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jamaican green banana recipe

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Seafood

Green (fig) Bananas With Cabbage and Saltfish.

11 Comments on Green (fig) Bananas With Cabbage and Saltfish.

This green fig with saltfish recipe is a tribute to the wonderful people of St Lucia. On our first trip to St Lucia many moons ago I was fortunate to have something very  similar to this meal and I remember our hosts saying that it was their national dish. I never really confirmed this, as we were too caught-up in enjoying the great food and general hospitality of St Lucia. BTW, if you ever visit St Lucia and you’re ‘convinced’ that you should go to signal hill… make sure you’re in good shape. That trek up the hill had me craving oxygen! My time would have been better spent drinking a coconut at the Castries market.

It’s funny how when you’re a child on the islands you always think whatever your mom made was her recipe or creation… not knowing that up and down the chain of islands known as the Caribbean the same dishes are prepared for kids just like us by their mom. How could this be a popular dish in St Lucia when our mom was the only one who knew how to make it?

 

You’ll Need…

2 lbs green cooking bananas
pinch black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
1/4 scotch bonnet pepper
2 cups cabbage
2 sprigs thyme
2 tablespoon chopped parsley
3/4 cup saltfish
1 medium tomato

Notes. The salted fish will still have remaining salt, so keep this in mind when adding salt to the dish. Remember to wear gloves when handling scotch bonnet peppers and be sure to wash your hands with soap and water directly after. Green fig is simply green ‘cooking’ bananas.

You have 2 options when it comes to cooking the green fig (bananas), you can either peel them before boiling or peel after they’re done cooking. I’ll show you the simple method. Trim off the ends and discard, then using a sharp pairing knife cut a shallow cut (the thickness of the skin) down the length of the banana (follow one of the natural ridges). TIP: coat your hands with vegetable oil or wear gloves as the sap from the green bananas can stain or cause your hands to itch.

Place the trimmed bananas in a deep pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Then reduce to a rolling boil and let them cook for about 20 minutes. You’ll notice two things. They will darken (even go black) and where you made the cut, it will open up.

Drain and allow to cool so it’s easier to handle (peel).

The salt fish (salt cod in my case), was soaked in cool water, then drained. After which I placed it in a pot with about 4 cups of water and boiled for about 25 minutes.  We need to rehydrate the dried salted fish and remove most of the salt it was cured in. I usually get boned salted fish, so there’s never any bones to remove. Rinse with cool water and squeeze dry. Now shred into the size flakes yo like.

Chop/shred your cabbage, onion, tomato, garlic, thyme and parsley. Then heat the vegetable oil (you can also use olive or coconut oil) on a medium flame in a deep sauce pan. Add the flaked salted fish and turn the heat down to low. Let that cook for about 4 minutes as we want to create a lovely flavor base.

Now add the onion, garlic, scotch bonnet pepper, black pepper and thyme and let it cook for a further 3 minutes.

Toss in the shredded cabbage and give it a good stir. It’s also now time to add the boiled bananas (they should be cool enough to handle). The cut we made before boiling them would have opened up, so simply peel back and remove the skin. If you see any sort of stringy things, remove those as well. Now chop into 1 inch pieces and add to the pot and sprinkle in the salt.

Turn the heat up to med/low and make sure to mix everything well so the flavors coat the green bananas. After about 4 minutes (depending how cooked you want the cabbage… I like a little crunch) toss in the diced tomato and parsley, give it a stir, cover the pot and turn off the heat. Let the residual heat from the pot finish cooking things.

This is a one pot dish and there’s enough here for 2-3 people as a full meal. If it’s being used as a side it will be enough for about 5 people easily. I refer to such meals as “country” meals as it takes me back to when I was a carefree kid on the islands and life was very simple in our little village in the countryside.

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Seafood Vegetarian

A Tasty Caribbean Recipe Using Green Bananas.

