Cook this: Arctic-char-in-a-bannock-blanket from Nunavut cookbook

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Our cookbook of the week is Nirjutit Imaani: Edible Animals of the Sea by Nunavut Arctic College Media, with a foreword by Iqaluit chef Sheila Flaherty. Over the next two days, we’ll feature another recipe from the book and an interview with Flaherty.

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To try another recipe from the book, check out: Turbot tacos.

Chef Sheila Flaherty enjoys char in myriad forms — including raw, frozen, dried, smoked and baked — but this Arctic version of pigs in a blanket was new to her.

“I’ve never seen char wrapped in bannock. That’s unique,” says Flaherty of the recipe, which Allen Uttuqiaq and Pokkuk Koplomik in Cambridge Bay contributed to Nirjutit Imaani. “People have a real sense of experimenting, like I do, and going with new types of ways of preparing Inuit food.”

Arctic char — a cold-water relative of salmon and trout — is a staple Inuit country food that lends itself to various cooking and preservation methods. Likewise, the following bannock recipe, shared by the Kitikmeot Heritage Society in Cambridge Bay, is just one of many ways Inuit make the quick bread.

Article content

Bannock can be baked, cooked on the stove-top or deep-fried, yeasted or non-yeasted. In Inuit communities with a major river system that flows into the Arctic Ocean, Flaherty explains, there may be driftwood used to make bannock on a stick. Since her family is Inuvialuit from Tuktoyaktuk, north of Inuvik, she is most familiar with yeasted fried bannock. “The Inuvialuit way of making bannock uses yeast bread,” says Flaherty. “We call them doughnuts.”

Flaherty’s husband Jaani, on the other hand, grew up eating his late mother’s bannock, which she prepared in the style of her Nunavik homeland: non-yeasted, coiled and deep-fried until golden. In the 1950s, before Jaani was born, the Canadian government relocated his family from Inukjuak, Nunavik to Grise Fiord, Nunavut. Known as High Arctic exiles, Canada apologized “for the extreme hardship and suffering caused by the relocation” on Aug. 18, 2010.

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“His mom and dad at the time, they would long and pine for their homeland in Inukjuak,” says Flaherty. “It’s a totally different landscape. Not as abundant in the same types of food that would be available to them in Inukjuak. So, they had to learn a whole new way of providing food for the family. And it was really dire at times.”

When Flaherty first moved to Iqaluit, she spent some time tasting other people’s bannocks and experimenting with her own recipe. Eventually, she felt ready to attempt the coiled Nunavik-style bread Jaani loved, inaluujaq palaugaaq, which translates to “intestine bannock.”

“Jaani took a bite, and he was quiet. And I said, ‘Shoot, I need to get back to the drawing board.’ He was quiet and quiet, and then he said, ‘Love, you transported me right back to my childhood,’” says Flaherty, laughing.

Article content

“So, every household, every family has a different style. But then there are some styles that are very specific to a specific region.”

IQALUKPIK MUQPAUJAMI-QIPINGMI | ARCTIC-CHAR-IN-A-BANNOCK-BLANKET

Recipe from Allen Uttuqiaq and Pokkuk Koplomik in Cambridge Bay

1 batch Traditional Bannock (recipe follows, made through Step 2)
1 1/2 lb (680 g) Arctic char fillets
Seasoning salt, for sprinkling

For serving:
Mustard, or other dip of your choice

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C).

Step 2

Rinse the char and pat it dry with paper towel. Cut the char into 20 equal pieces that are approximately 1/2-inch thick. Set aside in the refrigerator while you prepare the bannock.

Step 3

Make the bannock dough (recipe follows, made through Step 2), then cut it into four even pieces. Roll these pieces into balls.

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Step 4

Working with one ball at a time, use a rolling pin to roll each piece of dough into a rectangle; it should be about 1/4-inch thick, and about 10 inches long by 5 inches wide. Cut this rectangular piece into five triangles (as shown in the diagram). Repeat for the remaining three balls of bannock dough, so that you end up with 20 bannock triangles.

Step 5

Remove the char from the refrigerator and sprinkle all sides of the fish with seasoning salt.

