\\Vegan Jamaican Salt Fish is a must-try recipe, as a vegan, I try to recreate the dishes that I enjoyed growing up, the flavors bring back warm memories of my mom’s cooking. She often served salt fish with Boiled Dumplings and Callaloo.
Vegan Jamaican Salt Fish
Saltfish or dry salted cod has been a staple in Jamaica. Our national dish is prepared with saltfish and ackee.
Cod was heavily salted to preserve them, for this reason it is important to soak the cod in water to remove the salt before it was cooked.
For this reason, the hearts of palm is soaked in brine before preparing. Hearts of palm can be found in most major supermarkets.
I was inspired to use the hearts of palm to substitute salt fish from my friend Jessica from Jessica In The Kitchen, who prepared it with her Vegan Ackee And Salt Fish Recipe.
What Are Hearts Of Palm?
Heart of palm comes from the inner core of certain varieties of palm trees, like coconut, palmetto, acai palm, and peach palm.
Heart of palm is rich in fiber, iron, zinc, potassium. It is great in salads and also Vegan Fish Tacos.
Ingredients For Vegan Jamaican Salt Fish
- Hearts Of Palm – found in most major supermarkets or on Amazon.
- Salt – I used Himalayan Pink Salt.
- Water – I used filtered water.
- Cooking Oil – use your favorite oil for cooking, I used coconut oil.
- Onion – added for flavor, use yellow or white onion.
- Garlic – 2 cloves of garlic minced are great.
- Thyme – I like to use fresh thyme, you can also dried thyme works great as well.
- Green Onion – the unique grassy flavor of the green onion is a must.
- Red Bell Pepper – added for beautiful color and sweet flavor.
- Scotch Bonnet Pepper – gives a unique flavor to this recipe, you can substitute with habanero or cayenne pepper.
- Tomato – a Roma tomato is great but any tomato will work fine.
- Black Pepper – I personally leave black pepper out but it gives an authentic flavor.
How To Cook Vegan Saltfish?
- Chop hearts of palm and place in a bowl. Add water to cover, stir in salt and allow to sit for about 1 hour.
- Drain hearts of palm and rinse, set aside.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in onion. garlic, thyme and cook until the onion is soft about 2 minutes.
- Stir in green onion, red bell pepper, Scotch bonnet pepper, and tomatoes. Cook for about 2 more minutes.
- Add the hearts of palm and stir. Cook the vegan saltfish until flavors meld and tomatoes are reduced, about 5 minutes.
- Season with salt and black pepper.
Other Tasty Jamaican Recipes To Prepare
- Jamaican Vegan Run Down
- Vegan Jamaican Sweet Potato Pudding
- Rice And Peas
- Stew Peas And Dumplings
- Jamaican Spice Bun
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Nutrition
(Per serving
)Cooking Time
Ingredients
- 1 (14-ounce) can hearts of palm
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 cups water
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme, or 1/4 teaspoon dried
- 1 green onion, chopped
- 1/2 medium red bell pepper, diced (optional)
- 1/4 Scotch Bonnet pepper, deseeded and chopped
- 1 small Roma tomato, chopped
- salt, to taste
- pinch of black pepper, optional
Instructions
- Chop hearts of palm and place in a bowl. Add water to cover, stir in salt and allow to sit for about 1 hour.
- Drain hearts of palm and rinse, set aside.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in onion. garlic, thyme and cook until the onion is soft about 2 minutes.
- Stir in green onion, red bell pepper, Scotch bonnet pepper, and tomatoes. Cook for about 2 more minutes.
- Add the hearts of palm and stir. Allow the vegan saltfish to cook until flavors meld and tomatoes are reduced.
- Season with salt and black pepper.
I loved it, such a great flavor!
I’m so happy you enjoyed it. Thank you Jenny.
I’ve never seen a scotch bonnet pepper. What can I use instead of it?
Habanero pepper is a great substitute or cayenne pepper.