of coconut milk (one can's worth)

[ ]  1-2 lb of meat, cubed (salted pig tails, fresh beef or ox tail. Ignore if you wish to go vegetarian)

[ ]  1 onion

[ ]  1 green bell pepper

[ ]  2 Scotch Bonnet or habanero peppers, whole

[ ]  1 lb carrots

[ ]   2 stalks of scallions

[ ]  3 medium potatoes, diced

[ ]  6 cloves garlic, diced

[ ]  2-3 teaspoons of cracked allspice grains (approx. 25-30 grains)

[ ]  4 sprigs of thyme

[ ]  black pepper to taste

[ ]  Salt to taste
[ ] Approximately 6-10 cups of water

Directions: 

Rinse beans then bring them to a boil (3 minutes) and let them sit for 1 hour for a quick soak. Otherwise, soak them overnight. 

After soaking the beans, bring to a boil in 2-3 cups of water over a low flame. Boil the beans together with the  with the meat, potatoes, Scotch bonnet peppers, allspice and scallions.

NOTE: If using salted pork tails or salted beef, soak the pork tails or beef overnight in cold water, or boil them in 4 quarts of water for at least 45 minutes to remove the excessive salt content. 

Add the onions and coconut milk when beans have softened (the beans are relatively soft, but still uncooked). This is at the point where the beans are approximately half-cooked.

Make "spinners" (rolled flour and water dumplings) and add to the stew. This can be made by combining 1/2 cup of flour and enough water to bind the flour. The "spinners" should not be too wet nor too dry. They should have the consistency of play dough.

Cut up all other vegetables and set aside. Add vegetables when beans are fully cooked. 

Add flour or corn starch to thicken the stew.

Serve with white rice.

This is when I just added the "spinners." :)

 Finished pot of stew peas

DIY Coconut Milk

Coconut milk is a popular ingredient in many dishes, particularly in Caribbean and Asian cuisine.

This is a step by step guide in making your own coconut milk, as opposed to going to the store to purchase the canned or the powdered variety, which contains many additives.

Ingredients

• 1 dried coconut
• 6-8 cups of water

Method:

First, crack the dried coconut and remove the "meat" from the hard outer shell. This task is made easier by using a dinner knife to pry the inner husk away from the dry outer shell. On cracking the coconut itself, to be quite frank, the easiest way to do this is to crack the shell on a sturdy piece of concrete. Don't crack it too hard at first, because you'll want to collect the coconut water inside the shell for a refreshing drink, instead of paying $4.00 or so for the same thing at Whole Foods or Trader Joe's.

After this, use the front of the grater to grate the coconut. Use the side of the greater that is the least rough. Take care not to grate your knuckles!

Then, add the flakes to the blender. Add approximately four cups of water. If your blender is small, you may have to divide this into two batches.

Blend on high for about 8-10 minutes. Pour the mixture from the blender through a fine-meshed strainer into a separate container. Squeeze the mixture to extract the milk. Put the squeezed grated coconut into a separate container. Do not discard yet. After the first round of squeezing and extraction, put the squeezed coconut flakes back into the blender. Add 2 - 4 cups of water to this. Blend on high again for 6-8 minutes. Repeat the process. This yields about 6 cups of coconut milk. This can be frozen to preserve the integrity and taste of the milk. 

This is how my mom makes her own coconut milk. Before the age of blenders, my grandmother would have to use the rough side of the blender, squeeze the mixture with her hands through a  strainer, using warm water.  This process would be repeated at least once more. 

Note: A very smart friend of mine suggested that a juicer could also work. I do not own a juicer, so I made my own coconut milk using the method described above. For those of you who own a juicer, try that and see if it works. I'm sure it would save a load of time :) .