Recipe

North America🇰🇳 Saint Kitts and NevisBasseterre
Stewed Saltfish with Dumplings
Kittitian · medium · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 30 min
~568 cal · 53g protein · 57g carbs · 12g fat (estimated, per serving)
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Stewed saltfish with boiled dumplings
🇰🇳 Basseterre
Stewed saltfish is the heart of the St. Kitts and Nevis national dish. Salt cod is simmered with tomato, onion, sweet pepper, and thyme into a savory stew and served at breakfast with boiled flour dumplings and ground provisions like breadfruit or green banana.
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Ingredients
Serves 4
10 oz salt cod (saltfish), soaked and flaked
1 onion
2 tomato
1 sweet pepper
2 sprigs thyme
3 cloves garlic
1/2 Scotch bonnet
2 cups flour (for dumplings)
3 tbsp neutral oil
to taste black pepper
Instructions
1
Soak and boil the saltfish to remove excess salt, then drain, flake, and set aside.
2
Sauté the onion, garlic, sweet pepper, thyme, and Scotch bonnet in oil, then add the tomato and cook down.
3
Stir in the flaked saltfish and a splash of water and simmer 10 minutes into a savory stew.
4
Meanwhile knead the flour with water and salt, roll into dumplings, boil until they float, and serve with the stew.
St. Kitts and Nevis national breakfast.
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🌏 While it simmers — know your destination
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Basseterre. A Caribbean capital that slow-cooks goat water on weekends.
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Saint Kitts and Nevis. A two-island federation that simmers goat water on Saturdays.
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North America. A collision of Indigenous, colonial, and immigrant tables.
The story behind this dish is up top — worth a read while the pot works.
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Richard Moore & Kelsey Tucker
Recipes cooked, tested, and researched by the creators of Spin the Globe. How we build our recipes →
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