This recipe is a combination of many things. It’s a take on a recipe my mom would make but instead of using canned salmon as I did, she would normally use pieces of salted cod. Then about a year ago I saw Levis Roots of “Reggae Reggae Sauce” sauce fame cook up a batch of this with the help of some kids… if you’re from the UK and watch the Dragon’s Den you’ll know who I mean. I think he also calls himself the “Dragon Slayer”! But he used fresh caught mackerel in his dish.

Knowing that I had green fig (bananas) in the fridge, I had a severe craving for this sort of “country” dish about 8 pm last night. With no salted fish in the fridge, nor mackerel… the wheels of creativity went spinning and I decided on using the canned salmon that peeked at me from behind the can of corned beef in the cupboard (Mr. Salmon learned not to play hide and seek with a grown man).  There’s no better motivation in the kitchen than a craving and hunger!

You’ll Need…

5-7 green bananas (known as green fig or cooking bananas in the Caribbean)
1/2 teaspoon salt (for boiling the green bananas)

1 medium tomato
1 medium onion
1 scallion (green onion / spring onion)
1 clove garlic
1/4 habanero pepper (scotch bonnet or any hot pepper you like)
1 tablespoon ketchup
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoon olive oil (any cooking oil you like)
1 sprig thyme (dash dried thyme)
Salt – optional (add as needed)
1 can pink salmon

Note: If you’re shopping for green bananas in North America, they will be called cooking bananas. If you can’t find them in your grocery store, do ask a clerk and don’t buy ordinary bananas that are not ripe yet. You’re looking for ones that are really firm, brilliant green in color and no blemishes. If you’re peeling these as I did before boiling, do wear gloves or coat your hands with cooking oil to prevent the sort of ‘milk’ to cause your hands to be sticky and possibly itch. Don’t get that ‘milk’ (sap) onto your clothes.

Since the green fig will require the most time to cook, go ahead and peel, scrape and rinse them. You can also cook them in the skin and peel after they’ve been boiled. In a deep pot put enough water to cover the bananas and bring to a boil. Then add the bananas and salt.. bring back to a rolling boil and allow to cook for about 20 minutes.

While this cooks, lets prepare the other ingredients. Wash and chop the tomato, scallion, habanero pepper, thyme.. don’t forget the garlic and onion as well.

With the bananas fully cooked, drain and allow to cool while we get things really started. In a large saucepan put the olive oil to heat on a medium heat, then add the onion, garlic and thyme. Let them cook on the medium/low heat for about 3-5 minutes. We’re trying to get the onion translucent and release the rich flavors of the garlic and thyme. Next add the green onion, pepper, tomato and black pepper. Let that cook for about 3 minutes.

The next step is to add the can of salmon, including the water it was packaged in and ketchup. Break it up into flaky chunks, give it a good stir and allow to come back up to a gentle simmer… cook for another couple minutes.

While this cooks, the bananas should be cool enough to touch. Cut them into bite-sized pieces and get ready to toss them into the pot.

The final step is to toss in the cut pieces of cooked bananas into the pot, give it a good stir and allow it to heat through with all the other ingredients in the pot (about -35 minutes) and you’re done.

Since the canned salmon is usually packaged with a ton of sodium I don’t feel the need to add any salt, but do taste ad add accordingly as I’m sure your tolerance for salt will be different than mine.

This is one of those versatile dishes that works for any time of the day (or night as in my case)… even breakfast. Growing up on the islands you know we love our BIG breakfast, so though you may find this a bit heavy to start the day.. a Caribbean man would appreciate this (hint ladies). BTW, there’s enough here for 3-4 people if you have some coconut bake or toast on the side or a complete meal for two people.

To make this dish fully vegetarian, you can omit the canned fish, but add a little butter when cooking the onion and garlic at the start.

Before you go I invite you to leave me your comments below.. even if it just to say hello. It’s always appreciated. And don’t forget to join us on facebook and do check out the cooking videos.

Happy Cooking!

Chris…

Some of you will be saying “Chris this is just your original jerk marinade scaled down”, but with Tehya in the kitchen with me… I had to do this from scratch for her. This chile keeps having craving for spicy food, so this time when she came to me to make up a batch of jerk wings for her, I told her it’s time she learned how to organize it herself. You can see her in action in the jerk chicken wings video I posted late last night on the food channel.