75 Comments on A Tasty Caribbean Recipe Using Green Bananas.

 

This recipe is a combination of many things. It’s a take on a recipe my mom would make but instead of using canned salmon as I did, she would normally use pieces of salted cod. Then about a year ago I saw Levis Roots of “Reggae Reggae Sauce” sauce fame cook up a batch of this with the help of some kids… if you’re from the UK and watch the Dragon’s Den you’ll know who I mean. I think he also calls himself the “Dragon Slayer”! But he used fresh caught mackerel in his dish.

Knowing that I had green fig (bananas) in the fridge, I had a severe craving for this sort of “country” dish about 8 pm last night. With no salted fish in the fridge, nor mackerel… the wheels of creativity went spinning and I decided on using the canned salmon that peeked at me from behind the can of corned beef in the cupboard (Mr. Salmon learned not to play hide and seek with a grown man).  There’s no better motivation in the kitchen than a craving and hunger!

 

You’ll Need…

5-7 green bananas (known as green fig or cooking bananas in the Caribbean)
1/2 teaspoon salt (for boiling the green bananas)

1 medium tomato
1 medium onion
1 scallion (green onion / spring onion)
1 clove garlic
1/4 habanero pepper (scotch bonnet or any hot pepper you like)
1 tablespoon ketchup
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoon olive oil (any cooking oil you like)
1 sprig thyme (dash dried thyme)
Salt – optional (add as needed)
1 can pink salmon

Note: If you’re shopping for green bananas in North America, they will be called cooking bananas. If you can’t find them in your grocery store, do ask a clerk and don’t buy ordinary bananas that are not ripe yet. You’re looking for ones that are really firm, brilliant green in color and no blemishes. If you’re peeling these as I did before boiling, do wear gloves or coat your hands with cooking oil to prevent the sort of ‘milk’ to cause your hands to be sticky and possibly itch. Don’t get that ‘milk’ (sap) onto your clothes.

Since the green fig will require the most time to cook, go ahead and peel, scrape and rinse them. You can also cook them in the skin and peel after they’ve been boiled. In a deep pot put enough water to cover the bananas and bring to a boil. Then add the bananas and salt.. bring back to a rolling boil and allow to cook for about 20 minutes.

While this cooks, lets prepare the other ingredients. Wash and chop the tomato, scallion, habanero pepper, thyme.. don’t forget the garlic and onion as well.

With the bananas fully cooked, drain and allow to cool while we get things really started. In a large saucepan put the olive oil to heat on a medium heat, then add the onion, garlic and thyme. Let them cook on the medium/low heat for about 3-5 minutes. We’re trying to get the onion translucent and release the rich flavors of the garlic and thyme. Next add the green onion, pepper, tomato and black pepper. Let that cook for about 3 minutes.

The next step is to add the can of salmon, including the water it was packaged in and ketchup. Break it up into flaky chunks, give it a good stir and allow to come back up to a gentle simmer… cook for another couple minutes.

While this cooks, the bananas should be cool enough to touch. Cut them into bite-sized pieces and get ready to toss them into the pot.

The final step is to toss in the cut pieces of cooked bananas into the pot, give it a good stir and allow it to heat through with all the other ingredients in the pot (about -35 minutes) and you’re done.

Since the canned salmon is usually packaged with a ton of sodium I don’t feel the need to add any salt, but do taste ad add accordingly as I’m sure your tolerance for salt will be different than mine.

This is one of those versatile dishes that works for any time of the day (or night as in my case)… even breakfast. Growing up on the islands you know we love our BIG breakfast, so though you may find this a bit heavy to start the day.. a Caribbean man would appreciate this (hint ladies). BTW, there’s enough here for 3-4 people if you have some coconut bake or toast on the side or a complete meal for two people.

To make this dish fully vegetarian, you can omit the canned fish, but add a little butter when cooking the onion and garlic at the start.

Before you go I invite you to leave me your comments below.. even if it just to say hello. It’s always appreciated. And don’t forget to join us on facebook and do check out the cooking videos.

Happy Cooking!

Chris…