Dried salted fish (feseekh)

Dried salted fish (feseekh) also typed Fesikh.

Feseekh is a traditional Egyptian dish served only during the Sham-El-Nessim festival, which is a spring celebration with Pharaonic origins. It consists of fermented, salted and dried gray mullet. The process to prepare it, which involves drying the then salting it, is usually prepared by a specialized person called a fasakhani. Due to the way it is prepared, Feseekh can cause poisoning if it is prepared incorrectly, as it has a very pungent smell. It is usually served with Egyptian bread, diced onions and lots of lemons.

The detailed steps with photos for preparing Egyptian Dried salted fish (feseekh) :

When you buy fish ...
Must be fresh and larger size, the more is the fish fat it will be best
for Herring

I bought Two fish More than one and a half kilograms .. And if you find the volume of a greater fish will be best

Wash Gill very well for a period of not less than five to six
Minutes per fish underwater until the color is almost white gills

Then enter a drying phase including at least four
Twenty hours

Bring dish and cover it with white paper until water is absorbed abroad
Fish

Every several hours alter the paper and turn the fish on other side,
So exposed in all its aspects of air to dry

This is the form of the fish is still fresh immediately after washing

The dish and beneath white paper during drying:

During drying every few hours the next step must be done

Hold the fish and put a napkin on both fish gill, then hold the fish head with a third napkin, hold fish head towards bottom put pressure so we will get rid of any liquids, then we remove the napkin and leave the fish to continue dry.

Drying stage takes a full day or a little less ..

I buy fish at night and wash and leave to dry for the next day ..

I put it through the night in Air conditioner and covered with a very light cloth .. like this:

In the morning let it complete drying in the kitchen and kitchen window open for ventilation. And left covered to ensure hygiene

After fish dry you will see texture became completely dry from the outside and whole color become white. fish now not soft like fresh fish .. I mean if you hold the Fish from the tail remain cohesive without flexion
Leave fish on her head to get rid of the fluid and can try it this way.
open a bottle of water from the top. put Tissues at the bottom to suck up any
Drops from fish . put the fish parked her head down

Thus:

This is a form of fish after 24 hours drying, Observe that it has become crusty outside and head and fish gill completely dry.

Then the next phase salting

hold Fish from the tail and pressing them until soft to make the meat mushy at the end of our process.

Then we get (big salt) Coarse salt  3/4  kilogram.

The first step completely fill the gill(nostrils ) to the point
They remain open and salt doesn't allow it to close yourself

Thus:

Order fish head next to the tail.

Then Spread  the rest of the amount of salt that will be used over and under and beside the
Fish

Thus:

Salting now ended and close the bag very well and being careful to avoid air and wrap in more than one plastic bag.

I wrap it in about seven or eight plastic bags to ensure the heat and avoid air

Here is a photo of the Fish after the completion of salted and wrapped it well:

We will put the wrapped fish in a dry place and make sure that Stir it about five times a day from one side to the other so as to ensure the distribution of salt ..

And leave for five days then open it.

And, of course, "feseekh" lovers will know that it is ready to eat by its smell that will appear soon before open the wrapped fish.

This image immediately after remove the salt of the fish

White and shiny nearly silver color. This is a sign that it was good salted.

These are some pictures of the table with onions, lemon and bread before eating.

This was the traditional dried salted fish hope you enjoy it.

FISH CASSEROLE WITH HULLED GRAIN

 

TAGIN SAMAK BI-L-FIRIK
FISH CASSEROLE WITH HULLED GRAIN

 

INGREDIENTS
* 1 kg fish

* 5-7 garlic cloves

* 2 cups hulled grain

* 1/2 teaspoon cumin

* 1-2 tablespoons flour

* oil

* salt

 

 

INSTRUCTIONS

 
Coat fish with flour, fry, then remove onto absorbent paper to cool. Skin, bone, and flake into large chunks. Boil skin, bones and trimmings of fish with cardamom and seasoning for 15 minutes. Strain in a very thin sieve.

 

Using the same oil used for frying the fish, lightly fry the hulled grain, then cover with the stock formed above, adding more water if necessary to produce 5 cups, and add cumin and garlic. Cook for 10 minutes. Remove from flame and place in casserole dish, bury fish flakes in the grain. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.

