Bammy

Ingredients

Bammy

• 1 kgbitter or sweet cassava, peeled and finely grated
• 1½ tsp salt

To soak and fry

• 400 mlcoconut milk
• ½ tspsalt
• 4 tbspcoconut or vegetable oil

To serve

• fried fish, ackee and saltfish, or escovitch

Directions

1. Peel the cassava, removing the pink underskin entirely, and cut out the woody core. Grate it finely.
2. Wrap the grated cassava in a clean cloth or muslin and wring it out hard over a bowl, squeezing out as much liquid as you possibly can. This step is not optional and it is not only about texture: bitter cassava contains cyanogenic compounds that are carried off in that liquid, and it must be discarded, never used.
3. Fluff the pressed cassava with your fingers and mix in the salt. It should be a damp crumb, not a dough.
4. Heat a heavy frying pan over medium heat, without oil. Press a handful of the crumb into a 12 cm round about 1 cm thick inside a ring or with your hands, pressing firmly so it holds.
5. Cook 5–6 minutes a side. It will knit together as the starch cooks and can be turned once the underside is set and speckled. Do not press it flat while cooking.
6. Repeat with the rest. Cool the cooked bammies slightly.
7. Warm the coconut milk with the salt and soak each bammy in it for 3–5 minutes, turning once. They drink it up and go tender.
8. Fry the soaked bammies in the oil for 2 minutes a side until golden at the edges. Serve hot with fried fish.

Technique

• Always discard the pressed liquid and never use the raw grated cassava in anything uncooked. Cassava must be processed and cooked.
• The soak in coconut milk is what turns a dry, dense disc into something worth eating. Skipping it gives the reputation bammy sometimes has.
• Press the round firmly. Loosely packed bammy crumbles when turned.

Substitutions

• Ready-made bammies are sold frozen across Jamaica and abroad, and only need the soak and fry.
• Sweet cassava is easier to source and needs the same pressing.

Variations

• Small bammies, sold as a snack with escovitch fish.
• A version soaked in salted water rather than coconut milk, plainer and more everyday.

History

Flatbread of pressed grated cassava, a Taino food that survived the Spanish period and is now soaked in coconut milk and fried.

Frequently asked questions

What is Bammy?

Bammy is a bread & pastry from Jamaica: cassava flatbread soaked in coconut milk, then fried. Flatbread of pressed grated cassava, a Taino food that survived the Spanish period and is now soaked in coconut milk and fried.

How long does Bammy take to make?

Bammy takes 40 min of preparation and 25 min of cooking. The recipe makes 6 bammies. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Bammy?

Yes, within limits. Ready-made bammies are sold frozen across Jamaica and abroad, and only need the soak and fry. Sweet cassava is easier to source and needs the same pressing.

What is the most important thing to get right in Bammy?

Wrap the grated cassava in a clean cloth or muslin and wring it out hard over a bowl, squeezing out as much liquid as you possibly can. This step is not optional and it is not only about texture: bitter cassava contains cyanogenic compounds that are carried off in that liquid, and it must be discarded, never used.