Step 6

For each Arctic-char-in-a-bannock-blanket, take one strip of char and line it up with the shortest side of the triangle. Roll the dough up and over the piece of char, then continue rolling it toward the opposite point of the triangle. Once it’s all rolled up, press the point of the triangle into the dough to secure it; if it’s not sticking, dab a bit of water under it and try again. Do this for the remaining pieces of fish and dough, placing each one on the baking sheet as you go, then sprinkle all of them with more seasoning salt.

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Step 7

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the bannock is lightly browned.

Step 8

Serve with mustard or any other dip of your choice.

Serves: 6 to 8, as an appetizer

MUQPAUJAQ | TRADITIONAL BANNOCK

Recipe from Kitikmeot Heritage Society in Cambridge Bay

2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp white sugar
2 pinches salt
2 tbsp shortening, plus 1/2 cup for frying
1/2 to 3/4 cup water

Step 1

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, white sugar and salt. Cut in the shortening with a knife, then use your hands to continue combining it with the flour mixture.

Step 2

Starting with just a 1/2 cup, slowly pour water into the flour and shortening mixture. Mix them together until a dough forms, only adding more water if it appears dry. It should not be too sticky, however — you want to be able to handle it with your hands.

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Step 3

Split the dough in half and flatten each piece into a circular shape, about 6 to 8 inches in diameter. Poke six holes in the dough (one in the middle and five around it). The holes should be about a 1/2 inch in diameter.

Step 4

Line a plate with paper towel, and set aside.

Step 5

In a medium or large frying pan over low-medium heat, melt the remaining 1/2 cup of shortening until the oil is hot. You can test whether it’s ready by tearing off a small piece of dough and putting it in the oil. If it starts bubbling immediately, the oil is hot enough for frying.

Step 6

Once the oil is hot, place the first piece of flattened dough into the centre of the frying pan. Watch it carefully, and flip it once the bannock puffs up and turns a light brown inside the holes, about 2 to 3 minutes. Fry the other side until it is golden brown.

Step 7

Remove carefully from the hot pan, and let cool at least a few minutes on the plate with paper towel before serving.

Serves: 4

Variation: Add 1/2 cup of your favourite dried fruits or nuts to the flour and shortening mixture before you add the water.

Recipes and images excerpted from Nirjutit Imaani: Edible Animals of the Sea published by Nunavut Arctic College Media. Text copyright © 2021 Nunavut Arctic College Media. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.

Article content

Our cookbook of the week is Nirjutit Imaani: Edible Animals of the Sea by Nunavut Arctic College Media, with a foreword by Iqaluit chef Sheila Flaherty. Over the next two days, we’ll feature another recipe from the book and an interview with Flaherty.

Article content

To try another recipe from the book, check out: Turbot tacos.

Chef Sheila Flaherty enjoys char in myriad forms — including raw, frozen, dried, smoked and baked — but this Arctic version of pigs in a blanket was new to her.

“I’ve never seen char wrapped in bannock. That’s unique,” says Flaherty of the recipe, which Allen Uttuqiaq and Pokkuk Koplomik in Cambridge Bay contributed to Nirjutit Imaani. “People have a real sense of experimenting, like I do, and going with new types of ways of preparing Inuit food.”

Arctic char — a cold-water relative of salmon and trout — is a staple Inuit country food that lends itself to various cooking and preservation methods. Likewise, the following bannock recipe, shared by the Kitikmeot Heritage Society in Cambridge Bay, is just one of many ways Inuit make the quick bread.

Article content

Bannock can be baked, cooked on the stove-top or deep-fried, yeasted or non-yeasted. In Inuit communities with a major river system that flows into the Arctic Ocean, Flaherty explains, there may be driftwood used to make bannock on a stick. Since her family is Inuvialuit from Tuktoyaktuk, north of Inuvik, she is most familiar with yeasted fried bannock. “The Inuvialuit way of making bannock uses yeast bread,” says Flaherty. “We call them doughnuts.”

Flaherty’s husband Jaani, on the other hand, grew up eating his late mother’s bannock, which she prepared in the style of her Nunavik homeland: non-yeasted, coiled and deep-fried until golden. In the 1950s, before Jaani was born, the Canadian government relocated his family from Inukjuak, Nunavik to Grise Fiord, Nunavut. Known as High Arctic exiles, Canada apologized “for the extreme hardship and suffering caused by the relocation” on Aug. 18, 2010.

Article content

“His mom and dad at the time, they would long and pine for their homeland in Inukjuak,” says Flaherty. “It’s a totally different landscape. Not as abundant in the same types of food that would be available to them in Inukjuak. So, they had to learn a whole new way of providing food for the family. And it was really dire at times.”

