Christiane’s Creole Salmon
A secret creamy, cononuty and spinachy Caribbean recipe best cooked alongside Zouk music by Kassav' from the early 1980s.
Welcome to recipes from diaspo(ra)
Every week we’ll share a recipe that you won’t find anywhere else.
These dishes are heirlooms—passed down from one generation to another. And these are stories of people bridging “here” and “home” through the food they inherited.
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Christiane grew up in Martinique, amidst a supply of “fresh fish, fresh fresh, fresh fish” from her dad’s fishnets.
Her earliest memory of food was soon after she was able to hold an onion; in the kitchen. As one sister peeled a carrot, she peeled an onion, cooking together in pairs or in fours. They also cleaned together, making sure the pots didn’t have traces of charcoal. Everyone was always involved in cooking.
Food in Martinique is an excuse for a celebration. Or, the other way around. The baby’s first tooth, or first steps, or just anything and everything is a reason for people to come together and cook. When Christiane is making food here in London, she says she literally feels like back home - all the “drums, Calypso, steel pans, carnival”. She adds, that sharing recipes is a way for her to be proud of what she represents, and where she comes from.
To dip your toe in Martinique’s culture, Christiane suggests two things. One, listening to Zouk, a very soothing and relaxing genre of music that, in her words, is “not noisy like certain other music”. Two, the Creole cloth madras colours. It’s a local costume - that visibly signifies Creole culture.
The Recipe
Here’s what you’ll need for a group of 4. (Christiane gets them from Ridley Street Market in London)
4 salmon fillets
1 tin of coconut milk
1 red onion
6-8 okras
1 small bag of spinach
1 small tray of mushrooms
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp all-purpose seasoning
2-3 tbsp oil
1 tomato
1 tsp cayenne pepper (skip if you don’t fancy too much heat)
3 tbsp plain flour (to coat salmon)
Steps
Put the flour and a little all-purpose seasoning in a bag with the salmon pieces and mix until well-coated.
Warm a little oil in the pan and fry the salmon, while cutting all your vegetables.
Once the fish is fried, take it out of the pan and put it aside on tissue paper.
Keep the remaining oil and fry your onions until they’re translucent. Then, tomatoes and mushrooms.
After a few minutes, pour coconut milk and mix.
Turn down the fire, add turmeric, garlic powder, black pepper, paprika, cayenne pepper, and all-purpose seasoning and stir. Taste for salt and add the okra.
After a few minutes, add spinach (be sure to wash it), increase the heat, and cover with a lid. It cooks in its steam.
Once the spinach has wilted, give it a stir, push away the vegetables, and put the salmon pieces individually in the sauce. Then take the vegetables and cover the salmon with them.
Let it cook for 5-10 minutes. Serve with couscous or rice.
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Happy cooking, and see you next week.