I must mention that there’s no comparison to making this over coals on a grill, but with winter approaching I wanted to give you guys the option to be able to do this in the oven indoors. Now don’t get me wrong… no winter will ever stop me from grilling on the BBQ as I have no problem dressing like Sasquatch and taking on the cold to do my thing on the BBQ outside.

You’ll Need…

2 scallions (green onions)
5 sprigs of fresh thyme (about 1 tablespoon chopped)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 Habanero pepper (scotch bonnet or any that you like)
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup vinegar
1 onion
1/4 cup orange juice
2 cloves garlic

3 lbs chicken wings.

The first thing we have to do is make the jerk marinade. Give the onion, garlic, hot pepper and scallions a rough chop so it’s easier for the blender or food processor to work it into the runny consistency we’ll need. Remember to wear gloves when working with peppers with extreme heat like habanero and scotch bonnet.

Basically all we need to do now is pour everything into the food processor and give it a few pulses until you get a sort of smooth (runny) consistency.

* If you don’t have access to a food processor or blender, you can certainly chop everything as fine as you can and give it all a good mix in a bowl.

 We then washed the chicken wings with some lemon juice (you can use lime or vinegar as well – about 3-4 tablespoons) and rinsed with cool water and drain. Pat dry with paper towels so the marinade can really stick onto the wings. Pour 1/3 of the marinade on the wings and using your hands, massage the wings with this lovely jerk marinade. Allow this to marinate for at least 30 minutes, before you place it into a 400 degree oven (middle rack).

 After 30 minutes we took it out of the oven to give it a good stir (flip wings) and put back for another 30 minutes.

The last 5 minutes you can turn on the broiler setting and allow the wings to get a rich brown color with a sort of toasted edges. You may have to give them a flip to ensure all sides gets this lovely sort of charred look.

You will notice there will be a sort of gravy formed at the bottom, this is excellent to pour over peas and rice to accompany these jerk chicken wings.

Tips: Line your baking dish with aluminum foil or use a disposable pan when roasting these in the oven as I did (it will make clean-up much easier). Add some brown sugar and fresh ginger to the marinade for that extra kick of flavor. Remember that most of the heat in peppers are in the seeds and area around the seeds. So if you want to cut back on the heat level, remove the seeds.

To make dry wings, simply place the wings on a wire rack over your baking dish after the wings have been marinating. This will give you crispy wings which will be packed with a good punch of Jamaican jerk goodness.

Tehya was quite happy with the final outcome of her first jerk chicken wings and though she was a bit hesitant to use the large chef’s knife to chop the onions etc.. she was very proud of her accomplishment. In future videos/recipes I’ll try to include Indy and Kieana so you guys can get to know them better and they can learn how to cook so they too can carry on our culinary traditions. It’s time we got our children involved in the kitchen and away from all the other distractions (video games, computer, cell phones.. boys!)

Before I forget… the remaining jerk marinade can be stored in a plastic bowl in the fridge for at least a week or frozen for a couple months.

Before you go I invite you to leave me your comments below.. even if it just to say hello. It’s always appreciated. And don’t forget to join us on facebook and do check out the cooking videos.

Yes it’s a bread, but we call it a bake. Just as the fry bake recipe I shared with you a while back, which isn’t really baked… we try our best to confuse the heck out of people with our food names. Walking into the house after school or on those days when in the rainy season it was customary to spend our evening playing football (soccer) in the muddy savanna down the road (I’m still a ball-hoe), and you would be hit with that lovely aroma of action taking place in the oven… immediate hunger would set in (even if you just raided someone’s mango tree).

If it was after football, you had to make sure and bathe before setting foot in the house and don’t ever let you mom see dry nashy skin.. so you had to grease down with baby oil or lotion… it’s amazing how fast we would go from pig to Sunday morning church clean. That fresh baked bread smell had a way of getting the best out of us. When it was coconut bake, it also meant timing it so as soon as it came out of the oven, you could have a piece with butter and/or cheese. I also recall our mom cooking a fry-dry curry shrimp to make sandwiches with the coconut bake. Good times!

Wanted to mention that though I can get dried coconut here if I look hard enough, I just didn’t feel like searching then grating etc, so I used dessicated coconut I found pre-packaged (Desiccated coconut is coconut meat which has been shredded or flaked and then dried to remove as much moisture as possible) at the grocery store. I would recommend (though I didn’t  this time) soaking it in the coconut milk to add back some life to it.

