Breadfruit Cou-Cou

The Bajan cou-cou made with boiled breadfruit in place of cornmeal, turned in the pot with butter and onion into a smooth mound and served with flying fish steamed in a Creole sauce

Origin: Bridgetown & Barbados

From the journey of Breadfruit.

Cou-cou is the national dish of Barbados in its cornmeal form, turned with okra and a cou-cou stick until it is stiff, and the atlas carries it as such. Breadfruit cou-cou is its sibling. Breadfruit is boiled until soft and then turned in the pot with butter, onion, and some of its cooking water into a smooth, dense mash, shaped in a buttered bowl, and served with flying fish steamed in a Creole sauce of tomato, onion, sweet pepper, herbs, and lime. The technique, a stiff starch turned in the pot and eaten with a sauce, is generally traced to the fufu and funji of West and West-Central Africa, so the dish makes a Pacific fruit into a West African meal on a Caribbean island. Breadfruit most probably reached Barbados from the botanic garden at St Vincent, which propagated Bligh's plants after 1793 and supplied the British islands with them; the record consulted here does not give the date or the ship. It became a household tree in Barbados as elsewhere in the Eastern Caribbean, and Bajan cooks treat it much as they treat green banana and sweet potato, as a starch to be boiled, roasted, fried, or turned into cou-cou.

Ingredients

Cou-cou

1 mature breadfruit (about 1.2 kg), peeled, cored, and cut into chunks
1 tsp salt
60 g butter, plus extra for the bowl
1 small onion, finely chopped

Flying fish

8 flying fish fillets, or 4 small fillets of any firm white fish
1 lime
2 tbsp Bajan seasoning (a paste of spring onion, thyme, marjoram, parsley, garlic, and hot pepper)

Creole sauce

2 tbsp butter
1 onion, sliced
1 sweet pepper, sliced
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
2 sprigs of thyme
250 ml water

Method

Rub the fish with the juice of half the lime, rinse, pat dry, and coat with the Bajan seasoning. Leave while you make the sauce.
Boil the breadfruit in salted water for 25 to 30 minutes, until very soft. Reserve a cup of the cooking water and drain the rest.
For the sauce, soften the onion and sweet pepper in the butter, add the tomatoes, garlic, and thyme, and cook for 5 minutes. Add the water, bring to a simmer, and lay the fish in the sauce. Cover and steam for 6 to 8 minutes, until just cooked. Finish with the rest of the lime juice.
Meanwhile soften the chopped onion in the butter, add the drained breadfruit, and crush and turn it over a low heat with a wooden spoon, adding reserved cooking water a little at a time, until it is smooth, dense, and pulls away from the pot.
Spoon the cou-cou into a buttered bowl, turn it out on to a warm plate, and serve with the fish and plenty of the sauce.

Notes

The cornmeal and okra cou-cou is a separate recipe in the atlas. Flying fish are sold frozen and boned in Caribbean grocers.

The Gastrographer

Name: Breadfruit Cou-Cou
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Bridgetown & Barbados
Ingredients: 1 mature breadfruit (about 1.2 kg), peeled, cored, and cut into chunks; 1 tsp salt; 60 g butter, plus extra for the bowl; 1 small onion, finely chopped; 8 flying fish fillets, or 4 small fillets of any firm white fish; 1 lime; 2 tbsp Bajan seasoning (a paste of spring onion, thyme, marjoram, parsley, garlic, and hot pepper); 2 tbsp butter; 1 onion, sliced; 1 sweet pepper, sliced; 2 tomatoes, chopped; 1 garlic clove, chopped; 2 sprigs of thyme; 250 ml water

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control