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Avocado Salsa Salad- delight from the Caribbean

Avocado Salsa Salad with salted cod (bacalao)

This dish known in the Caribbean as Buljol is one of the best snacks, either for breakfast or in an evening as a late supper. Its light and healthy and is show above with a Caribbean speciality sometimes called bakes sometimes called floats. In Mexico it might be called avocado salsa salad without tomatillos as they usually serve it with these hard to find green fruits. We show it with bakes but it can be served with crackers, toast or even fresh baguette. This is a world class dish, worthy of a Michelin star restaurant.

Ingredients

Buy our scotch bonnet sauce to make this dish come alive with flavour CLICK HERE

Avocado Salsa Salad

A delicious avocado salad with healthy salt cod protein makes a complete meal

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 1 hr

Cook Time 20 mins

Course Breakfast, Main Course, Salad

Cuisine Caribbean

Servings 4

Calories 250 kcal

Ingredients

1 large Avocado cubed
4 medium Tomato skinned and chopped
1 medium Onion chopped
2 cloves garlic fine chopped
2-3 tbsp. good Extra Virgin Olive oil
1 hot pepper fine chopped
1 pack or 1/2-3/4lb soaked, cooked boned codfish
1 lime or lemon
salt and black pepper plus 1 tsp scotch bonnet sauce

Bakes

2 cups plain flour
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbs baking powder

Instructions

For Salsa
Codfish varies a lot, try to get boneless because its so much easier although slightly less flavor. Some Tesco’s have it on the International counter. It may be enough to soak in boiling water for 15 minutes or you may need to boil, depends on how much salt. Drain and shred to make avocado salsa salad.
Skin and finely chop 3-4 tomatoes and mix with finely chopped onion, garlic and hot peppers, and add to salt fish. Add avocado cut into cubes, and salt and pepper (may not need salt if fish still salty) , then mix with squeezed lemon or lime and virgin olive oil and Ooft! Scotch Bonnet hot sauce. Let it sit for a while for the flavours to mix and then serve as is on fried bakes, toast, fresh rolls or even crackers.
Bakes
Fried bakes are made with flour, salt, baking powder and water much like a roti. Let the softish mixture sit for 1 hour and then tear off egg sized pieces and flatten and deep fry in about 1/2 inch or more hot oil. Spoon hot oil over the flattened bake to make it puff up. Fry until lightly brown and put in a tissue lined bowl to drain.

Keyword avocado salsa salad, bacalau, buljol, salt cod

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New Seafood Rice Biryani – Kerala style

Biryani – Kerala Style

Keralan cooking uses a mild sophisticated mix of spices and is ideal for a western palate LINK TO KERALA PAGE

This rich almost sumptuous seafood rice biryani is a speciality of the region. The addition of saffron at the assembly stage helps create the multi colour you often see in Indian restaurants who often use colouring to achieve this.

Goes really well with our aged hot sauce click button below to order

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Seafood Rice Biryani

In Kerala they are so close to the ocean that the seafood is the freshest. This is my take extracting from several sauces starting with Rick Stein but adding from local blog sources in Kerala. Its a lovely meal and not that hard to produce

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Prep Time 1 hr

Cook Time 1 hr

Course Main Course

Cuisine Indian

Servings 6

Calories 500 kcal

Ingredients

Marinating

8-12 large prawns 18-25 size
500 gm white fish fillets firm fish, hake is good and inexpensive
2 squid sliced
1 tsp coriander, chilli flakes or powder, hot sauce, salt, turmeric
2 tsp ginger garlic 1 inch ginger and 2 garlic cloves smashed up
1 handful coriander chopped rough

Rice

2 cups basmati rice
4 cloves
5 cardamom pods bruised
2 inch cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
1 onion finely sliced
1 tsp salt

Cooking Seafood

2 onions chopped
2 tomato chopped
2 chilli's sliced
1 inch ginger sliced
5 cloves garlic chopped
1 tsp Coriander powder
1 tbsp Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp Garam masala
1 tsp chilli flakes
1/4 cup chopped cilantro (coriander)

When making biryani

Fried Onions – Optional but nice, fry finely sliced onions in deep oil until crispy and light brown drain
SAFFRON: ½ cup warm milk and either a tsp saffron or turmeric (use at end)
Fried cashews – Optional lightly fry whole cashews and add when required

