Jamaica: vegan bammy and ackee

This week we visit Jamaica, one of the larger islands in the Caribbean. For our visit, we cook a vegan recipe for Jamaica’s national dish ackee and saltfish. This vegan version of the Jamaican classic is served alongside bammies – coconut-soaked fried cassava cakes.

Jamaican cuisine

As Jamaica is an island in the Caribbean, it comes as no surprise that their cuisine is typical Caribbean. While not the most populous island among their Caribbean neighbours, Jamaica is one of the larger nations and Jamaican food has become famous across the world, maybe more famous than the cuisine of the other Caribbean countries. Many of the dishes associated with Jamaican cuisine are widespread across the Caribbean which is not surprising as the similar climate and history of the islands has helped shape the cuisines across the region. Local ingredients are adapted to the cuisines of the numerous peoples to inhabit the islands such as the original Arawak people, peoples forcibly moved from West Africa during the transatlantic slave trade, European colonial powers (the Spanish and British in the case of Jamaica) and Indian and Chinese indentured servants that arrived to replace slave labour once slavery was abolished ​[1], [2]​.

Apart from popular animals like fish, pig and goat, you will find a lot of interesting plants in the Jamaican kitchen (interesting from a growing-up-in-Northern-Europe perspective). Just like in Trinidad and Tobago, you’ll find ground provisions: starchy fruits and tubers like breadfruit, plantain, taro, unripe bananas, and sweet potato. These filling and easy to grow crops are often used interchangeably in meals. Other plants used are leafy greens (e.g. callaloo or taro leaves), coconut, beans, rice, tomatoes, peppers and onion. In the spice department, all of the contributing waves of peoples to arrive can be seen. You will find thyme combined with scotch bonnet or habanero, and warm spices like nutmeg, cinnamon and in particular allspice (often called pimento in Jamaica).

Famous Jamaican dishes

The waves of peoples arriving on Jamaica and mixing their traditional dishes and adapting them to the local vegetation has created a wide and interesting array of dishes to try ​[3]–[5]​. You ave the famous jerk where an ingredient (usually goat or another animal) is marinated in spices including scotch bonnet, thyme and allspice and then smoked. Jamaican patties are quite similar to Latin American empanadas but with more and different spices. Ground provisions are often fried or boiled to create side dishes like fried plantain or baked breadfruit while leafy greens are stewed in coconut milk to create callaloo. Beans are often boiled with rice to create peas and rice. Different curries and soups are also common.

Bammy and vegan ackee

For this virtual visit to Jamaica, I decided to cook vegan ackee and saltfish. Ackee and saltfish, a kind of scramble or saute of saltfish and the fruit ackee (see below) has come to claim the title of Jamaica’s national dish ​[6]–[8]​. Saltfish is salted and dehydrated white fish which is often rehydrated by boiling prior to adding to food and is popular throughout many Caribbean nations. To make ackee and saltfish, vegetables like onion, pepper and tomato are fried with scotch bonnet, thyme and ground pimento (allspice) before the fish is added. The ackee is added towards the end to preserve its delicate structure as much as possible ​[6]–[8]​.

To make a vegan version, you can omit the saltfish or try to replace it with heart of palm and seaweed ​[9]​, mushrooms ​[10]​, or seitan ham with liquid smoke ​[11]​. I chose to not substitute the saltfish as I want to let the ackee be the hero of the dish. Ackee and saltfish is typically eaten for breakfast along with one or several Jamaican classic side dishes like peas and rice, fried plantain, boiled ground provisions, steamed cabbage or bammies.

Bammy – a vegan cassava cake in coconut milk

Bammies are simple cassava cakes or dry breads with roots in the pre-Columbian cuisine of the Arawak people who lived on many of the Carribean islands before Europeans set foot there. Bammies are made by grating cassava root (also known as yuca), pressing out the water and forming the resulting damp flour into cakes or patties which are then baked on the stove or in the oven ​[12]–[14]​. If you live near a well-stocked Caribbean store, you might be able to take a shortcut by buying these cakes as is, letting you avoid dealing with the tough cassava root ​[15]​. To serve, the cakes are usually soaked in coconut milk and fried in oil.

