Jamaican Fish Tea Recipe

Fish tea isn’t tea. In Jamaica, “tea” can mean almost any hot drink, and fish tea is a thin, peppery fish broth you drink from a cup or a mug as much as eat from a bowl. It’s made from fish heads, fish backs or small whole fish, boiled with pimento and garlic, then finished with chocho, carrot, potato, thyme, scallion and a whole scotch bonnet. Soup stands sell it in cups, and plenty of Jamaican homes make a pot when there’s fish around.

Ingredients

• 2 lb (900 g) fish heads and backs (frames), or 3 to 4 small whole fish such as snapper, cleaned
• 1 lime, for washing the fish
• 8 cups (1.9 liters) water
• 12 pimento (allspice) berries
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 chocho (chayote), peeled and diced
• 2 medium carrots, diced
• 2 medium Irish (white) potatoes, peeled and diced, or 2 green bananas, peeled and sliced
• 1 cup (about 150 g) diced pumpkin (optional)
• 2 stalks scallion (green onion), crushed
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 whole scotch bonnet pepper
• 1 packet fish tea soup mix (optional)
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• Spinners or small boiled dumplings (optional, for a heartier pot)

How to make fish tea

1. Wash the fish in a bowl of water with the juice of the lime, then rinse.
2. Put the fish in a large pot with the water, half the pimento and 3 cloves of garlic. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until the fish is cooked and flakes easily.
3. Strain the broth into a clean pot or bowl and set the fish aside to cool. Return the broth to the pot with the rest of the pimento and garlic.
4. Add the chocho, carrot, potato (or green banana) and pumpkin. Cover and boil gently for about 20 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. If you’re adding dumplings or spinners, drop them in now.
5. While the vegetables cook, pick the flesh off the fish. Go slowly and feel for bones; fish heads and frames are full of small ones. Throw away the bones and skin.
6. Stir in the soup mix, if using. Add the fish flakes, scallion, thyme and the whole scotch bonnet, and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes more.
7. Taste, then season with salt and black pepper. Go easy on the salt if you used a soup mix. Take out the thyme stems and the pepper, and serve hot in cups or bowls.

Tips and swaps

• Which fish: any firm white fish works. Jamaicans use snapper, small reef fish, or the heads and backs left after a fish is filleted, which are cheap and make the best broth. Ask the fish counter for heads and frames; they’re often sold for stock.
• No chocho? Chayote is sold in many US and UK supermarkets. Zucchini works in a pinch; add it in the last 10 minutes so it doesn’t go to mush.
• Soup mix: Jamaican cooks often add a packet of fish tea soup mix for extra flavor; the Gleaner’s recipe uses one. Caribbean grocery stores abroad sell them. Without it, add a little more salt, pimento and thyme.
• Scotch bonnet: keep it whole and lift it out before serving. If it bursts, the soup gets very hot. Habanero is the closest substitute.
• Starter or meal: for a thin starter, leave out the potato and dumplings. For a meal, add green bananas, yam, pumpkin and dumplings.
• Making it ahead: the broth keeps in the fridge for a day; add the fish flakes when you reheat it.

Fish tea in Jamaica

Soup is a Saturday tradition in Jamaica, and soup stands keep the custom going through the week. The Gleaner’s profile of Thomas Swearing, the Kingston soup man known as “Real Life”, lists fish tea alongside his mannish water and red peas soup. If you’re staying in the capital, my Kingston guide covers the area. For fish cooked on the beach, Little Ochie at Alligator Pond is the classic, though it’s only partly open at the moment, so check before you go. For more soups and dishes, see my guide to Jamaican food, and for another Jamaican pot that feeds a family, try my Jamaican stew peas recipe.