Instructions

cooking rice

Cooking the Rice:1. Soak the rice for 30mins and drain keep it aside.
2. Heat 1-2 tbsp ghee/oil in the pan ,add sliced onions ,all spices and sauté for few mins until fragrant; now add the drained rice and sauté till rice combines well with all spices.
3. Boil 4 cups or so water, add to rice, and cook the rice for 8 mins (al dente).
4. When rice done drain the excess water immediately.

cooking seafood

1. marinate the seafood with above mentioned marinate ingredients; and keep it in the refrigerator for an hour or more
2. Make a paste of garlic, ginger and green chillies and set aside.
3. Heat a oil in the frying pan till smoking and shallow fry the seafood (you want it hot so the prawns and fish get a slight char) this should be very quick you don’t want the seafood to cook through just a char and out onto a plate
;4. In same frying pan, add thinly sliced onion to left over oil and saute until it is translucent,add the ginger,garlic,green chilli paste, and tomato chopped,now add chopped corainder, and combine well.
5. Add briyani masala,turmeric powder,red chilli powder,coriander powder,salt to taste and cook slow for 10 minutes
6. Add fried seafood and juices and mix well; if the gravy dry then add 3tbs of water.
7. Cover & Cook on low flame for about 3 mins and adjust salt.

Final assembly

1. Preheat oven to 180 degree C
.2. In a oven proof dish, grease your cooking dish and spread 1/3 of the rice, then half the seafood and then more rice and the rest of seafood then top with rice
3. Sprinkle first two layers with, fried cashews, raisins, fried onions and chopped coriander leaves, after finishing sprinkle left over ghee and few drops of saffron milk over the rice as the final layering.
4. Close with tight fitting heat resistant lid or close it with aluminium foil, crimp along the side and and bake it for 20 mins
.5. When it is done, remove and keep the dish covered until serving.

Keyword biryani, kerala seafood, seafood biryani, seafood rice

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Curry Crab Recipe with dumplings so tasty

Curry Crab recipe

Since arriving in the Uk we have always made crab curry and dumplings (a Tobago speciality) with brown crabs. But now we have discovered velvet swimmer crabs a good alternative if you can get them. They are inexpensive and eco friendly (apparently they breed rapidly and the ocean is full of them). But for us the big thing is how sweet they are and how easy to get the flesh out by biting through the legs and claws. Brown crabs have hard shells so you need to crack the claws with a pliers or rolling pin before cooking otherwise your guests cannot get all the goodness inside.

8 live spinner crabs made enough for 4 people and at £5 for 8 that’s an economical meal. If you use Brown then you will need one each about £10. Curry crab and dumplings is one of the worlds great dishes. It will rarely be served in restaurants as eating it is so messy but half the fun.

In the USA lobster country Massachusetts and North the restaurants are prepared the staff give you huge bibs and bowls of water to wash your fingers, but the UK just isn’t there at all.

Its important to use uncooked crabs. We get all our shellfish from The Berwick Shellfish company LINK TO WEBSITE

As you can see in the photo these crabs make a lovely meal which goes so well with the bland wholesomeness of simple dumplings made with plain four salt sugar and water.

Caribbean Curry Crab Recipe (for 4)

This meal is a must if you visit Tobago. In Trinidad they use land crabs, sold at the roadside by small boys on long poles about 6-8 to a bunch. In the UK we use medium brown crabs or swimmer crabs. It is essential they are live crabs, hard to get in the UK unless you know a fisherman.

This goes well with our scotch bonnet hot sauce. Buy that by clicking below

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Curry Crab with dumplings

Tackle this dish once and you will have it again and again. Its that first time "oh what to do with a live crab" that stands in the way of an awesome tasty dish

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Prep Time 1 d

Cook Time 1 hr

Course Main Course

Cuisine Caribbean

Servings 4

Calories 250 kcal

Ingredients

Season

4 medium live crabs Its not nice to kill crab, we put ours in freezer for about an 30/60 minutes to dull their senses. Take off the top shell with a knife and split the crabs in two and clean everything soft away until your left with two halves. Crack the large claws (called gundies in Trinidad) with a rock or pestle.
3 cloves garlic chopped
salt and black pepper and teaspoon of curry powder
1 bunch coriander chopped
1 tomato chopped
1 inch fresh ginger chopped
1 Onion chopped
1 sprig Thyme
1 hot pepper chopped

cook

1 tbsp curry powder mixed to a paste with water
1 cup lager beer
3/4 cups half and half coconut milk and water
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt

Dumplings

1 lb flour plain
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
water to mix to a dough

Instructions

Crab Curry

After a time for the seasoning to get into the meat (at least 2 hours but can be overnight).
Heat oil in a pot and add 1 tbsp. curry powder mixed to a paste with water. Let cook down a little to gain fragrance and then add the crab and stir gently. After about 5 minutes add a cup of Heineken or similar lager, water and coconut milk. About maybe a pint or so all together, enough to cover. Add 1-2 teaspoon of sugar. Turn down heat and simmer for twenty minutes, uncover and reduce at high heat until gravy thickens, also add a bit more coriander chopped.

Dumplings

While the crab is cooking take a pound of plain flour and add 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp sugar, mix with water to form a firm dough. roll to a cylinder about 1-5 inches and slice into pieces to make about 10-12 dumplings. Add to boiling salted water and boil for 20 minutes then drain.

Notes

Put dumplings on plate and spoon crab over. This is a messy but satisfying meal where the real taste is in the dumplings and gravy and any crab you can suck is a bonus really.

Keyword caribbean crab, curry crab, curry crab and dumpling

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Bermuda Breakfast – Salt Cod Recipe

Bermuda Breakfast or Brunch

– salt cod recipe

Salted Cod is a very old Scottish tradition dating back to the Vikings. There is a great company in the Shetland Isles making quality salted fish, and I urge you to try and use this truly great food. Before fridges this kind of food was a staple in Scotland and it deserves to return to the table. Shetland Salt Cod link. The Shetland company makes hard dried cod, but there are also other sources of salt cod easier to use online at Amazon. I actually prefer a softer fish that is popular in Spain and Portugal. The hard fish needs 24 hours soaking. The photo below is of one we use often

Go to France or Spain and everywhere you look is salted fish. But over here it is very difficult to find and often poor quality. The Shetland Salt Fish is top of the line and worth a try. Many people want to reduce their red meat intake but struggle to find alternatives. This keeps well in the fridge (we keep salt fish for up to 3 months), is quick and easy to prepare and tastes truly amazing. Our two sons love this healthy meal.

This salt cod recipe comes from Bermuda and is used by most families as a brunch or late breakfast on Sundays. I used to go to my old friend Eugene Harvey house where his mother cooked for about 20 children and aunts and uncles and cousins. Their house overlooked the Bermuda Sound, clear blue waters. This dish sounds odd, but the combination of flavours is stunning. When you eat this you are eating a bit of Bermuda!

If you are going to Bermuda this site tells you where to eat this and also gives an alternative salt cod recipe – Bermuda Breakfast

Available in most supermarkets and online stores

Bermuda Breakfast – Salt Cod Recipe

In Bermuda they have created a unique delicious and healthy meal usually served Sunday as a brunch

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Prep Time 1 hr

Cook Time 30 mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Caribbean

Servings 4

Calories 750 kcal

Ingredients

250 gm Salted Codfish (soaked overnight in water 250 gm serves about 4)
1 lb large new potatoes or waxy potatoes
4 eggs boiled
4 banana
2 Avocado
1 large onion sliced
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tin plum tomatoes (try to get good quality) chopped
1 large sweet pepper sliced
1 tsp sugar
salt and black pepper

Instructions

Put the potatoes, codfish and eggs in a big pot and boil until potato done (about 15 minutes)Drain and separate
Meanwhile take a frying pan and cook the onions, peppers and garlic slowly until soft and transparent. Add tinned tomato’s chopped or rough blend with sugar and cook covered on low heat for 15 minutes or so. Then add flaked fish and salt and pepper to taste. The salt fish will add plenty salt so be careful with salt.

Notes

Put potato, sliced banana, slice of avocado, and halved egg on plate and spoon fish and tomato mixture on side. Liberally sprinkle codfish mix with our Ooft! Hot Sauce

It is important to eat a little of each and you will be amazed how these flavour complement each other

Keyword bacalao, Bermuda breakfast, caribbean salt cod

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Ackee and Saltfish – Jamaican Breakfast with a difference

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

a delicious breakfast alternative that will find a place in your home

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Prep Time 30 mins

Cook Time 30 mins

Course Breakfast

Cuisine Caribbean

Servings 4

Calories 350 kcal

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.

