I would have never believed Ackee and Saltfish is an easy Jamaican recipe to try but I’m a believer now. It was love at first bite from the very first time I ever tasted Ackee and Saltfish! That was many years ago and one of many trips to one of my favorite countries in the Caribbean, Jamaica!
If you follow me, you know, I love coming to Jamaica. I’ve shared some of my favorite experiences in blog posts like these:
Why This Destination Should Be on Everyone’s Bucket List Now!
The info you need for a great time at Royalton Negril
Or my latest post, Little Known Restaurant With Amazing Food.
No matter what, whenever I come to Jamaica, if at all possible, my first meal is Ackee and Saltfish.
Time To Learn To Make This Easy Jamaican Recipe
Sincec we’re planning to be in Jamaica for a whole month, I really wanted to learn to make some of my favorite Jamaican dishes. Living in the South, I was already familiar with cooking oxtails. We do enjoy oxtails at home, too.
Though I’ve never done this at home, on this trip, I decided to combine some Jamaican oxtail leftovers with some good old Southern Grits.
Now as you will see on this Tiktok video, I was warned not to do it. But, I love remixing leftovers so here’s what happened.
Oxtails and Grits?
I’m happy to report, despite the warning, they turned out delicious!
The Ingredients To This Easy Jamaican Recipe
You’ll see the ingredients to this easy Jamaican dish listed in the next few images. On the image above, you can see the Salt fish and The Scallions. You don’t see Salt Fish that often in the States so it was interesting to see it. Also the scallions were literally, the longest I had ever seen!
In addition to the scallions, ideally you would also include some onion. Unfortunately, I discovered I already used the last of the onion so I had to leave out the onion. Though I don’t know that it affected the flavor too much.
By the way, if you’re curious what it’s like inside of a Jamaican Grocery Store, check out this TikTok video I made about it.
Fresh Tomatoes And Garlic
At the store I was only able to find Roma tomatoes but I suspect you could use any kind. Also, since we love garlic, I added some extra for good measure.
Peppers Matter In This Easy Jamaican Recipe!
One thing about it is, Jamaicans love them some Scotch Bonnet Peppers! It seems like they put them in some of everything. And while we like slightly spicy food, I wasn’t so sure we’re Scotch Bonnet Pepper spicy kind of people.
So, I elected to leave them out. But, if you like your food spicy, I suggest you give them a try. You can typically find them relatively easily at major grocery stores. You can also typically find them at ethnic food stores.
Choose Your Seasonings
I think seasonings can be a matter of personal taste and preference. For example, Black Pepper is part of the recipe I found. However, one of my favorite seasonings wasn’t. I’ve been a long time fan of what we call “Morton’s Yellow” in our family. The real name is actually, Morton’s Nature’s Seasonings Blend.
In fact, I brought that and some Quaker Old Fashioned Grits to Jamaica with me. Having been grocery shopping here before, I knew I may not find those things.
Now For The Main Ingredient In This Easy Jamaican Recipe
While I used canned ackee, you can use fresh ackee if you can find it. If you do choose to use fresh, make sure you know which parts are poisonous.
You can see ackee on an ackee tree and find out how to identify the poisonous part in this TikTok video I did.
The Other Main Ingredient In this Easy Jamaican Recipe
You’ll need to cover the salt fish in water and cook it for about 20 minutes. Your goal is to boil out the excessive salt in this easy Jamaican recipe.
Chopping Up The Veggies
Choose Your Preferred Style of Callalou
To save time with this already easy Jamaican recipe, I opted to buy shredded callalou instead of whole callalou. Then I just had to rinse it before cooking it.
Since I’m a true Southern woman, I used bacon grease to sautee the vegetables and the callalou in this easy Jamaican recipe.
Putting It All Together
Time To Eat This Delicious and Easy Jamaican Recipe
I am very happy to report I nailed it! The Ackee and Saltfish was delicious! And, honestly, I really thought this would be a difficult and time consuming process.
Fortunately, it wasn’t. It’s really an easy Jamaican recipe you should try. Especially if you like ackee and saltfish.
This Beautiful Location!
One of my favorite things about this condo I found on VRBO is this amazing view. I’ve gotten so many questions about it, I’ve put the link to it here.
The Complete Video
Want To See More Of Jamaica?
If you’re on TikTok, I invite you to follow me there, for my Month In Jamaica playlist. If you’re not, don’t worry, I’ll bring some of the content to the blogs, too.
So, until next time,
Namaste,
Khadeeja