This recipe is a bit different than my mom’s or grandmother .. who BTW used a coal pot to make her’s, but you’ll find great pleasure as you rip through a steaming hot piece of this coconut bake.

You’ll Need…

4 1/2 cups all purpose flour or bread flour
1/4 cup butter or shortening (i used shortening)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon quick acting yeast
1 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup freshly grated coconut (I used dessicated coconut)

If you’re using freshly grated coconut , start by prepping that or as in my case I started with the dough. This would be the first time using our new food processor for making dough, but feel free to use your hands if you not as lazy as I am. In the food processor (or bowl) place the flour, yeast, sugar, salt and the butter or shortening and work till you get a sort of crumbs texture. I gave the food processor a few pulses and it was ready for the next step.

I then added the grated coconut and gave it another pulse, then I started to add the coconut milk and make the actual dough. You may notice that you’ll need some additional liquid, if that is the case add some water. You’re looking for a smooth and firm dough. Since I used the food processor (about 3-5 minutes), I then removed it onto a floured surface and worked the dough until it was firm and smooth as I wanted.

The next step is to cut it evenly into two pieces and and work it into the shape of the ‘bake’. You’ll need to have a flour dusted surface and a rolling pin ready. I believe I got mine about 1 inch thick and about 10-12 inches in diameter. I then used a fork to prick the surface a bit (always saw my mom do that), placed it onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Which I covered with plastic wrap and allowed to rest for about 2 0 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 400F, then add the bakes (remove plastic wrap) on the cookie sheet and on the middle shelf for about 25-30 minutes or until they’re golden brown. You can always stick a toothpick in the center and if it comes our dry, it means the inside is fully cooked.

I forgot to mention that you should warm the coconut milk a bit before adding to the flour to make the dough. Day two would see us have slices of this with guava jam and tea for breakfast, before heading off to school… you felt as if you could take on the world when your belly was jam-packed with this lovey coconut bake.

Oye! before you go… Remember you can watch the cooking videos on the recipe channel and we’d love to interact with you on our Facebook fan page. There’s a few thousand of us already causing commesse on there… so do check it out.

You’re probably wondering what the heck is wrong with Chris,  when you read both Amchar and talkari as the heading of this recipe. I didn’t know if this would be considered amchar, talkari or curry Pommecythere considering I didn’t use any curry in cooking it. All I know is that the few times I had this growing up, was the occasional time I would purchase some from the many street food vendors outside the gates at our high school. Are there still food vendors outside schools today in Trinidad and Tobago?

This is the first time I was making this dish and I must say that I’m quite proud of the results.

You’ll Need…

3 Pommecythere (green / fully developed)
2 tablespoon amchar massala
1 teaspoon salt
1 scotch bonnnet pepper (any hot pepper would work)
3 cloves garlic – crushed
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 tablespoon brown sugar (golden.. not dark)
1 1/4 cup water
1/2 medium onion sliced thin (optional)

Note: Depending on how sour or tart your Pommecytheres are, you may need to add a bit more salt. The idea is to get a sort of savory taste, with the richness of the brown sugar and amchar massala. So if at the end you find it to be a bit tart, add a bit more salt or sugar.

Some people tend to pre-boil the Pommecythere pieces before actually cooking it in the massala. By doing so you achieve two thing. 1. Speeds up the cooking time, as it will already be tender. And 2. The pre-boiling tends to remove some of the tartness from the Pommecythere. If you decide on pre-boiling, you’ll only need about 1/4 cup water as mentioned in the ingredients listed above and you’ll cook it only a few minutes after adding all the ingredients to the pot.

If you’re wondering what Pommecythere is…

From Wikipedia : Spondias dulcis or Ambarella, (and its alternative binomial, Spondias cytherea, Malay Apple), Golden apple, is an equatorial or tropical tree, with edible fruit containing a fibrous pit. It is known by many names in various regions, including Pomme cythere in Trinidad and Tobago, June plum in Jamaica, Juplon in Costa Rica, Jobo Indio in Venezuela, and Caja-manga in Brazil.

Give the Pommecythere a good rinse under running water, then using a cleaver or heavy knife, cut through them into wedges (see pic below). Give them a another rinse if you like. Then get the other ingredients ready. You’ll notice that I didn’t bother peeling the Pommecythere as I find that the skin adds to the overall texture at the end. And you will find that the center of the Pommecythere is somewhat spiny and tough.. this is why I used a heavy cleaver to cut through them.

