Spicy fish or “fish harra where harra stands for spicy” is a traditional dish cooked differently throughout the various Lebanese regions. The version that I have comes from Tripoli, the capital of the North. By no means I can take any credit for it. It’s from my mum’s first (and only) cookbook; the one she got when she got married, like thirty years ago! To be fair to the taste, I wouldn’t have named the sauce spicy; cause it just isn’t! Maybe by increasing the red pepper flakes it would become, but as it is originally, I would describe it as garlicky, tahini-like with a hint of coriander. Spicy or not, it is so good and I don’t change a thing to the original recipe except using less oil and roasting the nuts instead of frying (obviously)!
When we had our friends over last week, I roasted a whole fish. We were so busy eating and talking that I forgot to take pictures until there was only the head and tail left! Anyway, it was so tasty that I recommend trying the recipe with a whole fish, but for the sake of convenience and time, you can always use fish fillets, which I have two days later, to eat my leftover sauce. For the fish, I asked the fish monger to clean it up and used Anne Burrell’s recipe to cook it. I cut a few slices through the skin on each side. After I seasoned it with salt and olive oil, I inserted cloves of garlic into the cuts. On an aluminium foil, I layered a bundle of parsley (you can use also oregano, thyme or a combination), a few slices of lemons and topped it with the fish. I stuffed the fish with more parsley, garlic cloves and a couple of bay leaves, topped the fish with lemon slices, added white wine (can use water) and sealed the foil. I then baked in a 200 degrees Celsius oven till it’s done. This depends on the size of the fish. I used around 2.5 kg (5 pounds) fish to serve 6 persons and it took around 45 minutes in the oven.
As I mentioned before, we had some leftover sauce, so two days later I baked a couple of fish fillets so that I can share the recipe with you. I just seasoned them with salt, black pepper and olive oil, topped them with lemon slices and a bay leaf. I didn’t seal the foil this time.
Ingredients for the sauce (served 6)
- 10 cloves of garlic
- 2 tablespoons ground coriander
- 1 medium onion, thinly diced
- 1 cup lemon juice
- 1 cup tahini, sesame paste
- 2 cups water
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 cup walnuts, crushed (optional)
- 1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
- 1/4 cup blanched almonds, toasted (optional)
Mash the garlic and coriander together. In a small skillet, heat a teaspoon of canola oil and saute the onion until translucent. Combine lemon juice, tahini, water and salt in a sauce pan and whisk until smooth. Heat the tahini mixture, stirring constantly, until it starts to boil. Lower the heat and leave to simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 10 minutes until small drops of sesame oil show on the surface and the mixture has thickened up a bit. Add the garlic and coriander mixture, the onions, the peppers and walnuts if using. Stir for a minute and remove off the heat. Spoon the sauce over the fish and sprinkle with the pine nuts and almonds. Serve and enjoy it hot!
Bon appetit 
Yep, guilty! But that was it. I’m guessing it wasn’t as detoxifying as I hoped it would be because I was in the same setting doing the same things while my iFriends eyed me with discontent, luring me into temptation. Next time I am unplugging, I am definitely changing scenery!
