The national dish of St. Lucia; "green figs" are actually green bananas.
Ingredients
1lbSalt fish
1/4cupCoconut oil
1Large onion,chopped
4Garlic cloves,minced
1Sweet green bell pepperchopped
4-8Cayenne peppers,miced and/ or sliced and seeded
2tspThyme leaves
8Scallions
Salt & pepper to taste
"Green Figs"
8Green bananas
6cupsWater
Instructions
Preparing salt fish
Rinse the salt fish to remove excess surface salt. Place the salt fish in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 15 minutes. Drain water; refill the pot with fresh water and repeat boiling process for another 15 minutes.
Drain and set salt fish aside until cool enough to handle. Clean salt fish by removing all skin, scales and bones. Flake the cleaned salt fish and set aside. Depending on how much water was used and rinsed, you probably don't need to add any more salt to the final dish.
Preparing "Green Figs"
While the fish is cooling prepare the bananas. Cut the ends off the bananas and make a lengthwise slit from top to bottom of each banana, cutting through the skin to the meat of the banana. Place the bananas in a large pot of water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes. Drain, or if you want to preserve precious tank water, remove the bananas with tongs and place on a platter to cool. Keep the pot of water as you will be returning the bananas to the pot of water for a second boil.
Once cool, peel the bananas, slice into large diagonal thirds and place back into the pot of water. Again, bring the water to a boil and let simmer for another 15 minutes. Turn off the burner but keep the bananas in the hot water until ready to serve.
Vegetable mixture
Chop the peppers and onion; mince the garlic. Mince a 2-3 of the cayenne peppers. Cut long slits down the other peppers, keeping whole but removing as many seeds as possible...without touching the cayennes with your hands. (leaving them whole makes it easy for the chef and the diner to remove them.)