by Arkan Youssef

Created on: January 21, 2011   Last Updated: January 22, 2011

Middle Eastern Grilled Fish

This great recipe is one of the best seafood meals as great fish comes from the Middle Eastern rivers. It originated in the Middle East and became one of the most popular dishes served. It was always cooked in a wood fire which brings out more flavours and also gives it a slight difference to it. This dish is a must and it should be eaten all the time.

Ingredients:

One whole fish – cleaned and washed
2 medium onions – diced
4 tomatoes – diced
2 cloves garlic – chopped
1 bunch of parsley – chopped
3 lemons
4 tbs olive oil
1 heaped tbs of tomato paste
Chilli Salt

Method:

1) Begin this dish by carefully slicing the fish from top to bottom but being careful not to cut too deep. Open up the dish to make one big flat piece and sit on grilling pan. Leave aside when done.

2) Using the other ingredients, combine the tomato paste, salt, chilli and lemon. When it has been thoroughly mixed, massage over fish and leave for 15-20 minutes. To allow for maximum flavour, you may also decide to leave it overnight.

3) Combine the diced tomato, onion, garlic and parsley together and add 1 tbs of lemon and olive oil. Use this mixture and place on top of the fish. After this, drizzle with olive oil and leave.

4) Give the fish about 10 minutes to soak up the flavours and put it in the grill on high heat for about 20-30 minutes or until golden.

5) Once done, take out and leave to rest for 5 minutes and serve in a plate. Squeeze some lemon juice on top and serve with Turkish bread or flat bread. You may also serve it with mixed pickles, garden vegetables in a salad with spring onion.

There are many alternatives that you can do in this recipe. If dicing vegetables isn’t your thing, you may choose to either cut in strips or even cut in circles or whatever shape that you think you like. You may also like to choose the way prepare the fish. Instead of opening the fish up, you may decide to cut the fish into two flat pieces and prepare it that way. In some cases, you may choose to change the whole recipe and keep some parts of it. It is all up to you. Cooking is like experimenting.

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