 

MOROCCAN SHRIMP BARAWATS

Ingredient

 

2    ounces rice vermicelli
2    tablespoons olive oil
1    onion, finely chopped
12   ounces shrimp, peeled and deveined
1     teaspoon sweet paprika
3     tablespoons cilantro
1/2 teaspoon cumin
2    teaspoons lemon juice
3     tablespoons Italian parsley
2    teaspoons salt, to taste

phyllo pastry sheets to wrap the filling in.
Instructions:

 

1.     Cover the vermicelli with hot water and soak for about 15 minutes.

2.     Drain the noodles and then chop finely.

3.     Set aside.

4.     Heat the oil and add the onion and shrimp.

5.     Cook until the shrimp turns pink, stirring occasionally.

6.     Remove from heat, chop the shrimp and combine the shrimp/onion mixture with the herbs and spices.

7.     Put the mixtures in the wrapper and roll up like an eggroll.

8.     Or, if you prefer, fold the wrappers into triangle shapes.

9.     Brush the edges with some beaten egg yolk to seal.

10.     Fry in hot vegetable oil until golden.

11.     You can freeze uncooked briwats until ready to use.

12.     Just be sure to let them thaw slightly to avoid splattering in the hot oil.

13.     Serve with a squeeze of lemon or harissa, if desired.

SAYYADIAH - FISH WITH RICE

 

Serves 4; Cooking time 1 hour

* 4 whole fish, each about 12 oz.

* juice of one lemon

* salt

* freshly ground black pepper

* 3 cloves garlic, crushed

* 1 teaspoon ground cumin

* 2 medium sized onions, chopped

* 2 tablespoons oil

* 2 cups long grain rice

* 3 1/2 cups hot water

* flour

* oil for frying ( preferably olive oil)

* lemon wedges and parsley sprigs for garnish

1. Scale and gut the fish and leave the heads on. ( well, you don't have to if you don't want to.)  Rinse and wipe dry.  Rub surfaces and cavities with lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Cover and leave aside for 30-45 minutes.  Prepare the garlic and mix with the  cumin.

2. Gently fry the onions in oil in a deep pan for 15-20 minutes until very soft and golden.  Wash rice, drain and add to onions.  Stir over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, then add the  hot water.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover pan and cook gently for 20 minutes.
3.  Make 3-4 deep slits on each side of the fish and fill slits with garlic-cumin mixture.  Coat fish with flour and shallow fry in hot oil until golden brown and cooked.
4. Remove fish and keep it hot.
5. Add about 2 tablespoons of the oil in which the fish was cooked  to the cooked rice.  Stir through with a fork, cover pan and leave rice for 5 minutes.
6. Pile rice on a platter, arrange fish on top and garnish with lemon wedges and parsley sprigs.

LEMON SEAFOOD PASTA CHEZ SHERRA'S PLACE

Very Easy, very elegant, from my very good friend.
Ingredients:

 

* One pound shrimp (31-40 count)

* One pound scrod filets

* One anaheim or other "mildly hot" fresh green pepper. (about 5 inches long-diced)

* one cup broccoli florets (pre-cooked until just a bit tender-I did this for 2 minutes in microwave)

* Pint of fresh mushrooms, washed and sliced-leave a few whole

* one large roma tomato-diced

* two lemons-juiced

* 1/4 cup Gazebo Room dressing (Greek salad dressing)

* 4 Tablespoons butter (not margarine)

* Salt

* Pepper

* about 1/2 C water

* 2 T flour

 
Instructions:

Bowtie Pasta (4 servings worth-cooked al dente in salted water (1 teaspoon salt per quart) with the juice of one lemon added to the pot. (Really!) This makes the pasta tasty!
Saute shrimp in large skillet with mushrooms and peppers in 2 tablespoons butter on medium high heat about 3 minutes until shrimp are opaque and pink. Remove shrimp. Turn heat down. Cool shrimp slightly, peel and set aside. Keep mushrooms, peppers, cooking to soften. Don't let it dry out. (this is a stopping point if you need more time to peel the shrimp, add the liquid ingredients first then add the fish when you are ready)

Add to mushrooms: juice of one lemon, diced tomato, dressing, rest of butter and scrod cut into large pieces (one pound filet will make about 8 pieces) Try to get pieces about the same size. Saute, and add water so the fish steams. Keep heat on medium. Turn fish pieces gently to cook through. This will take less than 5 minutes-when fish looks solid white and flakes with fork it is done. Toss broccoli and shrimp back in skillet. Remove about 1/4 cup hot liquid from skillet, stir flour into the hot liquid until smooth, then gently stir this mixture back into the skillet, trying not to break up the fish. Cook one to two minutes longer. This will slightly thicken the sauce, but will not be thick like gravy. Serve over hot pasta. Makes 4 servings.