Heat the vegetable oil in a fairly heavy/deep pan and add the onion and garlic. Allow that to cook for a few minutes, then add the slices of pepper. Remember (I learned the hard way today) that the fumes from the pepper meeting the heated oil will be strong and cause you to cough. Open your kitchen windows and turn on the vent fan if you have one over your stove.

Allow this to cook for about 3 minutes, then add the pieces of cut Pommecythere and give it a good stir. Next up..  add the amchar massala and stir again. Now add the sugar, salt and water and bring to a boil.

After it comes to a boil, reduce the flame to between a rolling boil and simmer.. place the lid on the pot and allow this to cook for about 25-30 minutes. Basically until it’s tender and becomes a thick sort of sauce. Remember what I mentioned in the note above and check to ensure it’s not to tart or sour as we would say on the islands.

This is used as a condiment for many curry dishes, spicy snack or as a side with roti in many instances. Before you go I invite you to leave me your comments below.. even if it just to say hello. It’s always appreciated. And don’t forget to join us on facebook and do check out the cooking videos.

Ever since my Ultimate Curry Chicken recipe I’ve decided to attach the word “Ultimate” to any dish I make for sharing with you all, that goes beyond my expectations. I must say that I’ve never been a fan of curry goat and I’m sure I can count the number of times I’ve had it on my fingers. But I’m so glad that I tried this recipe a couple nights ago, so I now have  a new appreciation for it. For the great cook that my mom is and I guess I can add my sister, aunts and grandmother to the list… I think I’ve trumped them all with this recipe. Just don’t tell them I said that.. that will lead to “confusion”.

For those of you who showed interest in the recipe when I mentioned I was cooking it the other night on the Face Book Fan page, I do apologize for the delay in actually posting it here. Lately I’ve been swamped work with the new website I launched as well as my other web properties, so finding time to blog about cooking is not as easy as before.

You’ll Need

2 lbs goat cut into 1-2 inch pieces
3/4 teaspoon salt
dash black pepper
1 medium onion sliced
3 cloves garlic crushed or sliced thin
3 sprigs thyme
1 tomato sliced
1/2 scotch bonnet pepper (any hot pepper you like)
2 scallions
1/2 teaspoon curry powder for seasoning the meat
1 1/2 tablespoon curry powder for cooking
1/4 teaspoon geera powder (cumin)
1/4 teaspoon amchar masala (optional but goes well with this dish)
1 leaf Spanish thyme crushed (optional)
4 leaves shado beni (bhandhanya)
1/2 teaspoon ketchup
3 tablespoon oil (something that can withstand high heat)
3 1/4 cups water

* If you don’t have access to the shado beni you can use 1 table spoon of green seasoning or 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro.

* I used boned goat meat, but feel free to use boneless if you want. If using boned, remember to get the butcher to cut it into pieces for you as the bones are VERY tough and will do damage to your knives.

* If you can’t get goat meat, I’m sure you can use lamb with great results.

Wash and drain the meat, then season with everything listed above except the water, oil, onion, garlic, pepper and 1 1/2 tablespoons of curry powder. BTW if you’re wondering what curry powder I use, it’s the Raja Jahan Special Madras curry. Made by Turban Brand Products of Trinidad and Tobago, it’s my absolute favourite. Mix well, cover and put in the fridge to marinate for at least 2 hrs. Try to seal tight as the smell can easily overwhelm the inside of your fridge. Remember to take it out of the fridge about 10 minutes before cooking so it gets back to room temperature.

Here’s a pic of the geera and amchar masalaI used (my 2 secret ingredients) :

Lets get to cooking now. In a heavy pot put the oil to heat on medium/high, then add the onion and garlic and allow to cook for a few minutes (until they go soft and the garlic releases it’s flavours). Now add the hot pepper and curry powder so it cooks with the onion and garlic. Give this a minute or 2, until it starts to stick or go really thick. Now add a 1/4 cup of water and allow this to cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes. Keep stirring.

As the water dries off, you’ll notice that the curry will take on a sort of grainy texture and the oil will start being visible again at the bottom of the pot. The colour of the curry will also go darker.. this is an indication that it’s time to add the seasoned meat to the pot.

Turn up the heat and start adding the pieces of seasoned goat a few pieces at a time and stir between each batch you add. This will allow each piece to get coasted with the curry sauce we just created. After you’ve added all the meat, there are 3 steps.