Keyword ackee, ackee and saltfish, Jamaican breakfast, salted fish

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Caribbean Fish Soup – smooth rich and tasty

Caribbean Fish Soup

There are many seafood soups in the Caribbean ranging from broths to chowders and stews. This recipe is from the French Island of Martinique and I suspect was carried by early settlers from Brittany. many Martinique soups contain local ingredients such as green banana or yams but this version is a smooth soup rich in flavour. Many people are a bit scared of fish soups, you can tell that as so few are even available canned. . But go to France and eat in one of those tiny bistros near the harbour and rave about the bouillabaisse. This recipe is tried and tested and delivers a rich warm nourishing broth with a bit of heat. Serve with French bread sliced and rubbed with garlic plus some grated parmesan. The French put that in the bottom and pour soup over but you can also float it after. This makes a satisfying and elegant Caribbean fish soup that can be served as a meal or as a starter.

Continue reading Caribbean Fish Soup – smooth rich and tasty

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Kippers, Caribbean Style, with Ooft! Hot Sauce

Kippers and fry bakes — Fry bake and kippers

Kippers, Caribbean style.

Scotland smokes some very tasty kippers. Our fishmonger Clarks in Musselburgh makes their own, but there are famous smokers at Craster down the Northumberland Coast and in Fife. There is a lot going for kippers, they keep well as they are smoked and can quickly be cooked to provide a nutritious meal. They are inexpensive in the UK and as an oily fish extremely nutritious. (Each ounce of kippers provide an average of 62 calories, 7 grams of protein, 3.5 grams of fat and no carbohydrate.).

Most people just grill or poach them and eat them with bread and butter. This Caribbean style known as stewing fries the fish up with sweet peppers onions, tomato and garlic and is a tasty alternative and could even be used as a party snack. The Caribbean bread know as fried bake is much like a pita bread, it has a big pocket in the middle so its easy to stuff it with delicious filling. A lot of people worry about the bones in this fish, but my father used to say if you eat it with plenty bread all will be well!

They go very well with both our pure healthy hot sauces click the link below to buy

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So to the recipe.

INGREDIENTS

2 whole kippers for 4 people

1 onion and one sweet pepper sliced

1tbs oil and a garlic clove

2 chopped tomatoes (can use half a tin)

Bakes

300gm flour, 1 tsp salt, water

METHOD

Sliced onion and sweet pepper, slow cooked until soft with a little oil. Throw in 2 tomatoes chopped and cover to simmer down. Add shredded Kippers, cook for 2-3min. season to taste and serve with Ooft! on a soft roll or in this case fried bakes. Open the pocket and put in the mix and add lots of Ooft! ….a scrumptious new way to eat this healthy smoked fish.

Fried Bakes (The bakes are optional as pita bread or Indian naan obtainable from most supermarkets works well, we have even used Scottish breakfast rolls. But if you want the true Caribbean experience try these)

These are very simple to make. Flour salt and water mix to a soft consistency and leave for 20 minutes to settle. Heat a pan of oil to about 160 degrees. Take pieces of dough about the size of a lime and roll out not too thin to about 3 inches. Drop in hot fat and here is the secret. using a metal spoon constantly pour hot oil from the pan over the bake as it rises in the pan until to your surprise it will puff up and then start to brown. Remove with slotted spoon into a bowl with kitchen towel to absorb the oil.

Kippers – cooked the Caribbean way

Whether you have tried kippers and hated them or you love them, this Caribbean cooking method will make this a favourite meal

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Prep Time 30 mins

Cook Time 30 mins

Course Breakfast

Cuisine Caribbean

Servings 4

Calories 350 kcal

Ingredients

Kippers

2 2 whole kippers
1 oinion sliced
1 sweet pepper sliced
1 clove garlic minced
2 tomato Chopped or use 1/2 tin plum

Bakes

300 gm plain flour
1 tsp salt
water to mix

Instructions

Kippers

Sliced onion and sweet pepper, slow cooked until soft with a little oil.
Throw in 2 tomatoes chopped and cover to simmer down.
Add shredded Kippers, cook for 2-3min. season to taste
and serve with Ooft! on a soft roll or in this case fried bakes. Open the pocket and put in the mix and add lots of Ooft! ….a scrumptious new way to eat this healthy smoked fish.