SAYADEYA FISH TAGEN

 

Serves one

Ingredients

200 g sea bass filet

50 g finely chopped onion
100 g fresh tomato paste
20 g chopped coriander and dill 5g garlic 50 g finely chopped green pepper 20 g flour pinches of salt, pepper, cumin and dried coriander juice of ½ a lemon corn- oil

Directions

1 - Marinade the fish slices in salt, pepper, cumin, coriander, lemon juice, corn-oil, garlic and flour.
2 - Put the above ingredients in a covered bowl in a medium oven for 10 minutes.
3 - Place the onion, green pepper and chopped garlic in a casserole dish and fry in corn-oil for 7 minutes. Before it starts browning add the fresh tomato and tomato paste, cumin and coriander. Leave for 5 minutes at medium temperature.
4 - Add the green coriander and dill, and spilt the whole mixture into two.
5 - Take a crockery tagen and put in the first half of the tomato sauce. Add a layer of marinated fish, then cover with the remainder of the tomato sauce.
6 - Place some tomato slices on the top to prevent burning .
7 - Place in the oven for 10-15 minutes.
8 - Serve with plain, buttered white rice.

SEAFOOD PASTA

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Olive oil         4 Tbsp
Canned Tomatoes        1-2 Cans
Onion      x 1
Mussels        200 g
Garlic        3 cloves
King Prawns        X 20
Parsley        2 tbsp
Vinegar          1 tsp
Bacon     2 rashes
Salt & pepper         10 taste
Clove powder Parmesan (optional)       ½ tsp
Squid      200 g

Method

1 . Sauté onion in oil till very soft but not brown for 5-10 minutes

2 . Add chopped bacon, garlic, 1 tbsp parsley and clove powder for 3-4 minutes.

3 . Add diced squid , cook for 2 minutes, reduce by half.

4 . Add chopped tomatoes cook for 5-10 minutes.

5 . Add mussels, prawns, salt and pepper, cook for 3-5 minutes.

6 . Off heat and add remaining parsley.

"Serve with pasta of your choice"

FISH KUFTA

Ingredients:

1 . Hamour fillet boneless.
2 . Potatoes.
3 . Two cloves of garlic.
4 . Green coriander.
5 . Spices.
6 . Green parley.
7 . Cinnamon powder.
8 . Minced onions.
9 . Beaten eggs.
10 . Bread crumbs.
Method

1 . Poach fish lightly in salted water for 15 minutes. Remove when cook.

2 . Boil peeled potatoes in the same water for 15 minutes.

3 . Mince fish with boiled potatoes, green coriander, parsley, garlic and onions.

4 . Add spices and salt to mixture and sprinkle with a little water when needing to set from pieces in disks.

5 . Dip the pieces in whipped egg and bread crumbs.

6 . Fry Kufta in hot oil until brown

"Serve hot with salad, lemon, and bread ( if required) or with white rice"

TOASTED PINE NUT COUSCOUS WITH GARLIC SHRIMP

 



A delicious and easy way to prepare shrimp.

Ingredients:

* 1 lb. fresh or frozen large shrimp( I used the 'Easy to peel' kind from my fishmonger)

* 1 Tbsp. olive oil

* 4 cloves garlic, minced

* 1 tsp. dried tarragon, crushed

* 1/2 tsp. dried thyme, crushed

* 1/4 tsp. Old Bay seasoning ( or celery salt )

* 1 5.6 oz. package toasted pine nut couscous mix

* 1 1/4 cups chicken broth

* 2/3 cup sliced green onion

* 1/3 cup lemon juice

* 1/4 cup melted butter

* 1 6-oz. package baby spinach

* Shredded parmesan cheese
Instructions:

 

* Peel, devein and rinse shrimp, and then pat dry. Place shrimp in a large self-sealing plastic bag. Add oil, garlic, tarragon, thyme and Old Bay seasoning and seal bag. Gently turn and 'massage' the bag to coat the shrimp with the marinade. Refrigerate for at least one hour.

* Prepare the couscous according to the package directions, substituting the chicken broth for the water. Stir the onions into the couscous. Set aside.

* Combine the lemon juice and butter in a bowl, and set aside.

* Saute' the shrimp in a large skillet with the marinade over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes or until shrimp turns opaque. ( Do not overcook or the shrimp will be tough.) Pour half of the butter over the shrimp.

* To serve, divide the spinach among individual bowls. Spoon the couscous onto the spinach. Arrange the shrimp on the couscous and pour the remaining lemon butter over everything. Sprinkle with shredded parmesan. Serves 4.