1. Cover the pot and bring to a gentle simmer (it will release it’s own juices).

2. Add the 3 cups of water left from the ingredient list to the bowl that had the seasoned pieces of meat. This will allow the water to pick up any of the seasonings that may be left behind. Set that aside for later.

3. Stir every 5 minutes or so.

Allow this to cook for about 25 minutes on a gentle simmer, then remove the lid and turn up the heat. We now need to burn off all those natural juices that were released as it simmered. You’ll know when it’s all gone when you stir the pot and can see the bottom of it without any liquid. Now add the 3 cups of water we had transferred to the bowl we seasoned the meat in. Bring that to a boil, then turn down the heat to low and let it do it’s thing. Remember to keep it covered and stir every 15 minutes or so. We’re basically braising the meat so it’s nice and tender with a rich thick gravy. This can take up to 1 1/2 – 2 hours depending on how soft you like your meat and how old the goat was before it was butchered. Older goats will take longer to cook.

TIP: Feel free to use a pressure cooker for the step (when we added the 3 cups of water) to cut back drastically on the cooking time. I’ve also seen my aunt do this step in the oven as well. She puts it in a baking dish covered with tin foil and set at about 375 and it cooks away slowly in there. Since I’ve never used a pressure cooker, I’m afraid I can’t say how long it will take using that cooking option.

After 1 1/2 hrs, it’s time to test to see if it’s as tender as you like. Simply take a piece out and allow to cool on a side plate, then press with a fork or bite off a piece to see how tender it is. If you’re happy with it’s texture, it’s time to reduce the gravy to a thickness you like. Usually the gravy will be perfect, but if you find that it’s a bit runny, simply raise the heat and burn off. Pay close attention so you don’t burn it in the final stages of cooking.

So what do you pair this with? This is a classic dish to eat with rice (most people like white rice, but I’m a HUGE fan of brown rice), ground provisions, roti (any type), at Jamaican restaurants you’ll get rice and peas, great for sucking up the gravy with pita bread and if all fails… level it down on it’s own

Leave me your comments or different versions of this recipe in the box provided below. It’s really appreciated. BTW, this will easily serve 4-5 people.

Happy cooking

chris…

This recipe is in response to all the comments I got to the Swiss Chard recipe I posted a while back. It seems there were a lot of people who were getting confused with Swiss Chard and Pak Choi. I could easily see why, as not only do they both taste great when cooked and the preparation is basically the same, plus the appearance is very similar. Normally I cook pak choi when I have some left over stew pork as it adds a great flavour to the finished dish, but seeing the nice selection they had at the grocers our last visit. I just had to get some, even though I had no leftover pork.

To understand what I mean when I talk about the confusion caused by the Swiss Chard recipe, you must also check out that recipe and read the comments directly below it. CLICK HERE >  Swiss Chard Recipe. While there take a close look at the stems (white part) of the chard, now compare it to the white part of the pak choi (pics below). also note that the green part of the Swiss Chard has a bit more waxy look to it, very crinkled and can be very large. I’ll be sure to plant both pack choi and swiss chard this spring in my garden to get some better pics to show the subtle differences.

You’ll Need

1 bundle of Pak Choi  1 1/2 – 2 lbs (also known as bok choi or Peking cabbage)
1/4 teaspoon salt
dash of black pepper
2-3 cloves of garlic (sliced tin or crushed)
1 medium onion sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 slices of hot pepper – optional (I use habanero or scotch bonnet – adds great flavour and some heat)

Start by separating the leaves of the pak choi and rinse thoroughly under running water to remove all the sand and dirt that can accumulate there. Pak Choi is usually planted in sandy soil,as as the leaves develop, sand and dirt can get trapped between the leaves.

The next step is to cut the leaves and stems into smaller pieces (cubes and strips) to allow for fast and even cooking. You’ll notice that in the pak choi I got there’s a lot of stem (white part) and not as much green leafy part. In the Caribbean the leafy part is much bigger, but I have to use what I can find What I usually do is cut the white part length-wise into 1/2 thick strips (see pic below). Then I roll the leafy part into a somewhat tight bundle and slice the entire thing. So I get the white parts cubed and the leafy part comes out is shreds.