Ackee

Ackee is a fruit from the soapberry family and is related to both lychee and longan fruit. The unripe fruit is poisonous but once ripe and cooked, it is safe to eat ​[16]​. Originally from West Africa, the tree was brought to the Caribbean hundreds of years ago and has become Jamaica’s national fruit ​​[17]​​. Buying fresh ackee outside of countries where it is grown might be very challenging and I have never seen any version that is not canned. Even finding the canned version might be challenging depending on where you live so you might have to call or visit a few stores if you want to try it. On the plus side, the canned ackee was ripe when picked and has been cooked so you won’t be poisoned ​[18]​!

The fruit itself looks very peculiar and I find it a bit reminiscent of an alien with big black eyes from some old scifi movie. The seed is surrounded by a pale yellow fleshy part (called the aril) and this is what is eaten. There are a few different cultivars (slightly different versions of a plant, just like Royal Gala and Granny Smith are both apples but different) of ackee and they have slightly different colour, flavour and especially softness, ranging from quite soft to a bit firmer, sometimes referred to as butter ackee (soft) or cheese ackee (hard) ​[17]​. The softer versions are great for baking and smoothies while the firmer versions (which is what you’ll likely find in a can) is better for frying. The ackee aril contains about 15% fat and 4% each of carbohydrates and protein, making it soft and creamy, a bit firmer than soft tofu but you still easily mushable ​[19]​. For comparison, avocado also contains around 15% fat but half the amount of protein and twice the carbs ​[20]​. The ackee flavour is quite hard to describe. It is mild and a little nutty and I found it a bit reminiscent of mung bean sprouts but with less earthy freshness.

Cassava

Cassava, or yuca, is the main ingredient for bammy. This popular root is however poisonous if not prepared properly so be a bit careful ​[21]​. But if it is cooked thoroughly, the toxic compound that is degraded to cyanide in your body will be destroyed. The recipes I read for bammies just grated the root and then fried the bammies 9-10 min per side in a dry skillet. I decided to bake at 175C for 35 min before frying in oil. Just to be on the safe side.

Conclusion

This was quite a dish to try with two to me new ingredients. I’ve never had ackee before and I’ve never cooked with cassava from scratch. The idea of cooking one poisonous plant and serving it with another poisonus plant feels a little bit scary, even though it is quite safe if you just cook it through. (And the canned ackee is already cooked; I even tried a few straight from the can.) If you haven’t tried ackee before and you do manage to find a can, I think you should try this dish as it is likely unlike anything you had before.

Jamaican vegan recipe

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Bammy and ackee

Ackee and saltfish is the National dish of Jamaica. This vegan version omits the saltfish and is served with coconut-marinated, fried bammies – a type of cassava flat bread.

Course Breakfast

Cuisine carribbean, Jamaican

Keyword ackee, cassava, coconut

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Ingredients

Bammy

• 700 g cassava, fresh uncooked cassava is poisonous
• 100 mL coconut milk
• oil

Ackee

• 1 can ackee
• ½ red onion, sliced
• ½-1 scotch bonnet or habanero, cut in half or other hot pepper
• ½ bell pepper, sliced 100 g
• 1-2 small tomato, sliced 100 g
• 2 scallions, sliced
• 1 tsp dried thyme, or a few sprigs fresh
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 2-3 corns allspice, ground optional
• oil
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste

Instructions

Bammies

• Set oven to 175C (350F).
• Peel the cassava using a knife. It is tough and you will remove a bit if the white part.
• Grate cassava finely or use a food processor.
• Collect the grated cassava in a cheese cloth or a nutmilk bag. Wring out all the liquid. (You can keep this and use the starchy water for something else.)
• Transfer the almost dry, grated cassava to a bowl and season with salt.
• Form the cassava into patties or cakes, about 1 cm thick and 5-8 cm in diameter.
• Bake the bammies in the oven at 175C (350F) for 30-35 minutes, flipping them halfway through.
• Once the bammies are baked, it is time to soak them in coconut milk. Place the bammies in a bowl (stacking them is ok) and cover with coconut milk.

  Let sit for a few minutes.
• Finally, fry the bammies in a hot pan with oil.

Ackee

• While the bammies are in the oven, prepare the ackee.
• Heat oil in a pan on medium. Fry onion and garlic lightly ntil translucent.
• Add all the vegetables (including chili) except for the green part of the scallions and the ackee.
• Fry until vegetables are starting to go soft, about 5-10 min.
• Stir in pepper, thyme and allspice (if using). Wait with salt as the ackee are stored in salt water.
• Stir in ackee and green part of scallions and heat through. Stir carefully to preserve the ackee intact, as much as possible. Taste and adjust seasoning.