samaka harra (Chili Fish) - Syrian Cooking

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Syrian Cooking by Ghinwa Alameen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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samaka harra (Chili Fish)

Written by Ghinwa Alameen

Tuesday, 09 March 2010 18:03

Your favorite type of fish stuffed with flavorful sun-dried red pepper and walnut. A dish easy to make yet suitable your big and small feasts.

Ingredients

1 cleaned whole fish, cut lengthwise
1 head mashed garlic
1 1/4 cup chopped walnut
1 cup chopped sun-dried (or roasted) red bell pepper
1/2 cup olive oil

For the rub:
1 teaspoon dried ground cilantro
1 tablespoon Bharat (Syrian Spice Mix)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 tablespoons salt to taste

Directions

Prepare the rub for the fish by mixing salt and all spices. Rub the outside of the fish with it. Do not remove the skin off the fish. Sprinkle a little rub inside the fish. Leave the fish in the refrigerator for 2-6 hours.
To prepare the stuffing mix the walnuts with sun-dried red pepper and a dash of salt and pepper. You can replace the latter with roasted red pepper. Just quarter the red bell pepper, seed them, sprinkle with some olive oil and roast in a 350 oven for 30 minutes or until they lose most of the juices (but not become dehydrated) .
Open the fish, and spread the stuffing evenly inside. Place closed (or opened with stuffing on both sides) in a big try covered with aluminum foil and sprinkle generously with olive oil (amount of oil depends on how big the fish is)
Set in a 375 oven for 30 minutes or until done and flaky. Cooking time will vary depending on the type of the fish.
Eat hot with flat bread and tarator dip or lemon-garlic vinaigrette.
Note: ingredients amounts will vary depending on the size of the fish. You can also use half a fish.

Comments (6)

|2012-06-17 12:04:34 yumna - syrian spice

Love the site must trial them all my husband syrian so I really need to try them out plz tell me what is the syrian spice ?
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|2012-06-20 21:22:16 Ghinwa - Bharat (Syrian spice mix)

Thanks, Yumna. I have updated the website and added the recipe for the Syrian spice mix (Bharat). Just click on the link above. You can also buy a ready spice mix from Middleastern stores. It will be a little different but again those spice mixes are different within Syria.
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|2012-06-28 08:07:29 kristina

this webside very good.congratulation,.
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|2012-06-29 14:13:46 Ghinwa - Re:

Thanks, Kristina. Please come back often and let me know if you have any question/suggestion.
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|2012-09-23 22:14:26 Aaron Matthews - Rememberences of my situ an big situ

I found your site when i started looking for traditional syrian malfoof like my big situ used to make before she died in the early 80's my situ also used to make these dishes as well. My mother had to stop due to contracting celiac disease,, my love of our traditional foods i grew up enjoying brought me to your site hoping to find ways to recover childhood favorites. I cannot thank you enough!!!!
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|2012-09-24 22:39:05 Ghinwa - Re:

Aaron, I'm so happy to hear that my website is bring back good memories and thoughts and hopefully good flavors :)
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 20 June 2012 21:15

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