Mackerel Run Down

INGREDIENTS :

  • 2 lbs pickled boneless mackerel
  • 2 Cup Coconut Milk or 1 Can Coconut Milk
  • 1 Cup Water
  • 1 Large Onion, chopped fine
  • 2 Garlic cloves, crushed
  • 2 Stalks Escallion, chopped fine
  • 2 Large Tomatioes, chopped fine
  • 4 Sprigs Thyme
  • 1 Scotch Bonnet Pepper, chopped fine (Optional)
  • 1 tbsp Vinegar
  • Salt
  • Black Pepper

METHOD:

  1. To remove some of the salt from the mackerel, soak in water overnight or boil in hot water for 30 minutes. (A combination of this can be done if the mackerel is still salty.)
  2. Drain water of the mackeral and cut into small pieces.
  3. Combine milk and water in a frying pan and boil until it looks oily.
  4. Add the markeral and cover the pot. Cook for 10-12 minutes on medium heat.
  5. Add and stir the onion, garlic, escallion, tomatoes, scotch bonnet pepper, thyme and vinegar.
  6. Add Salt and Pepper to taste
  7. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
  8. Serve with green bananas, yam, roast breafruit and dumplings, if available.

Jamaican Potato Salad

INGREDIENTS:

  • 4 cups potatoes diced
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 stalk escallion chopped
  • 2 tablespoon margarine
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 cup miracle whip
  • 1/4 tsp. black pepper
  • 1/2 stalk celery (optional)
  • 1/4 cup corn
  • 1/4 cup baby peas (blanched)
  • 1/4 cup carrot (optional)
  • 1/4 tsp. salt

METHOD:

  1. Wash, peel, dice and cook potatoes with eggs, about 10 mins.
  2. Dice celery, slice escallion and finely chopped garlic.
  3. When potatoes are boiled, drain instantly.
  4. Place in a large bowl, toss with margarine.
  5. Add corn, peas, escallion, garlic and celery.
  6. Stir in miracle whip with pepper and salt.
  7. Add chopped eggs and stir lightly, serve warm or cold.

Callaloo Fritters

INGREDIENTS :

  • Callaloo Fritters
  • 2 cups raw callaloo cut up
  • ½ onion
  • 1 tomato
  • 1 tbsp. margarine

BATTER:

  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • ¼ tsp. salt (optional)
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 egg
  • vegetable oil for deep-frying

METHOD:

  1. Heat margarine; sauté onion and tomato.
  2. Add callaloo and steam for about 5-10 minutes.
  3. Cool and set aside.
  4. Sift flour, measure, and sift again with baking powder and salt.
  5. Beat egg and add to cooked callaloo.
  6. Combine egg and calaloo with flour mixture.
  7. Heat frying pan and add oil to a depth of ½ inch.
  8. Drop by tablespoon in hot oil and fry.
  9. Serve hot.

Ginger Beer Recipe

INGREDIENTS :

  • 1 pound ginger
  • 8 tablespoons of brown sugar
  • 2 1/2 quart water

METHOD:

  1. Puree ginger and water in blender.
  2. Let it sit for a day.
  3. Add sugar & mix (add more or less sugar based on your taste)

Best served with crushed ice. Serves 6-8.

Gungo Peas Patty - Vegetarian

INGREDIENTS :

  • .5 pint green gungo peas
  • 2 medium sized chopped onion
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 scotch bonnet hot pepper (for spice version)
  • 1 tablespoon black pepper
  • Salt for taste
  • 3 slices bread
  • 2 teaspoons cooking oil
  • 1 ounce margarine
  • 1 cup water

METHOD:

  1. Soak peas
  2. Sauté chopped onion, pepper & garlic in oil
  3. Soften bread with a little water & mash into soft pulp
  4. Add peas bread, margarine & seasoning.
  5. Cook for 20 minutes
  6. When cool use as fill for patty pastry

INGREDIENTS FOR PATTY PASTRY:

  • 11 ozs suet (beef fat or shortening) * USE SHORTENING*
  • 4 cups flour
  • 1 level teaspoon salt
  • 2/3 cup iced water

METHOD:

  1. Trim all skin and fatty membrane from suet and set overnight in freezer.
  2. Next day, with a very sharp knife shave suet as finely as possible.
  3. Combine salt and flour, then work in suet as you would shortening in plain pastry, cutting it in with two knives.
  4. Add iced water in sufficient amount to have a dough which can be rolled out.
  5. Form into a ball and with a rolling pin, pat gently, turning the dough over once or twice in order to have it all properly held together.
  6. Set overnight wrapped in wax paper in freezer.
  7. Next day, pull off enough dough (after defrosting) to roll into a circle the size of a breakfast saucer.
  8. Dip dough in flour before rolling.
  9. Roll quite thin and cut in a circle. (use saucer for help) In the center of each circle place a spoonful of meat, fold dough over to form a crescent shape seal edges with egg white or by crimping the edge and folding dough slightly under.
  10. Do not prick the pastry.
  11. Bake on ungreased tin sheet in a hot oven for about 35 mins.
  12. This recipe will make about 3 dozen regular patties. if cocktail patties are needed, use a smaller cutter than a saucer.
  13. Serving 3 dozen regular size patties.Try different fillings for experiment.

