Country 15 - Barbados

Barbados is an island in the Lesser Antilles region of the Caribbean. It is 21 miles long and 14 miles wide and the nearest island is the Windward Island which is 104 miles away.                                                 

Barbados was inhabited by the Kalinago people in the thirteenth century and before that by Amerindians. It was visited by Spanish explorers in the 15th century and claimed by the Spanish crown but then British settlers arrived in the 1600's and it became a British colony. It became an independent state in 1966.

The culture of Barbados is a blend of African, Creole, Indian and British. The national dish is cou-cou and flying fish with a spicy gravy.

We were unable to find flying fish locally so we made Myrna Taylor's Bajan fishcakes with Barbadian Pickled Cucumbers and 'Fancy Coleslaw'.

I made the pickled cucumber first so that it had time to marinade. I used a potato peeler to thinly slice the cucumber and then mixed it with grated onion, lime juice, salt, parsley and a small amount of scotch bonnet chilli. A quick observation here - in our local supermarkets you can only buy chillies in sealed packets. This week I needed one scotch bonnet chilli but I had to buy 5 million (well 8 anyway) - seriously who eats that many scotch bonnet chillies!!!!???? 😳

                             

The finished pickled cucumber dish.

Next onto making the Fancy Coleslaw. I was struggling to find vegetable dishes to go with the fishcakes and then I remembered we had bought this cookery book whilst on holiday in Jamaica. It has dishes from the many different countries in the Caribbean. The coleslaw is meant to be a Carribbean standard recipe so it fit well here.

                         

You use 1 cup shredded cabbage, 1 cup grated carrot, 1/2 cup shredded fresh coconut 😁, a chopped onion (I used spring onions), 1/2 cup chopped pineapple, 2 tbsp raisins (you can also add 1/2 tsp of Scotch Bonnet, I didn't) all of this is dressed with 2 tbsp of brown sugar (I used honey instead and just 1 tbsp), 1 tbsp of white wine vinegar and about 1 cup of mayonnaise. It then needs to be chilled and stays crunchy for a couple of days.

The coleslaw ready to be chilled in the fridge.

                    

I haven't used salt cod before although it is very popular locally so I was excited to use it for this recipe. It was so hard and salty I was convinced the fish cakes were going to be too salty. It had to be boiled for 20 minutes and then rinsed in cold water. Of course I let it boil over and my cooker hob became very salty - I am still washing it off!

       

Into a large bowl I put flour, baking powder, chopped spring onions, thyme. some chopped Scotch Bonnet and garlic.

              

Then I flaked the unsalted salt cod over the top. 

Then I added one egg, cooked diced potato and 1/2 cup of water and stirred everything together to make a lumpy batter. 

This was a totally new way of making fishcakes and I was sure a recipe for a sticky burnt mess in the frying pan!

I heated some oil in the pan and dropped tablespoons of

 the mixture into the oil.

LOOK!!!! They didn't stick! 

We made two dipping sauces; Mary Rose or thousand island and a mixture of mayonnaise and sriracha. The recipe suggested ketchup, hot sauce, tamarind sauce or mayonnaise.

The finished fishcakes.

I forgot to take a photo of the meal before we started eating so here is a photo of when I had nearly finished eating!

It might have been only Tuesday but the sun was shining and we had ginger beer and coconut rum so what were we to do?

Verdict? MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM! The fishcakes were very light and airy and with just enough chilli for it to give subtle heat and the coleslaw is my new favourite slaw. Not so sure about the cucumber. I am not a lover of cucumber and Gary doesn't like it at all - this recipe didn't change our minds. 
I think I may try making 'normal' fishcakes using this recipe but adding bits of bacon instead of chilli.