A Good Food Diet pickled fish with a difference

Do you enjoy pickled fish but always thought it too much trouble to make? Then be sure to try this flop-free recipe for mildly spiced Moroccan Pickled Fish with intense orange and tomato flavours. It's healthy too!

Just open a pack of frozen hake, a tin of tomato puree and a container of orange juice… and add the rest of the ingredients from your grocery cupboard. Best of all, you can keep the pickled fish in the fridge for several days.

Hake is a rich source of protein and it is also low in fat - the perfect food to form part of a healthy diet.

Pickle to preserve

Pickling is an ancient way of preserving fish. It is said that the first recorded recipe (apparently Chinese) for marinated carp dates back to 1 300 BC. Usually vinegar is used in pickled fish, but in this Moroccan recipe the acid required to preserve the fish comes from the orange juice and tomato puree.

Here in the Cape we enjoy "ingelegde vis" with its strong Malay influence and its wonderful curry and spice flavours. In Spain they call their traditional pickled fish escabèche (pronounced es-keh-BEHSH) and mostly serve it cold as a starter or tapa.

This Moroccan Pickled Fish recipe is:

• Heart-friendly
• Wheat-free
• Gluten-free
• Dairy-free
• Egg-free

HOW TO MAKE MOROCCAN PICKLED FISH

• 1 x 450 g pack frozen hake medallions or 1 x 500 g pack frozen hake steaks
  
• 15 ml (1 tbsp) olive or sunflower oil
  
• 1 large onion, sliced
  
• 1 medium yellow, red or orange pepper, coarsely chopped
  
• 10 ml (2 tsp) freshly crushed garlic
  
• 7,5 ml - 10 ml (1½ tsp  - 2 tsp) medium curry powder
  
• 5 ml (1 tsp) ground cumin
  
• 125 ml (½ cup) raisins
  
• 1 x 410 g can tomato puree
  
• 125 ml (½ cup) water
  
• 375 ml (1½ cups) pure orange juice (use 100% pure fruit juice, no sugar added)
  
• 10 ml (2 tsp) white sugar
  
• salt and milled black pepper to taste
  
• fresh coriander (dhania) to garnish
  
• lemon or lime wedges to serve
  
• toasted slivered almonds to garnish (see Tip below)

Method

Step 1: Poach the frozen fish. Drain and cool. Break into large chunks and remove any small bones. Set aside.

Step 2: Heat oil in a pot. Sauté onion and pepper. Remove from heat. Stir in garlic, curry powder, cumin and raisins. Stir for a few seconds. Add tomato puree, water, orange juice and sugar. Return to heat. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 6 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat. Gently stir in cooked fish. Season with salt and black pepper.

Step 3: Allow to cool completely. Transfer to a non-metal container (a 2-litre plastic ice-cream container works very well). Cover and store overnight in the fridge for the flavours to develop.

Step 4: Serve cold or at room temperature with lemon or lime wedges. Garnish with fresh coriander (dhania) and, if preferred, sprinkle with toasted almond slivers (see Tip below). You can also serve it with couscous or wholewheat or rye bread. The fish will keep in the fridge for 3 days.

Serves 5.

Tip
To toast slivered almonds, place almonds in a dry pot or frying pan and heat over medium heat, stirring often. Remove almonds from pot or pan as soon as they start to turn golden brown.

Dalene Crafford is a professional food stylist, recipe developer, cookery team-build presenter and developer of the Good Food Diet.

Contact Dalene at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or on 021 913 4457 or 082 562 9787 for:

• Food-styling for photographic shoots for advertising, cook books, print articles, etc.
• The development of special recipes to boost your products
• Team-builds customised around cooking
• Good Food Diet wellness cooking classes and Good Food Diet gluten-free cooking classes
• A consultation on how to eat healthily while still enjoying great-tasting, robust food (find more information at Good Food Diet or visit www.conca.co.za for some of Dalene's recipes)