Spicy Eggplant

INGREDIENTS :

  • 2 medium-size eggplants (abut 2 lbs), peeled and cut into 3/4" pieces
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 5 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 tsp minced fresh ginger
  • 1/2 cup chicken boullion, or vegetable broth
  • 2 tbsp. soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp. rice vinegar
  • 1 tsp. dark sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp. sugar
  • 1 tsp. hot chili-garlic sauce
  • 4 scallion, chopped
  • 1 or 2 tomatoes, coarsely chopped

METHOD:

  1. Heat oil in a large non-stick pan or wok.
  2. Stir fry eggplant until slightly darkened, from 2 to 3 minutes.
  3. Reduce heat, and add garlic, ginger and stir-fry for 1 minute.
  4. Add boullion, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, sugar and chili-garlic sauce and bring to boil.
  5. Cook, uncovered and stirring often, until eggplants are tender and sauce has thickened, about 5 minutes.
  6. Stir in onions and tomatoes, and season with salt to taste.
  7. Cook 5 more minutes. Sprinkle with sesame seeds if you wish.

Rice & Peas

INGREDIENTS :

  • 1/4 cup gungo peas
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1 green pepper
  • escallion
  • black pepper
  • thyme, salt to taste
  • 2 cups rice
  • coconut milk or coconut [to make coconut milk]. Cut coconut in small pieces and blend in about 3 cups water in the blender, strain through a strainer to separate the milk.

METHOD:

  1. Wash peas and soak in 2 cups of water.
  2. Pour peas and water in a pot with coconut milk, garlic and put to boil.
  3. Cook peas until tender adding more water if necessary.
  4. When peas are cooked add salt, whole pepper, black pepper, thyme, & escallion.
  5. Let season simmer.
  6. Wash rice if necessary, then add to pot. Use a fork to mix everything together.
  7. Cook on a low fire until done.

Jerk Fish

INGREDIENTS :

  • Jerk Sauce - Buy Now or Make your own
  • 3 Medium Snappers
  • Pimento (all spice) branches or aromatic wood

METHOD:

  1. Rub the fish with the sauce.
  2. Marinate for about 2 hours in the refrigerator.
  3. Wrap the fish in foil
  4. Grill at lowest possible setting over a low fire until done.
  5. Pimento (all spice) branches (this is what is used in Jamaica) mixed with charcoal is best.
  6. If not try to use an aromatic wood in the barbecue grill to enhance the flavor.
  7. Chop meat into pieces, and serve traditionally with hard-dough bread

Steamed Fish

INGREDIENTS :

  • 2.5 lbs fish
  • 1 small onion
  • 2 stalk escallion
  • 2 oz butter
  • cooking oil
  • ½ cup water
  • vinegar
  • 2 sprig thyme
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • salt and black pepper.
  • 5-12 Grains of Pimento
  • Vinegar
  • 1 large Onions
  • 1 whole scotch bonnet

METHOD:

  1. Wash fish with salt water or vinegar & water.
  2. Season fish with with garlic, salt and blackpepper.
  3. Cut up tomato
  4. Sauté sliced onions in oil (butter optional)
  5. Remove and place onions in a dish
  6. Stir fry escallion, thyme and all other vegetables in oil and .
  7. Add water, butter & teaspoon Vinegar
  8. Allow vegetables to cook.
  9. Add fish, pimento and onions.
  10. Add 1 whole scotch bonnet (do not allow to burst - must have a stem)
  11. Simmer for 15 minutes or until cooked.

