I left
work this evening with the intention of going to my neighborhood Mexican grocer
to pick up something for dinner tomorrow, AND, of course, a six-pack of beer as
I did NOT get my drink on this weekend.
While
on the bus ride home I mused my options.
“Should
I get pork or chicken?” I thought to myself as the soundtrack from Saturday
Night Fever blared in my ears. “I mean,
I have that half-bottle of black bean seasoning in the fridge….I guess I could
do chicken and black-bean for dinner tomorrow….”
I got
off the bus and wandered to the grocer while fidgeting with my earphones – they
have been giving trouble as one of the wires had a short in it. I entered the store and went straight to the
meat section.
“Rass!”
I thought to myself. “Seven dolla’ fi
three degeh-degeh piece a’ mawgah chicken breast?! *kiss teet* Mi nah buy none…..”
(Translation: “Oh dear!.
Seven dollars for three skinny pieces of chicken breast? *sound of irritation/exasperation* I
don’t think I will buy this today…”)
I
checked out the other options available: cooked octopus (erm, no!), catfish
nuggets (yum, but HOW does one cook catfish nuggets? Don’t you have to deep-fry them or
something?), rancid looking tilapia….
Then I
saw it tucked away in the corner of the display. That elusive item I have been looking for
since I moved to my neighborhood.
Bacalao
Pollock Fillet.
“Rassclawt!”
I exclaimed loudly…..shoppers turning around briefly to glance at me. “Saltfish!”
Even
better- Canadian salt-fish!
The
grin on my face was immovable. I have
NOT seen or tasted salt-fish since….well, my last trip to Jamaica over a year
ago. You see, I live in a predominantly
Mexican neighborhood and I know they use salt-fish in some recipes, but I swear
I have never seen salt-fish sold in that grocer. Maybe I just wasn’t looking hard enough. I had always promised myself to travel to the
north of the city to buy salt-fish and patties from the Caribbean neighborhood
there but never got around to it. Now –
I can cross salt-fish off my ‘To-Do’ list.
Giggling
like the little girl I am, I collected the ingredients for my all-time
favorite: salt-fish fritters.
And mi
a go nyam salt fish fritters tonight, tomorrow and the day after!
My
mother’s recipe for salt-fish fritters altered by me for convenience:
1 ½
cup of flour (roughly)
Ground
black pepper
Salt-fish
(around ½ lb or more for chunkier fritters)
1
small onion sliced/diced
Escallion
– chopped
Tomato-
diced
1 egg
Hot
pepper sauce OR preferably thinly sliced pieces of scotch-bonnet pepper
Water
Copious
amounts of oil – preferably coconut.
Prep
salt-fish by cutting into small pieces,
Place salt-fish in microwave-safe bowl, rinse once, then cover with
water and nuke on HIGH for 5 minutes.
This will remove excess salt and semi-cook the fish. Let sit for 5 minutes, drain water, and
shred.
Put
the flour in a large bowl. Add black
pepper to taste. Or is you’re like me –
add black pepper until the flour looks gray.
Combine dry ingredients thoroughly.
Add water slowly to flour mixture until texture is similar to thick
pancake mix – not watery.
Add
egg, Mix/beat egg into mixture
thoroughly. Add hot pepper sauce/slice
scotch bonnet pepper to taste (nuh taste di raw egg mixture – just add what you
think is a tolerable amount of hot sauce…)
Stir in chopped onion and scallion.
Add diced tomatoes and shredded salt-fish.
Let
sit for ½ hour. (Even better – let sit
covered in fridge overnight – the spices and fish flavor permeate the flour
mixture and the result is positively ORGASMIC…)
Heat
frying pan. And oil. Nuff nuff. The more
the better. Those damn fritters absorb
oil better than those things used to sop-up crude oil from an oil spill
disaster in the Gulf.
Using
a spoon ladle portions of the batter to make three-inch diameter sized
portions. Lightly brown on each side
ensuring that the batter is cooked through to the center before removing from
pan. When cooked, remove from pan and
place on plate with paper towels to absorb excess oil.
Cool,
then nyam!
Below
is to be played while eating your tasty salt-fish fritters:
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