The Book of Jewish Food by Claudia Roden

Author:Claudia Roden [Roden, Claudia]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780141928517
Publisher: Penguin Adult
Published: 2009-11-24T11:00:00+00:00

Boulettes de Poisson à la Sauce Tomate

Fish Balls in Tomato Sauce

Serves 4

All the Oriental communities make fish balls or fingers in various kinds of sauces, tomato being the most common. In Egypt we called them blehat. Because they are round and contain fish, their symbolism made them a New Year’s dish. I prefer this Moroccan version to ours. It can be served with couscous or rice, or cold with bread.

For the sauce

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil

2 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1 teaspoon sugar or to taste

salt

1 hot fresh chilli pepper or ¼ teaspoon cayenne

For the fish balls

500g (1lb) minced white fish

4 tablespoons dry white breadcrumbs or matzo meal

1 egg, lightly beaten

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

a good pinch of nutmeg

salt and pepper

3 tablespoons finely chopped coriander or flat-leafed parsley

1 lemon, cut in wedges, to serve with

Make the sauce first: in a wide pan, fry the garlic in oil till the aroma rises. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, salt and chilli pepper or cayenne. Add about 500ml (16fl oz) of water and bring to the boil. If you leave the chilli pepper in throughout the cooking, the sauce might end up too hot for you, so taste the sauce and remove the pepper when you feel the sauce is hot enough.

For the fish balls: mix all the ingredients together and work to a firm paste with your hands. (If you use the food processor to grind the fish, do so very briefly or it can turn into a creamy purée.) Take lumps of paste the size of a small walnut and roll into little balls. Drop them one by one into the sauce and simmer for 20–25 minutes, turning them over once.

Serve accompanied by lemon wedges.

Variations

– These are alternative flavourings that often go into North African fish balls in small quantities: mace, turmeric or saffron powder, grated fresh ginger, cinnamon, allspice, minced garlic cloves.

– For an Egyptian version, add ½ teaspoon of ground coriander, 1 teaspoon of cumin, and 2 minced garlic cloves instead of the ginger and nutmeg.

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