Cuisine: Green fig and saltfish

The National Dish of St Lucia is green fig and saltfish (codfish).

Ingredients you will need

• 225 g salt cod


• coconut oil, or olive oil for frying


• 1 small onion, chopped


• 1 tbsp mild chillies, chopped


• 1 clove garlic, crushed


• 2 spring onions, sliced


• 2-3 tomatoes, deseeded and diced


• 2-3 drops hot pepper sauce, or to taste


• 2 green bananas, boiled until tender and skins have split, peeled and diced


• 1½ tbsp mayonnaise


• 1 handfuls herbs, coriander, parsley or Caribbean celery leaf.

Directions

For the green fig and saltfish

1. Prepare the salted cod by rinsing off the excess salt. Put into a pan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil then drain; repeat 2-3 times until the water is no longer salty. Remove the skin and bones and flake the flesh.


2. Heat a little oil in a large pan and gently fry the onion, seasoning peppers and garlic until softened. Add the spring onions and stir well.


3. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the prepared saltfish. Add the tomatoes and hot pepper sauce. Finally stir in the bananas and mayonnaise to bind. The dish shouldn’t need any more seasoning because of the saltfish. Serve sprinkled with fresh herbs.