Lets get to cooking now.  Heat the oil in a fairly wide pan and add the onion, garlic and slices of pepper. Allow that to cook over medium heat until the onion is soft and the oil is infused with the garlic. Takes about 4-5 minuets. Now start adding the pak coi to the pot (you’ll think it won’t fit at first.. but it will cook down). Stir and keep adding. Then add the salt and black pepper. With the heat between med and low, cook covered for about 5 minutes.

Now remove the lid and allow all that liquid that accumulated to cook off. I turn up the heat a bit and it takes about 5-10 minutes to cook off. Now depending on the texture you like ( soft or with a gently crunch) you may have to experiment with the final cooking time (after you’ve removed the lid).

TIP!. As mentioned above for an extra level of flavour you can add left over pieces of stewed pork the last couple minutes of cooking. And another way to flavour this is by adding some pieces of salted cod when you’re cooking the onions at the start.

So can you tell the difference between Swiss Chard and Pak Choi now? They both taste very similar, except I find that the Swiss Chard has a bit of a more bitter taste and the Pak Choi seems to be a bit smoky.

I’d love to hear from you, so I encourage you to leave me your comments below. Maybe you have a different version of this recipe you’d like to share?

My idea of comfort food is any meal that takes me back to a time or place where I was in total bliss.  Words alone could never tell how happy it was for us as kids growing up on the islands, but there are several meals that takes me right back to those days. I still recall days when my dad would bring home ground provisions from the garden and my mom would cook up a batch of smoke herring to top a plate full of yam, dasheen and green bananas. Back then  I wouldn’t eat the actual pieces of smoked herrings, but the oil was drizzled all over my plate of provision.

Our girls hate the smell of smoke herrings, so with having the house all to myself today I thought I’d take advantage of this opportunity and fire up the stove to prepare some comfort food from my youth. Little did they know I had this day planned from a few days ago when I first learned that I would be home alone. I had already source some yam and smoke herring fillets.

NOTE: I’m using the herring fillets since it’s a lot less work, but I’m almost positive that you won’t get fillets if you live in the Caribbean. You can check out a pic I took at the San Fernando public market back in October of a huge pile of smoked herrings as it’s sold in the Caribbean.

You’ll Need…

1/2 lb smoked herring fillets
1 tomato
1 medium onion
1 hot pepper (your choice – I use habanero, including seeds)
dash of black pepper
6-8 tablespoons olive oil

Optional ingredients:
- 1/ 2 bell pepper diced
- 1 scallion sliced thin
- 1/4 red onion sliced thin.
- 1 pimento pepper sliced thin

* If you’re using a very hot pepper like habanero or scotch bonnet and don’t want the “flaming” heat, don’t include the seeds or the membrane that surrounds the seeds.

Start by putting the fillets into a fairly deep bowl and cover with boiling water. This will help remove some of the salt and make the fish tender enough to shred. TIP: Smoke herrings will give your hands a very strong smell which will remain long after… even after you wash with soap. If you can get a pair of disposable gloves I ‘d suggest you use it when handing the fish.

If I was making this during the warmer months I would boil it in a pot with water for a few minutes on the side burner of my grill outside. But if I were to do that during the winter months indoor, the smell would be too much for even me to handle. So I did the next best thing and poured the hot water directly over it and allow it to soak from about 15 minutes.

While the smoke herring fillets soak in the hot (make sure it’s boiling and not just hot water from your tap) water, I prepare the onion, pepper and tomato. Basically all you’re doing is slicing the pepper and onion very thin and dice the tomato into small pieces. If you’re using the optional ingredients, all you have to do is slice/dice the same as you did with the onions etc.

Drain out the water from the bowl and rinse the fillets with a fresh batch of cool water. Squeeze dry and start breaking/shredding the fillets into small pieces. You may notice some tiny bones.. try to remove as much as you can. But don’t worry they won’t cause any real harm as they are very soft.

Let’s now assemble everything…

Empty all the onions, pepper and tomato into the bowl with the shredded herring and add a couple dashes of black pepper. Then give it a good mix. The final step is to heat the olive oil in a pan over high heat and as soon as you start seeing smoke, pour it over everything. This will help cook the onion and allow all the flavours to marry. Mix well and serve.

Here’s my complete dish of boil yam topped with the smoked herrings…

The only thing I hate about comfort food is the “ritis” it gives at the end. I could so easily fall asleep now. Do you have a different way of preparing smoked herrings or a alternate way of making this recipe? I’d love for you to leave your comments below.