Saltfish & green banana fishcakes (Accra)

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Stephanie and Kirsty, my tasters, declared these to be “bomb dot com” I don’t think we can beat that.

Salt fish and green fig (the green bananas) is a national dish of St. Lucia. It used to be that salt fish was a poor man’s meal. Not so anymore. It is now being woven into all sorts of glamorous dishes even in posh restaurants. I don’t know why green bananas are called “figs” here but maybe it has to do with our French heritage.

Green figs are of course plain old bananas in their unripe state, but you do need to cook them in order to enjoy them like this. It’s actually quite surprising how different they are eaten cooked and as a savoury dish. Green figs are also deeply satisfying. Check out my other recipe Easy mid-week green fig.

 

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Salt fish comes desiccated and salted which is how it is preserved. So you must resuscitate it by rehydration. I let it soak and then change the water about 5 times. Sometimes the only salt fish available needs to have skin and bones removed. I was lucky this time with what I was able to find.

Makes enough for 5 people

400g cooked green fig (green bananas)

200g cooked salted fish (mine was cod)

3 or 4 sliced salad onions (scallions)

2 seasoning peppers (or 1 green chilli)

2 eggs

1 clove garlic

bunch coriander

75g (1/2 c) self rising flour

2 tsp baking powder

coconut oil for frying

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To cook the green figs, simply boil in lots of water in a roomy saucepan with a splash of oil to help protect your pan from the sap. There is no need to peel them first and its much easier once they are cooked to remove the skin.

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Once your ingredients are prepared, all you need do is place them all in the food processor and blitz until you have a uniform batter. Try not to over process though.

I shaped them by hand so I could get a nice round edge and could flatten them a bit, and I managed 18 spoonfuls from this quantity of batter.

Shallow fry until golden brown turning once.

Kirsty said she wished we had sweet chilli sauce to dip them into…..

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