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Surinamese heri heri
Boiled roots with salt fish
Heri heri: boiled ground provisions with fried salt fish and egg
Heri heri is one of the oldest dishes in Suriname, rooted in the plantation era and still cooked by Afro-Surinamese families around Paramaribo, especially on Keti Koti (1 July), the day the end of slavery is remembered. It is plain, filling food: boiled cassava, plantain, sweet potato and tayer, with salted fish fried with onion, tomato and pepper, and a boiled egg on the side. The fish is soaked to remove excess salt, always in the fridge. People often boil all the roots together, so the plantain turns mushy while the cassava is still hard; add them in stages. Chef's tip: keep a little of the onion and tomato oil from the fish pan and spoon it over the roots.
- Total time
- 70 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
For the provisions
- 1 ⅛ lb cassava (yuca)peeled, cored and cut into chunks
- 14 oz sweet potatopeeled and cut into chunks
- 2 green plantainspeeled and cut into 3
- 1 ripe plantainpeeled and cut into 3
- 10 ½ oz eddoes or tayer (taro) (optional)peeled and halved
- 1 tsp salt
For the salt fish
- 10 ½ oz salted cod (bakkeljauw)soaked in the fridge for 12 hours, water changed twice
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 onionssliced
- 3 cloves garlicchopped
- 3 tomatoeschopped
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
To serve
- 4 eggs
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Method
0/7 doneStep 1: Drain 10 ½ oz salted cod (bakkeljauw), cover with fresh water, simmer for 10 minutes and drain. Cool, then flake, discarding skin and bones.
10 minStep 2: Put 1 ⅛ lb cassava (yuca) and 10 ½ oz eddoes or tayer (taro) in a large pan of water with 1 tsp salt and bring to the boil. After 10 minutes add 2 green plantains and 14 oz sweet potato; after another 5 minutes add 1 ripe plantain.
15 minStep 3: Simmer until everything is tender when pierced with a knife, about 10–15 minutes more. Drain and keep warm.
12 minStep 4: Meanwhile boil 4 eggs for 10 minutes, cool in cold water and peel.
10 minStep 5: Heat 3 tbsp vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry 2 onions until soft and golden, 8 minutes. Add 3 cloves garlic, 3 tomatoes and ½ Madame Jeanette or scotch bonnet chilli and cook for 5 minutes until saucy.
13 minStep 6: Add the fish and ½ tsp ground black pepper and fry, stirring, for 5 minutes until steaming hot and lightly crisp at the edges.
5 minStep 7: Arrange the provisions on plates with the fish, a halved egg and the pan juices spooned over.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 610 kcal
- Protein
- 33 g
- Carbs
- 92 g
- Fat
- 14 g
- Fibre
- 9 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does surinamese heri heri take?
- About 70 minutes in total: 25 minutes to prepare and 45 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of sweet potato?
- Sweet potato, same weight (sweeter, cooks a little faster).
- What can I use instead of onions?
- 2 shallots per onion.
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