Fish

Chilli fish with tahini

Name: Chilli fish with tahini
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 800g blue-eye cod (or other firm white fish), either 4 steaks on the bone, or 4 fillets; ¼ cup (60ml) olive oil; 1-2 red chillies, chopped crossways into 2cm-long chunks, most seeds removed; 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced; 1 tsp caraway seeds, plus ¼ tsp to serve; 1 dried ancho chilli, seeded, torn into 5cm pieces (or 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika); 1kg plum tomatoes, cut into 1cm dice; 2 tbs tomato paste; ½ tsp caster sugar; 50g tahini; 1 tbs lemon juice; 5g coriander leaves, roughly chopped

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by Yotam Ottolenghi

Aug 20, 2018

“I make double the tomato sauce and keep half in the fridge for a week, or the freezer for a month, to make this dish twice or serve it alongside grilled chicken or veg” - Yotam Ottolenghi. This is an edited extract from Ottolenghi Simple by Yotam Ottolenghi with photography by Jonathan Lovekin (Ebury Press, $49.99).

800g blue-eye cod (or other firm white fish), either 4 steaks on the bone, or 4 fillets
¼ cup (60ml) olive oil
1-2 red chillies, chopped crossways into 2cm-long chunks, most seeds removed
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tsp caraway seeds, plus ¼ tsp to serve
1 dried ancho chilli, seeded, torn into 5cm pieces (or 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika)
1kg plum tomatoes, cut into 1cm dice
2 tbs tomato paste
½ tsp caster sugar
50g tahini
1 tbs lemon juice
5g coriander leaves, roughly chopped

Method

1.

Lightly season fish with just 1/3 tsp salt. Put the oil in a large sauté pan that has a lid and place on medium-high heat. Once hot, add the fresh chilli and fry, stirring often, for 2 minutes. Add the garlic, caraway seeds and ancho chilli and fry for 1 minute until the garlic starts to turn golden-brown. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar and ½ tsp salt. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sauce is thick. Add the fish, cover the pan and cook for 10 minutes.
2.

For tahini sauce, mix tahini and lemon juice with 60ml water and 1/8 tsp salt.
3.

When ready to serve, gently lift fish from the pan and set aside somewhere warm. If it has released a lot of liquid during cooking and the sauce is runny, increase heat and let it bubble away until thick. Taste and add salt if needed. Transfer the fish to a serving dish. Spoon the tomato sauce over, drizzle with tahini sauce and sprinkle with coriander.