Barbudian fish wata
Wata is a light fish soup from Barbuda, the small sister island of Antigua – it’s flavoured with earthy green seasoning, fiery scotch bonnet and zingy ginger. This recipe comes from Brixton restaurant, Caribe’
Ingredient:
- 2 whole snapper or sea bream, cleaned, gutted, descaled and cut into 3-4 pieces (keep the heads and tails)
- 2 limes, 1 juiced, 1 cut into wedges
- 3 tbsp green seasoning
- ground to make 1 tsp whole black peppercorns
- 1 litre fish stock
- a few sprigs thyme
- 1 scotch bonnet, left whole
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- a thumb-sized piece ginger, peeled and finely grated
- 3 spring onions, finely sliced
- a few bay leaves
- 1 tsp pimento seeds (allspice)
- 1 medium tomato, diced
- 1 medium (about 200g) potato
- 1 green banana
- 2 (about 200g) carrots
- 5 okra, sliced
- 1-2 tbsp butter
- chopped to make 1 tbsp coriander
Recipe Direction :
- STEP 1
Put the fish in a large bowl and cover in the lime juice. Toss to combine, then rinse well with cold water. Transfer to a clean, large bowl. Add 2 tbsp of the green seasoning, 2 tsp of salt and the pepper. Mix to coat the fish, then leave to marinate while you prepare the other ingredients.
- STEP 2
For the soup base, pour the stock into a pan with the remaining green seasoning, the thyme, scotch bonnet, garlic, ginger, spring onions, bay, pimento and tomato. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook while you prepare the ground provisions.
- STEP 3
Peel and dice the potato, green banana and carrots, ensuring everything is about the same size so it cooks evenly. Add the veg to the broth and cook for 5 minutes until starting to soften.
- STEP 4
Add the fish and all the left-over marinade from the bowl. Cook for a further 5-8 minutes. In the final few minutes, add the okra and butter. Once the okra is tender, the fish wata is ready. Serve hot, topped with the coriander, and lime wedges on the side for squeezing over.