Bakes

Fried Bakes (The bakes are optional as pita bread or Indian naan obtainable from most supermarkets works well, we have even used Scottish breakfast rolls. But if you want the true Caribbean experience try these)
These are very simple to make. Flour salt and water mix to a soft consistency and leave for 20 minutes to settle. Heat a pan of oil to about 160 degrees. Take pieces of dough about the size of a lime and roll out not too thin to about 3 inches. Drop in hot fat and here is the secret. using a metal spoon constantly pour hot oil from the pan over the bake as it rises in the pan until to your surprise it will puff up and then start to brown. Remove with slotted spoon into a bowl with kitchen towel to absorb the oil.

Keyword caribbean kippers, kippers, stewed kippers

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Caribbean Fish Stew – using tin or fresh Salmon

Caribbean Fish Stew.

Caribbean fish stew and rice is a wonderful recipe that uses an every day stand by (tinned salmon) in a unique way, and is so delicious my sons want it served every week. It is also a 30 minute meal, i.e. the whole meal takes about 30 minutes from start to finish. Tinned salmon will suddenly assume a role of much greater importance once you have tried this delicious stewed salmon recipe. This dish is known in different forms throughout the Caribbean in sometimes called stewed salmon Jamaica style, or brown stew salmon. It is very healthy, you could use brown rice or couscous. Stewing in the Caribbean context means one of two styles. The first is using melted and caramelised sugar first in the pot ( a good example of this is in our recipe Trinidad Pelau SEE LINK ), the other is just cooking with onions and sweet peppers and tomatoes and of course hot sauce such as Ooft! scotch bonnet. This recipe could also be served with mashed potato or pasta.

INGREDIENTS TO SERVE 4

1 large tin pink or red salmon 450g or two smaller
2 fresh tomatoes cut up
half a 400gm tin of tomatoes
1 medium onion chopped
1 sweet pepper sliced
1 garlic clove chopped
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
¼ cup water
1 tsp. tomato paste

2 tsps. salt and 1tspn ground black pepper and1 tsp. sugar

METHOD – Caribbean Fish Stew

Put your rice on to boil. Meanwhile
1. Heat one tablespoon of oil in a wok or pan until hot and add the onion, garlic and peppers and sauté on medium heat until soft. Stir and add fresh chopped tomatoes and cook slow for a minute or two until these soften.
2. Meanwhile open salmon into a bowl and clean off the skin and bones keeping the liquid.
3. Add tinned tomatoes, pepper, salt, sugar, tomato paste, salmon liquid, and water, then cook covered for 10 minutes.
4. Add salmon and parsley not stirring to much at this point to keep the salmon pieces whole. Taste and adjust seasoning if required. Continue to cook for another 5 minutes for flavours to meld.

Serve Caribbean Fish Stew with white basmati or jasmine rice, accompanied by
Cucumber sliced and seasoned with salt pepper and lemon juice, plus if you have any some coriander chopped…and of course Ooft! Hot Pepper Sauce. You can buy Ooft! Scotch Bonnet by clicking the button below

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Caribbean Fish Stew

Tinned salmon cooked in the Caribbean way a transformational dish that will become a family favourite

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Prep Time 30 mins

Cook Time 30 mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Caribbean

Servings 4

Calories 250 kcal

Ingredients

1 large tin pink or red salmon 450g plus one smaller tin, drained (keep liquid for sauce) remove bones and most skin
2 tomato chopped
1/2 400g tin tomato
1 Onion sliced
1 clove garlic minced
1/2 cup parsley chopped
1 tsp tomato paste
1 tsp salt, sugar and 1.2 tsp black pepper

Instructions

Put your rice on to boil.
Meanwhile
1. Heat one tablespoon of oil in a wok or pan until hot and add the onion, garlic and peppers and sauté on medium heat until soft. Stir and add fresh chopped tomatoes and cook slow for a minute or two until these soften.
2. Meanwhile open salmon into a bowl and clean off the skin and bones keeping the liquid.
3. Add tinned tomatoes, pepper, salt, sugar, tomato paste, salmon liquid, and water, then cook covered for 10 minutes.
4. Add salmon and parsley not stirring to much at this point to keep the salmon pieces whole. Taste and adjust seasoning if required. Continue to cook for another 5 minutes for flavours to meld.

Notes

Keyword brown cooked salmon, caribbean fish stew, stewed salmon