Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Smoked Mackerel Salad or as we Trini call it: "Buljol" PHOTOS COMING SOON!!

Having Moved to the UK a few months ago, I began to crave many of the dishes from "down home"

Walking through the supermarket, I came across these beautiful smoked mackerel filets and knew right away what I was going to use them for........Buljol!

Buljol comes from the patois "Bruler Gueule" or translated as Burned Mouth, which means, as you may have already guessed that this is intended to be a peppery dish, but not necessarily so.

As with many traditional West Indian dishes, pepper is a key ingredient and can be used in any quantity as the "end user" sees fit!

I make mine fairly hot, but not unbearably so, as this dish is well liked by my kiddos as well (who are incidentally getting accustomed to, and appreciating the flavor of raw pepper)



This is a quick and easy and extremely healthy dish (due to high Omegas from the fish oil) which can be served as a snack which goes well with bread, roti or crackers or as a compliment to your scrambled eggs at breakfast time!




You will need:

5-6 smoked Mackerel filets

One medium onion rough chopped

Three plump medium tomatoes rough chopped

One yellow sweet pepper rough chopped

One small cucumber de seeded and chopped

2 Tbsp Olive oil

Juice of One lime or lemon

Fresh milled Black pepper

I Tbsp chopped Chives

Coriander leaves rough chopped

One Red Hot Habanero Pepper de seeded and quartered



Method:

Steep the mackerel filets in boiling hot water for five minutes to help soften them up, then drain and crush them with a fork.

Sprinkle fresh ground black pepper, add chopped onion and tomatoes, sweet peppers and cukes, chives and cilantro, lemon juice, olive oil and the hot pepper.

Mix and tumble with a fork.

Serve on Crackers or refrigerate in a re-sealable plastic container for later.

Keeps for at least two days but it neve sticks around our house that long!

I use my homemade chile oil instead of the plain E.V.O.O. to really crank up the heat (that way the kids eat less, so more for me!)

Bon Appetit!