Bahamian Fish Stew

The kick on this dish is a good breakfast wake up call. Bahamian Fish Stew is a very simple Bahamian breakfast dish prepared with pan fried fish cooked in a toasted roux sauce.

This is my first Bahamian recipe on this site, thanks to Sonny Side from Best Ever Food Review Show who introduced this dish on his channel when he visited one of the locals’ residences, at first, I thought this dish was for dinner and was surprised it was usually served for breakfast or Brunch, but there’s no stopping you to enjoy it at any time of the day. This stew is quite simple, perfect for those who have a few moments to cook during breakfast, all you need to do is pan fry the fish then cook it in a thick sauce made browned flour with sauteed onions and tomato paste sometimes with carrots and potatoes. This is then usually served with grits and/or Johnny cake.

Quite a tasty dish, in fact this reminds me of having sardines in the morning, a popular breakfast item back in the Philippines, but instead of being tangy like the sardines this one has that smoky taste because of the browned flour. I love this dish, in fact I will be adding it to my usual breakfast list and to further save time, I will pan fry the fish the night before that breakfast, so all I need to do is the sauce, the next morning, making it even easier to prepare.

Bahamian Fish Stew

★★★★★ 5 from 1 reviews

• Author: Raymund
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 35 mins
• Total Time: 50 mins
• Yield: 3 1x
• Category: Main Course
• Cuisine: Bahamian

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Description

Bahamian Fish Stew is a very simple Bahamian breakfast dish prepared with pan fried fish cooked in a toasted roux sauce.

 

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

Stew

• 1 kg white flesh fish (I used snapper), whole or slice, your personal preference
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1/2 cup flour
• 4 cups water
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
• 1 spring fresh thyme
• freshly ground black pepper
• salt
• 1/3 cup oil

Dry Rub

• 1 birds’ eye or Serrano chillies, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp salt

Marinade

• 4 pcs whole allspice
• 2 large oranges, choose the sour variety
• 3 pcs limes
• 1 birds’ eye or Serrano chillies, finely chopped

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Instructions

1. Rub your fish with the dry rub ingredients, inside and out. Set it aside for 10 minutes in a bowl.
2. Prepare your marinade by combining all marinade ingredients. Pour marinade into the dry rubbed fish, making sure the liquid is evenly distributed. Let it marinate for 10 minutes.
3. In a large pan, heat the oil in medium heat. Sauté onions, celery and thyme for 2 minutes, using a slotted spoon remove vegetables then set it aside.
4. Bring heat to medium high, pat dry the fish, reserve any marinade, then gently lower the fish into the pan. Fry for 3-4 minutes on each side, you don’t need to fully cook the fish, we just need to brown the outer layer.
5. Remove the fish from the pan, lower heat then add the flour. Cook flour in oil while constantly stirring until it becomes brown in colour.
6. Slowly add water 1/4 cup at a time while continuously mixing, cook until it start to thicken and even in consistency. Once it starts to thicken, add the tomato paste, mix well to combine.
7. Add back the reserved vegetables together with the fish into the pan, bring it to a boil then put heat to low, simmer for 15 minutes.
8. Pour a tablespoon of the reserved marinade, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper then serve.

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