In Israel, this type of fish is served as one of the options for an appetizer at nearly any nice catered affair you will go to. Since we are not Sephardim (despite my deep love of the people and cuisine) I generally serve this nicely spiced but not spicy. My Sephardi friends might despair of me, but they love me anyway 🙂 .

I have two nieces and a nephew who married Moroccans and a Yemenite and I was rubbing my hands with glee (never mind that they are lovely people, it’s about the food, baby) to try their recipes. Forget about it. They smiled at me blankly and said, well, I’m not so into the cooking and yadda yadda yadda. For my niece Chayli, I still had hope. Yinon, her hubby is a proper Moroccan with a serious cook for a mother. So when I wanted a recipe for this fish, I turned to her. So she said, sure! Doda! (Auntie). And sent me a recipe she got off the internet. Really Chayl? I sighed disheartened and did what I always do. I fiddled around with a few different versions till I came up with one I consider fairly authentic if not spicy hot. Whatever the case, it’s delicious and DH who grumbled at me since he thought it’d be a waste of salmon, looked at me happily surprised, forked up a few more bites and said, I would eat this again. Huh, high praise indeed.

It’s not a difficult recipe at all and the scent will make you sniff your way to the kitchen and float into your seat.

Start with either salmon, cod, sea bass or other firm fleshed fish. I chose salmon since I served it on Shabbat and it’s a festive sorta fish.

I had a nice big fillet but decided it’s an appetizer so I cut it a bit thinner.

Make sure you rinse well and put aside.

Now prepare the sauce. Slice up four cloves of garlic, a nice sized red pepper chopped, carrots peeled and chopped, a lemon squeezed, a can of chickpeas and a can of tomato sauce.

Grate the tomatoes coarsely. Put the garlic in the oil in the pan and bring to the lowest simmer and simmer garlic a minute, take off the fire, then add the spices and barely warm them in the oil

and then add the grated tomato, the tomato sauce and the undrained can of chickpeas. Squeeze the lemon juice into the pan, catching the pits and toss pits and lemon rind (some people toss it in with the sauce, I find it makes it bitter) parsley, chopped red pepper and carrots.

Add all the ingredients but the salmon (or other fish). Stir together and let cook on low heat till it burbles and starts to thicken up nicely. The tomato will break down in the sauce and make sure your carrots are fully cooked and soft. Once the carrots are soft (not before since they can take so much time that the fish will be done and your carrots are a bit hard, no no, they must be lusciously soft and tender) then lay your fish into the thickish sauce, submerging the pieces nicely and cover the pot and cook on low heat about 15 minutes for appetizer sized fillets and 20 minutes for larger. Immediately remove from fire and take off the lid to prevent overcooking unless you will serve right away but still take off the fire, just keep covered.

Serve with bulgur, rice or couscous and spoon lots of sauce on each persons plate. It might be a good idea to have challah and/or pita to mop up the sauce with. Just sayin’.

Moroccan Fish In Tomato Sauce with Chickpeas

3-4 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic sliced
3 carrots peeled and sliced thin
1 red pepper coarsely chopped
1 rounded teaspoon salt
2 rounded teaspoons cumin
2 rounded teaspoons turmeric
1 tablespoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 – 1 teaspoon crushed hot pepper (optional, for those who must have it spicy hot)
Juice of a whole lemon (about 3 tablespoons)
1 can undrained chickpeas
1 can tomato sauce 15 ounces
2 tomatoes grated or chopped
1 bunch parsley
1 1/2 kilo (just shy of 3 1/2 pounds) salmon or other meaty fish (cod or other thick cut fish, sea bass is also good)

Directions:

Slice the fish into thin or thick or fillets depending on if you wish it to be an appetizer or main dish, set aside.

Put the oil in a pan large enough to hold the fish and all the other ingredients and then put the sliced garlic into the oil and let it just come to low simmer. Immediately remove it from the heat. Add the spices one after the other and put it back on the fire for another minute or just until the spices are warmed in the oil and remove from the heat again. Then add all the other ingredients except for the fish, stir together and cook over low heat for about 20 to 30 minutes or till a nice thick sauce forms and the carrots are completely tender (it may take longer, just make sure your carrots are tender).

Take the sliced fish and according to thin or thick, cook it for between 15 minutes for thin to 20 minutes for thicker, making sure not to over cook the fish. Immediately remove from the fire and take the pot lid off immediately after cooking unless serving immediately. Then leave cover on but remove from flame. Serve hot with bulgur ( The Joys of Bulgur or Burgul or Cracked Wheat…) , rice ( Excellent Basic Brown Rice ) or couscous ( Fluffy Couscous ).

A note, I try not to add any additional water to the pan so as to keep the sauce nice and thick, but if you must, add 1/3 cup to prevent the sauce from sticking or burning.