When Flaherty first moved to Iqaluit, she spent some time tasting other people’s bannocks and experimenting with her own recipe. Eventually, she felt ready to attempt the coiled Nunavik-style bread Jaani loved, inaluujaq palaugaaq, which translates to “intestine bannock.”

“Jaani took a bite, and he was quiet. And I said, ‘Shoot, I need to get back to the drawing board.’ He was quiet and quiet, and then he said, ‘Love, you transported me right back to my childhood,’” says Flaherty, laughing.

Article content

“So, every household, every family has a different style. But then there are some styles that are very specific to a specific region.”

IQALUKPIK MUQPAUJAMI-QIPINGMI | ARCTIC-CHAR-IN-A-BANNOCK-BLANKET

Recipe from Allen Uttuqiaq and Pokkuk Koplomik in Cambridge Bay

1 batch Traditional Bannock (recipe follows, made through Step 2)
1 1/2 lb (680 g) Arctic char fillets
Seasoning salt, for sprinkling

For serving:
Mustard, or other dip of your choice

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C).

Step 2

Rinse the char and pat it dry with paper towel. Cut the char into 20 equal pieces that are approximately 1/2-inch thick. Set aside in the refrigerator while you prepare the bannock.

Step 3

Make the bannock dough (recipe follows, made through Step 2), then cut it into four even pieces. Roll these pieces into balls.

Article content

Step 4

Working with one ball at a time, use a rolling pin to roll each piece of dough into a rectangle; it should be about 1/4-inch thick, and about 10 inches long by 5 inches wide. Cut this rectangular piece into five triangles (as shown in the diagram). Repeat for the remaining three balls of bannock dough, so that you end up with 20 bannock triangles.

Step 5

Remove the char from the refrigerator and sprinkle all sides of the fish with seasoning salt.

Step 6

For each Arctic-char-in-a-bannock-blanket, take one strip of char and line it up with the shortest side of the triangle. Roll the dough up and over the piece of char, then continue rolling it toward the opposite point of the triangle. Once it’s all rolled up, press the point of the triangle into the dough to secure it; if it’s not sticking, dab a bit of water under it and try again. Do this for the remaining pieces of fish and dough, placing each one on the baking sheet as you go, then sprinkle all of them with more seasoning salt.

Article content

Step 7

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the bannock is lightly browned.

Step 8

Serve with mustard or any other dip of your choice.

Serves: 6 to 8, as an appetizer

MUQPAUJAQ | TRADITIONAL BANNOCK

Recipe from Kitikmeot Heritage Society in Cambridge Bay

2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp white sugar
2 pinches salt
2 tbsp shortening, plus 1/2 cup for frying
1/2 to 3/4 cup water

Step 1

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, white sugar and salt. Cut in the shortening with a knife, then use your hands to continue combining it with the flour mixture.

Step 2

Starting with just a 1/2 cup, slowly pour water into the flour and shortening mixture. Mix them together until a dough forms, only adding more water if it appears dry. It should not be too sticky, however — you want to be able to handle it with your hands.

Article content

Step 3

Split the dough in half and flatten each piece into a circular shape, about 6 to 8 inches in diameter. Poke six holes in the dough (one in the middle and five around it). The holes should be about a 1/2 inch in diameter.

Step 4

Line a plate with paper towel, and set aside.

Step 5

In a medium or large frying pan over low-medium heat, melt the remaining 1/2 cup of shortening until the oil is hot. You can test whether it’s ready by tearing off a small piece of dough and putting it in the oil. If it starts bubbling immediately, the oil is hot enough for frying.

Step 6

Once the oil is hot, place the first piece of flattened dough into the centre of the frying pan. Watch it carefully, and flip it once the bannock puffs up and turns a light brown inside the holes, about 2 to 3 minutes. Fry the other side until it is golden brown.

Step 7

Remove carefully from the hot pan, and let cool at least a few minutes on the plate with paper towel before serving.

Serves: 4

Variation: Add 1/2 cup of your favourite dried fruits or nuts to the flour and shortening mixture before you add the water.

Recipes and images excerpted from Nirjutit Imaani: Edible Animals of the Sea published by Nunavut Arctic College Media. Text copyright © 2021 Nunavut Arctic College Media. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.