Fish Tagine

Ingredients

300g White fish fillets

2 bell peppers (of different colour)

1 large tomato

1 onion

I small red chilli (deseeded)

Olive oil

Vegetable or fish stock (about 500 cl)

1 lemon

2 tsp tomato pulp

Herbs (coriander, parsley or mint, or any combination)

Sea salt (to taste)

Spices

1 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp  black pepper corns

1 tsp turmeric

1 cinnamon stick

½ tsp paprika

Method

1.     Dry roast the coriander, cumin and pepper seeds and grind to a powder in a pestle and mortar. Add the other spices (except the cinnamon) and mix well.

2.     Create a marinade in an oven dish using half the spices, juice of the lemon, dash of olive oil, pinch of salt and tomato pulp.

3.     Cut the fish into bite size pieces and soak in the marinade for at least 30 mins.

4.     Chop the onion, peppers and chilli and fry, in olive oil, over a medium heat for 3 – 4 minutes, in a large saucepan. Add the remainder of the spices and continue to fry for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes (chopped), the vegetable stock and the cinnamon stick and cook (covered over a medium heat) until all the vegetables are soft (about 20 minutes).

5.     Add the fish and the marinade and cook until the fish is just cooked (normally around 6 minutes). Add extra salt if needed.

6.     Serve with couscous, chopped herbs and harissa sauce.

Notes

1.     The fish should not be overcooked as it will impair the taste and texture. For this reason it is a good idea to marinate it to allow the flavours to infuse without actually cooking it.