The traditional way of making this dish is using tender dasheen leaves. (Taro) This veggie version using baby spinach is so tasty. Whether eaten with dal and rice or hot sada roti, bhagi is one of my favourite vegetarian dishes. Yes, this version has salted cod in it. (fish)However, you can omit this to make a completely vegan dish.
You will need…
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups salted cod
1 medium sized onion (sliced)
6-8 garlic cloves (Crushing)
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 Birdseye Peppers (coarsely chopped)
2 pounds baby spinach (washed/drained)
salt (Please refer to the following)
1 medium sized tomato (Dice)
Note. Adding a tablespoon or two of coconut cream will add flavour. If spinach gives you an itchy throat, add half a lemon juice when off the heat. Watch the video below for more details on the recipe. If you are making this recipe gluten free, check the full ingredients list to ensure it meets your gluten free dietary requirements. I did not add any salt to this dish as the residual salt from the salted cod was enough to season it.
I recommend buying bone-in (Boneless) Cook salted cod or your favorite salted fish and learn how to prepare it using the video above. Essentially, you want to remove the salt used to salt it and rehydrate it a bit in the process, leaving it meaty and tender.
Heat the olive oil in a wide frying pan over medium heat and add the salted cod, onion, garlic and chilli. (I used Birdseye, but you can use as much of our favorite as we can tolerate). Add the black pepper and sauté over low heat for 3 to 4 minutes.
Reduce heat to medium and add the washed and drained spinach to the pot, stirring. You can also roughly chop the spinach; it may seem like a lot, but it will wilt as it cooks. Add it a little at a time, stirring constantly.
After a few minutes, everything will wilt and settle, and you’ll also notice a lot of liquid spurting out – this is normal.
Add the diced tomatoes and continue cooking over medium-low heat, uncovering the pot.
You can also add coconut cream at this point if you want to add even more flavor.
After about 20 minutes, all the liquid should be reduced. Increase the heat a little to burn off any remaining liquid. At this point, taste for salt and adjust to your liking.
If you like, you can finish it off with a splash of lemon juice as mentioned in the notes above. At the beginning of the article, I wrote about how delicious this dish is, but I forgot to mention that to really feel like you’re back in the Caribbean while savoring this dish, you must also serve it with lime or lemon pepper sauce.
