Ackee-Style Salt Cod Scramble with Bell Pepper

Ingredients

• 8 oz Salt Cod, soaked and flaked
• 1 can (19 oz) ackee, drained (or 3 cups firm scrambled egg curds)
• 1 Bell Pepper, diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 scallions, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• ½ scotch bonnet, minced
• 3 tbsp coconut oil
• Black pepper
• Fried plantains, for serving

Method

1. If using salt cod, soak it in several changes of cold water for at least 4 hours, then boil 10 minutes, drain, and flake. Taste a shred — if it is still aggressively salty, boil it again in fresh water.
2. Warm the coconut oil and cook the onion, Bell Pepper, and scallions for 6 minutes until soft and sweet-smelling.
3. Add garlic, thyme, scotch bonnet, and tomato and cook 4 minutes until the tomato collapses into the vegetables.
4. Fold in the flaked Salt Cod and warm it through, then add the ackee last and turn it over gently no more than three or four times. Ackee has the texture of soft scrambled egg and shreds if you stir it.
5. Crack black pepper over — it rarely needs salt — and serve with fried plantains and a hard-dough roll.