Loaded with protein, fibre and vitamin C the ackee is the national fruit of Jamaica and is a bit like marmite – you either love it or hate it – and I love it! Thank you to my friend Tracey for cooking this yesterday and reminding me just how good it tastes, cooked with Caribbean sunshine flavours. The humble ackee is also full of vitamin A which supports the immune system and has antioxidant properties that can also fight inflammation. It is a soft fruit when cooked and looks like scrambled eggs and you will probably only find the tinned variety in the UK, which is fine and at approximately £1.70 a tin it’s also super cheap! Give this recipe a try – it’s a great breakfast and side dish 🙂

Ingredients
1 x 540g tin of Ackee in salt water – drained and rinsed in hot water
2 x tbsp rapeseed oil (or any other plant based oil without a strong flavour)
1/2 x onion – finely chopped
1 x large tomato  – diced
2 x large spring onion – finely chopped
1 x clove or garlic – crushed 
1/2 x red bell pepper – sliced
1/2 x yellow bell pepper sliced
2-3  x sprigs of dried thyme
hot pepper sauce or 1/4 of a scotch bonnet pepper – seeds removed – finely sliced (adjust to your resilience for spice!)
Salt & pepper to taste

Optional extras: sliced mushrooms

Method 
In a pan, gently warm the oil and saute the onion, spring onion, garlic, hot pepper sauce or scotch bonnet (depending on which you are using) and the thyme. Gently saute for about 5 minutes and then add in the sliced peppers and the diced tomato.
Fry all the ingredients together until they are softened and the aroma of thyme is filling your kitchen.
Now add in the drained and rinsed ackee – and very carefully combine the ingredients together (the ackee will become like mush of you are too heavy handed). Season with salt and black pepper. Fry for about another 5 minutes until everything is hot and combined.

I would serve this with rice and fried plantain  – or even a little piece of hard dough bread to mop it all up! Enjoy 🙂