These authentic Bajan Salt Fish cakes are traditionally served in Barbados for breakfast. They are often served with sweet breads or pastries, but they are also just eaten by themselves. Another preferred method of eating them, a sort of Barbadian “fast food” is to pick them up at a restaurant in sandwich form – known on the island as having a “bread and two”.
Bajan Salt Fish cakes are also considered a great finger food at parties, and are served in many restaurants as an appetizer.
(Photo Attributed to Author: phototram)
Authentic Bajan Salt Fish Cakes Recipe-
Ingredients:
- 1 medium-sized white or yellow onion, peeled and diced fine
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup water
- 1 lb. skinless, boneless salt cod fish
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1 Thai Birds-eye hot chili pepper, chopped fine (leave seed in, if you want extra spicy-hot cakes)
- Fresh parsley, thyme and marjoram, chopped fine
- vegetable oil, enough for deep frying
- Bajan Hot Pepper Sauce, for condiment
Directions:
- First, you must prepare the salted cod. To do this, boil the fish in 6 cups of water for about 4 minutes. Discard the water, refill the pot with fresh water, and boil again – this time for about 3 minutes.
- Use a fork to flake the fish meat into tiny bits.
- Combine the flaked fish with all the other ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Stir the mixture until a thick batter forms. You may need to add more flour or water, in order to get the right consistency. It should be much like a slightly loose bread dough.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high flame. You should have enough oil in the skillet that the depth of the oil will almost completely cover the cake balls when you fry them.
- When the oil is sizzling hot, drop in the batter, one tablespoon at a time. Take care to not crowd the pan – the cakes should not be touching each other. Watch them as they fry, if they start burning, turn the heat down some. Keep frying them, turning over now and then, until a rich golden brown outside and cooked all the way through.
- As the cakes get finished frying, use a slotted kitchen spoon to remove them from the oil and place them on a paper towel lined tray to drain.
- Serve your Authentic Bajan Salt Fish Cakes while nice and hot! If you are eating them by themselves, be sure to have some traditional Barbados pepper sauce on the table for dipping – extremely tasty!
Note: this recipe is just one of many, taken from our Smallest Countries Worldwide Cuisines pages.
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Looks like a winner to me! I’m having fun getting into Caribbean cuisine, so this and all the recipes on this site are just great – thanks so much!
Margo, you are very welcome. Enjoy cooking up some great Caribbean dishes!