Salt cod fritters (more commonly called ‘accras de morue’ in French) are traditional spicy appetizers, known all over the French West Indies. You can eat them on their own, or accompany them with ‘sauce chien’, another traditional Caribbean dish/sauce.
Serving: 25 fritters
Preparation time: 1h
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
- 400g of salt cod
- 300g of all-purpose flour
- 250ml of milk
- 1 tsp of baking soda
- 2 scallions, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves
- ½ bunch of flat parsley, very finely chopped
- 1 West Indian pepper, chopped
- Juice of 1 lime
- ½ tsp of salt
- ½ tsp of pepper
- Peanut oil (for frying)
Method
Desalting the cod
- Cut the cod into chunks and put them in a colander.
- Immerse the colander into a large container filled with water and put it in the refrigerator.
- Leave it for 24 hours, changing the water as often as possible.
Accras
- Cut the cod and add to a saucepan with one garlic clove. Cover with water. Bring to a boil.
- In a bowl, crumble cod finely, and remove bones if any.
- Chop the 2 raw garlic cloves and the blanched garlic clove.
- Mix cod, garlic, chives, peppers and parsley.
- In a large bowl, pour the flour. Make a well and pour half of the milk in the center.
- Mix gently and then slowly pour the remaining milk until reaching a semi thick batter of the same density as heavy cream.
- If the batter seems too liquid, add a little flour. If it is too thick, thin with a little water.
- Incorporate the cod mixture to the batter.
- In a bowl, put baking soda and pour the lemon juice over it. It will emulsify. Incorporate into the batter immediately so it rises.
- Let the dough rest for 1 hour in the refrigerator.
- In a skillet, heat a large oil bath.
- Pour batter with a spoon to form small fritters or form balls with well oiled hands.
- When the fritters are golden, remove them with a slotted spoon and let them drain 2 to 3 minutes on paper towels.
- Serve the fritters warm.
- Salt cod fritters will keep 48 hours in the refrigerator in an airtight container.