Recipe: Bake & Saltfish

In the Caribbean, it's not uncommon to visit a beach and come across fishermen gutting and salting dey catch right near dey boats. With dhal and rice, dumplings, or anyting else, we love our saltfish.

This recipe is fuh bake and saltfish, an all-day type ah meal.

Ingredients:

Saltfish:

- 250g saltfish, soaked in water overnight

- 1 small onion, diced

- 1 clove garlic, minced

- 1/2 red pepper, diced

- 2 tomatoes, diced

- 2 sprigs of thyme, leaves chopped

- Scotch bonnet to taste, finely chopped

- 3 spring onions, sliced

Bake:

- 200g cup flour

- 1/2 tbsp baking powder

- 1 pinch salt

- 2 tbsp butter

- 35g sugar

- Water

Method:

1. Mix flour, salt and baking powder. Crumb butter into flour mixture with your fingertips, then mix in the salt. Add a small amount of water to the mixture and mix. Keep adding water bit by bit and mixing until you have a firm but not overly stiff dough. Cover and leave for 30 minutes.

2. Drain the water from the saltfish. Boil the saltfish in fresh water for 5 minutes. Drain and flake with a fork, then set aside.

3. Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil on medium heat, then add all the saltfish ingredients, except the saltfish itself and spring onions. Sautée for about 10 minutes until everything is fragrant, soft and cooked through.

4. Add the flaked saltfish and spring onions, and toss until everything is coated well and warmed through. Taste for salt and sprinkle over a few cracks of black pepper.

5. In a deep pan, heat 2-3 inches of vegetable oil.

7. Divide the dough into 6 pieces, roll into balls and roll into 0.5cm discs.

8. Once the oil is hot, but not smoking, fry each disc flipping over the bake after about 1 minute. They will puff up and turn golden quickly.

9. Remove and drain on kitchen roll.

10. Split the bakes in the middle to form pockets. Fill with saltfish and enjoy!

By Nirvana Ramtirat at Pepperpot Marinades (@pepperpot_kitchen)