Marhaba! Today, I am going to teach you how to cook Samkeh Harra (سمكة حرة) with tahini sauce (الطحينة). It is a tasty dish that is popular in the Middle East and specifically the Levant. This dish has progressed from something that required intense and long hours of preparation to becoming a dish that is instantly offered with other mezza dishes in any restaurant in the Arab world. It is very popular in Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria among other places.

It is a great dish to prepare for the weekend, if you plan on having family or friends over. My wife and I usually prepare it during summer, because we associate this dish with the many times we have spent having it at one of the many resorts in Lebanon on the Mediterranean Sea. In seafood places, this dish is one of the various ways that Arabic chefs use to serve fish.

I am sharing the recipe that my wife and I use to cook this popular dish from a noteworthy cooking book called The Lebanese Kitchen: Quick and Healthy Recipes by Monique Bassila Zaarour, a Canadian registered dietitian (اخصائية تغذية) with Lebanese roots (جذور لبنانية). According to Zaarour and out of our experience, this recipe makes around five servings. In practice it does not require a lot of preparation, around 20 minutes. Also, the cooking time is around 30 minutes. So all in all, you will have an impressive and tasty fish dish in less than an hour! (بأقل من ساعة)

Ingredients

Sauce:

–          1 tablespoon vegetable oil (زيت نباتي)

–          1 medium onion (بصل), thinly sliced (مقطعة إلى شرائح رقيقة)

–          ½ cup carrot (جزر), finely chopped (مفرومة فرما ناعما)

–          ½ cup red bell pepper (الفليفلة الحلوة الحمراء), finely chopped

–          ½ cup green bell pepper (الفليفلة الحلوة الخضراء), finely chopped

–          1 tomato (طماطم), finely chopped

–          ½ serving Cilantro (الكزبرة) and Garlic (ثوم)

–          4 tablespoons tahini (الطحينة)

–          4 tablespoons lemon juice (عصير الليمون)

–          1 teaspoon salt (ملح)

–          ¼ teaspoon white pepper (الفلفل الأبيض)

–          ¼ teaspoon red pepper (فلفل أحمر)

–          1 cup water (ماء)

 

Fish:

–          2 pounds fish filet (فيليه سمك) (baked)

–          1 tablespoon pine nuts (صنوبر), toasted

–          1 pinch fresh cilantro (الكزبرة)

Preparation

In a large pan, heat oil, add onions, and stir fry until lightly browned.

Add carrots and red and green bell peppers: stir fry until tender.

Add tomato and Cilantro and garlic and stir fry for 5 more minutes.

In a separate bowl, mix remaining sauce ingredients, then add to vegetables, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil (غلي).

Cook over low heat for 3 more minutes, stirring constantly.

Put hot fish on a serving plate.

Add sauce.

Garnish with pine nuts and cilantro.

Add salt and lemon juice if desired.

 

Sahtein!!!

صَحتين

Stay tuned for upcoming posts!