Recipe & Video Mackerel in Coconut Sauce

[FowlersFreeTime]

I present to you Mackerel in Coconut Sauce.

This one is a riff on traditional Jamaican "Mackerel Rundown" but uses fresh ingredients instead of salted/preserved fish.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium-large fillet of Mackerel
  • You can use any fillet of fish though, and I have done this recipe with snapper and mahi in the past.
• 6 Cherry Tomatoes (halved)
• 1 Scotch Bonnet pepper (fine dice)
• 1/2 a head of Garlic (pressed)
• 1 medium Onion (sliced)
• 2-3 sprigs of fresh Thyme
• 2-3 stalks of Scallion
• 1 tin of Coconut Milk (remember to get the one without added sugar)
• Cornstarch (to coat the fish)
• Salt & Black Pepper.

Method:

1. First, build the sauce.
   1. In a small sauce pot, bring your coconut milk to a simmer.
   2. Add Scotch Bonnet Pepper and Scallions, Garlic, Tomatoes, and Thyme.
   3. Season with salt and pepper.
   4. Simmer this mixture for 15-20 minutes to reduce the volume and thicken the sauce
2. Meanwhile...
   1. Cut your fillets into portion size and season with Salt and Pepper.
   2. Coat fish filets in cornstarch.
3. In a large pan, lightly fry your fish, taking care not to break the fillets. You don't need to cook them the whole way through.
   1. Want a flavor bonus? Use coconut oil (instead of vegetable oil) in your frying pan to fry the fish and onion.
4. Remove the fish, set aside.
5. In the pan you used to fry the fish, add your onions to soften them a bit.
6. To this pan, pour in your coconut sauce mixture.
7. As the sauce continues to rapidly thicken, add the fish fillets.
8. Spoon the sauce over the fillets and continue to simmer for 3-5 minutes.

Serving tips:

• This should make enough for 2-3 helpings, or 4 if you have enough side dishes.
• I like it with jasmine rice, but traditionally in Jamaica, you might also get this with boiled dumplings, boiled green banana and boiled yam. Maybe even a piece of bammy or two.

Video:
I'm pretty proud of this video as I was able to show the process of catching and cooking. This is my current YouTube channel, so subscribe if you'd like

View: https://youtu.be/VaBXsRtajY0

 

[Morning Glory]

Great to see a Jamaican recipes here! I can't use coconut milk (intolerance) but I do appreciate the combination of ingredients here - especially my favourite Scotch bonnet.

 

[vernplum]

I learned something today. When I saw the fish I thought 'hmm - the Mackerel round here is sort of zebra striped' so did some Googling and found out that there are several types of Mackerel (which I never knew) and what you are using is known as 'Spanish Mackerel'.

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

I learned something today. When I saw the fish I thought 'hmm - the Mackerel round here is sort of zebra striped' so did some Googling and found out that there are several types of Mackerel (which I never knew) and what you are using is known as 'Spanish Mackerel'.

Yes! we've got 3 main varieties here in the Caribbean:

• Spanish Mackerel - delicate pale flesh, turns even more white when cooked, max size is 13lbs I think
  
  
• Cero Mackerel - often mistaken for Spanish Mackerel because the exterior only has a difference in dot-pattern on the skin. I find the flesh a bit paler than Spanish Mackerel and it makes for excellent sashimi as well as cooked dishes. State record is 17lbs.
  
  
• King Mackerel aka "Kingfish" - the big boy, gray flesh turns white when cooked, these guys get up to 100lbs! Largest one I've ever caught was probably 25lbs.
  
  

I believe in your part of the world you get the Pacific Mackerel, which we call chub mackerel, with the stripes on top.

I don't think they get as big as ours, but I imagine they would be excellent in any Jamaican dish that called for mackerel, and they would probably be nice as smoked fish too!