My dad loved steamed fish. It appeared in my experience he been with them constantly, it had become his favorite breakfast meal. With eco-friendly bananas or yam. I believe this practice of his of eating by doing this in the morning was while he increased in rural Jamaica in which a substantial breakfast was common.
I had been no fan of steamed fish. I favor my fish fried as crispy as chips so the bones snap after i grip them.
Go forward many years later and I’m dating. The man I’m seeing T continues concerning the steamed fish at Little Ochie. Initially, I figured he was speaking about someplace near Ocho Rios since, in your area, everybody calls it &"Ochie.&" He then explains it’s a cafe or restaurant which has the very best sea food in Jamaica. What is stand out relating to this particular restaurant, I wondered. I am talking about, any midway decent housewife or chef understands how to steam fish. It wasn’t brain surgery and so i wasn’t impressed.
Early one Sunday morning, T required me there. Used plastic cups, utensils, and food-streaked styrofoam plates have been thrown carelessly within the beach area fronting district. Might the big black loudspeakers which were hoisted on stands at either finish from the beach stated that the dance had put the previous night. Employees was busy putting things in order.
T strutted right to the rear, as though he'd shares within the restaurant, where the fish were stored in buckets full of ice. Then he described that I needed to select the fish I needed. I selected an attractive red snapper. Once the chef requested, I told him I needed it with bammie, a set bread, like Pita, that’s produced from cassava. (By itself, bammie’s pretty bland. It is also soft however it’s an excellent accompaniment to fish it’s typically eaten with escoveitch fish. Additionally, it sticks out when coupled with steamed fish, using its soft texture, mixture of spices, and scrumptious gravy, although it will absorb the gravy.)
T wouldn’t learn about the bammie and spoken me into getting my fish with Excelsior Water Crackers. a tough cracker having a dent in the centre that's been a standard feature of the Jamaican diet in excess of a century. Unlike the bammie, Excelsior Water Crackers fully stand up well in from gravies and jam, to butter and meats. I’d didn't have it with steamed fish before but made the decision to try it out.
Back at our table inside a thatched covered boat, we anxiously waited for that meal to reach. It did, about half an hour later, covered in transparent wrap to safeguard it from sand and spills.
My eyes bulged. It was not my father’s steamed fish, away from the least! The fish, cooked whole and organized on the large plate, was almost included in strips of carrot, chopped okra, and slices of potato and cho cho (christophene or chayote). Crackers lined home plate as an embroidered collar.
All of the ingredients were cooked together, allowing the juices in the fish and vegetables to combine using the scallion, thyme, peppers and onions. Pimento (allspice) berries, using its mixture of cinnamon, clove, pepper, ginger root and nutmeg, gave it a pleasant warm, almost woodsy, flavor. The vegetables were soft although not mushy, the fish firm and succulent. I ate everything, including my words, that morning. I needed to admit, it had been the very best steamed fish I’d had.
Steamed Fish with potato, carrots, okra, bammie
I’ve been to Little Ochie several occasions since that time and, except when lobster’s in season, it’s the steamed fish I order sometimes with crackers, other occasions with bammie. It tastes likewise because it did that Sunday morning.
Steamed Fish, Jamaican Style
1 large snapper, scaled, gutted and cleaned
A couple of okras, chopped
1 cho cho, julienned
1 carrot, julienned
1 large onion, sliced
2 stalks of escallion
1 sprig of thyme
Crushed pimento grains and black peppercorns
1 tablespoons of margarine
Fish seasoning to taste
Salt to taste
Excelsior Water Crackers (optional I observed it’s on Amazon . com!)
Slice the cleaned fish and season with pepper, salt, and fish seasoning.
Increase a sizable pot roughly just one cup . 5 water (or even more as needed) sufficient to pay for the fish.
Next add the rest of the ingredients and canopy the pot tightly.
Simmer over medium heat before the fish and vegetables are cooked (roughly twenty minutes, the treatment depends around the thickness from the fish, so eyeball it).
Add crackers in the finish.
Note: I modified this recipe which i located on the Jamaica Observer site.
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