Ackee Fried Rice

Almost didn't blog this evening although this was the dish I had planned since yesterday when I realised I'd have loads of left over rice. The evening wore on and my appetite wasn't great, and even less was my desire to do some more of the same old cooking stuff but eventually I started to get hungry and while rooting around for something more interesting realised that this was as good as it was going to get. I'm glad I thought that, because it's rather nice.

Ackee are the arils of a tropical tree and a staple food in Jamaica, you can read all about them on wiki which will explain that it's almost as exciting as eating puffer fish. Actually, there's little to fear and the ill effects are almost never fatal unless you are already in poor health. My tin, because they are only available in cold climates in a canned form, was a bit past its date. This isn't because it was part of the batch I was given but because we'd been saving it for a special occasion. That moment came tonight!

Fry a little onion in some oil, add some chopped fresh tomato (except I only had tinned), a crushed clove of garlic, a finely chopped green chilli (adjust to taste), some lemon thyme (or ordinary thyme) and some tarragon. You only need to take the rawness away. Add your drained ackee. They are very soft and in order to preserve the look of the dish should just be gently shaken into the sauce.

This is my way of making fried rice which never sticks and always works. Take your day old, refrigerated rice and crumble it over the top of the food in the pan. Break down any lumps and sprinkle evenly until everything is covered. Cover the pan and leave over a low heat for the rice and ackee to heat through.

Then, turn up the heat and stir the rice into everything else. You'll need to be extra specially careful with the ackee but usually a vigorous stir fry action is fine.

Decorate with some finely chopped spring onion greens or chives.