National Dishes of the World

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Cou-cou and flying fish
Photo: KINGBROBLOXZZZ, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

main dish

Cou-cou and flying fish

Smooth cornmeal and okra served with flying fish steamed in a spicy sauce of tomatoes, onion and herbs.

Eaten in: Barbados

Prep
30 min
Cooking
40 min
Resting
30 min
Total
1 h 40 min
Servings
4

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About the dish

Cou-cou and flying fish is the national dish of Barbados. Cou-cou is a thick, smooth cornmeal porridge cooked with okra and stirred hard with a flat wooden stick until it comes away from the sides of the pot – a close cousin of West African porridges and of fungee from Antigua. It is paired with flying fish, the island's emblem: fillets rubbed with Bajan seasoning and lime are steamed in a sauce of onion, tomato, sweet pepper, thyme and hot pepper. The cou-cou is shaped in a bowl into a smooth dome, with the fish and plenty of sauce alongside. In Barbados the dish is traditionally served on Fridays, and flying fish are also fried in batter and tucked into rolls known as cutters.

Main ingredients

  • flying fish
  • cornmeal
  • okra
  • tomatoes
  • onion
  • thyme
  • lime
  • hot pepper

Barbados: The national dish of Barbados, traditionally eaten on Fridays.

More: Wikipedia (en)

Recipe

Cou-cou and flying fish

https://foodmap.ominuvo.com/dish/cou-cou-and-flying-fish

Ingredients

4 servings

4 servings

Method

  1. Sprinkle the fish with lime juice, rub with salt and Bajan seasoning, roll up the fillets and leave for 30 minutes.

  2. Mix the cornmeal with 500 ml cold water and leave it to soak.

  3. Slice the okra into thin rounds and boil in 500 ml salted water for 8 minutes. Pour half the cooking liquid into a bowl.

  4. Pour the soaked cornmeal into the pot with the okra and cook over low heat, stirring hard with a wooden spoon, for 15–20 minutes until smooth and it starts to come away from the sides. If it gets too stiff, add some of the reserved liquid. Finally stir in a tablespoon of butter.

  5. Meanwhile fry the sliced onion and pepper in butter, add the chopped tomatoes, tomato purée and 150 ml water and simmer for 5 minutes.

  6. Lay the rolled fillets in the sauce, cover and simmer for 8–10 minutes until tender. Season with salt and pepper.

  7. Shape the cou-cou in a greased bowl into a dome, turn it out onto a plate and serve with the fish and sauce.