Escovich Fish

INGREDIENTS :

  • 5 whole small/medium sized Snappers, Grount, Parrot or Goat Fish cleaned, with the head and tail left on
  • 1 1/2 tsp. (7 ml) Salt
  • 1 1/2 tsp. (7 ml) Pepper
  • 3 Garlic
  • Cooking Oil
  • White Vinegar
  • 2 Onions
  • 2 Scotch Bonnet Pepper
  • 10 pimentos

METHOD:

  1. Wash fish in vinegar and water
  2. Dry fish in paper towel and place on a plate.
  3. Cut a small deep gashes on each side of the fish.
  4. Rub salt and pepper on outside and in the cavities you made and on the outside. then put the fish on a plate or in a shallow bowl.
  5. Place oil in a frying pan/sauce pan. Enough to fry one side of the fish. Please note that this is not a deep fry therefore the fish should NOT be completely submerged in the oil.
  6. Place 2 cloves of Garlic in the pot and heat on high.
  7. Put cinnamon stick in a pot of boiling water to alleviate the smell of the frying fish.
  8. Remove garlic cloves from pot
  9. Carefully place fish on its side in to the hot oil. (as many as the frying pan hold).
  10. Fry crisp and turn down the heat as necessary.
  11. Turn other side and fry crisp.
  12. Place fried fish on a plate with dry paper towels.
  13. Slice onions, scotch bonnet pepper
  14. Place onions, scotch bonnet pepper, and pimento in a small pot with vinegar.
  15. Boil contents on stove for approx. 5 min. (Be careful of your eyes burning if contents are overheated)
  16. Pour contents on the fried fish for a hot and spicy flavor

Fried Ripe Plantains

INGREDIENTS :

  • 1 ripe plantain
  • 1 tablespoon cinnmon or nutmeg

METHOD:

  1. Peel plantain by making 2 incisions on opposite sides of the plantain skin and then peel.
  2. Slice the plantains into 2 in the middle (width not length - like breaking a banana in 2).
  3. Cut up both pieces of plantains into 1/4 inch slices longways.
  4. Heat skillet filled with just enough oil to cover the 1/4 inch slices.
  5. Fry plantain slices until golden brown on each side.
  6. Each slice needs about 45 seconds to a minute to cook.
  7. Be careful not to burn.
  8. Place cooked plantain in a dish layered with napkins so as to drain/soak up the oil.
  9. Sprinkle with cinnamon or nutmeg to taste.

Serves 4

Banana Porridge

INGREDIENTS :

  • 3 fingers of green bananas
  • 1 cup milk
  • 5 cups water
  • 1/2cup flour
  • 1/2 tsp. salt sugar to taste nutmeg [vanilla optional]

METHOD:

  1. Wash,peal and grate bananas
  2. Add flour and salt to grated bananas and mix well.
  3. Beat mixture with fork while adding water until smooth.
  4. Sweeten to taste and add nutmeg and vanilla.
  5. Pour mixture into boiling water, stirring constantly to prevent lumping, stir until mixture thickens.
  6. Continue cooking, and milk ,and let it simmer over low heat .
  7. Cook for about 30 mins.
  8. 8. Add sugar to taste and spices.

Jerk Sauce

Next to reggae music, "Jerk" style cooking is Jamaica's most famous export to the world.

INGREDIENTS :

  • 1/2 cup pimento( allspice berries)
  • 1/2+ cup packed brown sugar
  • 6-8 garlic cloves
  • 4-6 Scotch bonnet peppers
  • 1 tablespoon ground thyme or 2 tablespoons thyme leaves
  • 1-2 bunches escallions (green onions)
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 tablespoon soy sauce to moisten

METHOD:

  1. Put content in a food processor or blender and liquify
  2. Pour sauce in a Jar and keep refrigerated.
  3. The sauce will keep forever if kept refrigerated
  4. To increase spiciness blend pepper and pimento and add to sauce the hot peppers at any time.

Seasoning Instruction for Chicken

  • Leave skin on chicken
  • Rub the meat (chicken, pork or beef) with the seasoning.
  • With chicken, be sure to rub under skin and in cavities
  • Marinate overnight.

Seasoning Instruction for Pork or Beef

  • Rub the meat. If using a pork shoulder, make shallow cuts and rub in.
  • Marinate overnight.

Seasoning Instruction for Fish

  • Can also be used with fish, but use a "steak fish" like grouper, dolphin, king
  • Marinate overnight.

Cooking Instructions

  • Grill at lowest possible setting over a low fire until done.
  • Pimento (all spice) branches (this is what is used in Jamaica) mixed with charcoal is best. If not try to use an aromatic wood in the barbecue grill to enhance the flavor.
  • Chop meat into pieces, and serve traditionally with hard-dough bread

Sour Sop Drink

INGREDIENTS :

  • 1 pound sour sop peeled, seeded & sliced
  • 1.5 cups milk
  • 5 tablespoon sugar (add more or less to taste)
  • 1 cup crushed ice
  • 1 squeezed lime (optional)

METHOD:

  1. Blend the soursop, milk & sugar in blender.
  2. Add ice, lime & blend again till smooth. Add sugar if needed

Mango Lada

INGREDIENTS :

  • 4 ounces pureed fresh mango
  • .5 ounce coconut milk/creme de coconut
  • .5 ounce pineapple juice
  • 1 table spoon condensed milk (optional)

METHOD:

  1. Blend the pureed fresh mango, coconut milk/creme de coconut & pineapple juice.
  2. Add 10 cubes ice & blend again till smooth.
  3. Add condensed milk to sweeten if needed

Hardough Bread

INGREDIENTS :

  • 6 cups bread f lour
  • 1 pack yeast (about 2 tablespoons)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 pt warm water
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 4 ozs shortening
  • Milk or egg white for glazing

METHOD:

  1. Pour flour in warm bowl.
  2. Add shortening to flour & cut in with knife.
  3. Add yeast, sugar, and salt
  4. Add warm water
  5. Knead until soft and roll out
  6. Put in a warm place to rise approx. twice in size.
  7. Glaze with milk or egg white.
  8. Bake at 350F until done.

Jamaican Food Glossary

Ackee:photo
A handful of islands grow ackee as an ornamental tree, but only Jamaica looks at it as a tree that bears edible fruit. The ackee fruit is bright red. When ripe, it bursts open to reveal three large black seeds and bright yellow flesh. The flesh of the ackee is popular as a breakfast food throughout Jamaica. Ackee's scientific name, blighia sapida, comes from Captain Bligh, who introduced the plant to Jamaica from West Africa. Ackee is poisonous if eaten before it is fully mature and because of its toxicity, it is subject to import restrictions and may be hard to obtain in some countries. Never open an ackee pod; it will open itself when it ceases to be deadly. Ackee is sold canned in West Indian markets.

Allspice, Pimienta:
Dark-brown berry, similar in size to juniper, which combines the flavors of cinnamon, clove and nutmeg.

Annatto:
This slightly musky-flavored reddish yellow spice, ground from the seeds of a flowering tree, is native to the West Indies and the Latin tropics. Islanders store their annatto seeds in oil--giving the oil a beautiful color. Saffron or turmeric can be substituted.

Arrowroot:
Neutral tasting starch extracted from the root of tropical tubers, used as a last-minute thickening agent for sauces.

Bay Rum:
The bay rum tree is related to the evergreen that produces allspice. Used to flavor soups, stews and, particularly, blaff, the small dark bay rum berry is called "maleguetta pepper" in the French West Indies.

Beans, Peas:
Interchangeable terms for red kidney beans, black beans, black-eyed peas, pigeon peas (gandules), and yellow and green lentils. Often combined with rice, used in soups and stews or pulped and made into fritters.

Blue Marlin:
Jamaicans have little need for imported smoked salmon, as they enjoy their own classy variation from the nearby waters of the Gulf Stream. There's even a world-famous marlin tournament held in Port Antonio each year. The marlin that isn't immediately devoured as steaks is carried off to the smoker, where it takes on a milder salmon like flavor and texture that holds up well when thinly sliced.

Breadfruit:
Breadfruit was also introduced to Jamaica from its native Tahiti in 1793 by the infamous Captain Bligh. The breadfruit is a large green fruit, usually about 10 inches in diameter, with a pebbly green skin and potato-like flesh. Breadfruits are not edible until they are cooked and they can be used in place of any starchy vegetable, rice or pasta. Breadfruit is picked and eaten before it ripens and is typically served like squash--baked, grilled, fried, boiled or roasted after being stuffed with meat. It's even been known to turn up in preserves or in a beverage.

Callaloo:
Spelled half a dozen different ways, this colorful word turns up in Jamaican records as early as 1696. This leafy, spinach-like vegetable is typically prepared as one would prepare turnip or collard greens. This variety of callaloo Amaranthus viridis, better known as Chinese spinach or Indian kale, should not be confused with the callaloo found in the eastern Caribbean, which refers to the leaves of the dasheen plant.

Star Fruit:
Tart or acidy-sweet star-shaped fruit used in desserts, as a garnish for drinks, tossed into salads or cooked together with seafood.

Calabaza, West Indian Pumpkin:
Terms for a number of large squashes or pumpkins used in island stews and vegetable dishes. Hubbard and butternut squash are similar in flavor and make the best substitutes.

Cassava:
This tuber is also known as manioc and yucca. A rather large root vegetable with a 6- to 12-inch length and 2- to 3-inch diameter, cassava has a tough brown skin with a very firm white flesh. Both kinds of cassava can appear as meal, tapioca and farina and can be bought ready made as cassava or manioc meal, which is used to make bammy. Sweet cassava is boiled and eaten as a starch vegetable. Bitter cassava contains a poisonous acid that can be deadly and must be processed before it can be eaten. (This is done by boiling the root in water for at least 45 minutes and discarding the water). Alternatively, grate the cassava and place it in a muslin cloth, then squeeze out as much of the acid as possible before cooking. Bitter cassava is used commercially but is not sold unprocessed in some countries.