AI-generated image
Fish singari (Alexandrian baked fish)
Samak singari: a whole fish split open and baked over tomatoes, peppers, garlic and cumin
Alexandrian fish restaurants list singari next to grilled and fried fish, and families along the coast bake it at home for Friday lunch, usually with sea bream, sea bass or a large bolti. The fishmonger splits the fish down the back and opens it flat, then it is smothered in a garlicky cumin and lemon paste and laid over sliced tomatoes, green peppers, onion and chilli. In the oven the vegetables soften into a juicy sauce underneath while the fish roasts on top, so you get tender flesh, a slightly charred skin and plenty of sauce for spooning over rice. Serve with white rice, tahini and bread. Chef's tip: give the vegetables 10 minutes in the oven on their own first; it drives off water so the fish roasts instead of steaming.
- Total time
- 65 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 3
Ingredients
For the fish
- 1 whole sea breamabout 1 kg, scaled, gutted and butterflied by the fishmonger
- 6 garlic clovescrushed
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp chilli flakes
- 1 lemonjuiced
- 4 tbsp olive oildivided
- 1 ½ tsp saltdivided
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
For the vegetables
- 4 tomatoessliced 1 cm thick
- 2 green pepperscut into rings
- 1 onionsliced into rings
- 1 green chillisliced
- 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley (optional)chopped
- 1 lemon (optional)thinly sliced
Shop this recipe on Amazon
What you'll need
Fresh ingredients (6)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Mix 6 garlic cloves, 2 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp ground coriander, ½ tsp chilli flakes, 1 lemon, half of 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp of 1 tsp salt and ½ tsp ground black pepper into a paste.
Step 2: Pat 1 whole sea bream dry, open it out skin side down and make 3 shallow slashes in the thickest flesh. Rub the paste all over the inside and outside. Cover and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes.
30 minStep 3: Heat the oven to 425°F (400°F fan). Spread 4 tomatoes, 2 green peppers, 1 onion and 1 green chilli in a roasting tin, drizzle with the rest of 2 tbsp olive oil, season with the rest of ½ tsp salt and roast for 10 minutes until starting to soften.
10 minStep 4: Lay the fish, opened out, skin side up on the vegetables and tuck 1 lemon around it.
Step 5: Bake for 25–30 minutes, until the skin is blistered and the flesh at the thickest point is opaque and flakes easily from the bone. The most common mistake is pulling it too early: check right next to the backbone.
28 minStep 6: Scatter over 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley and bring the tin to the table, spooning the tomato juices over each portion.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 380 kcal
- Protein
- 42 g
- Carbs
- 12 g
- Fat
- 18 g
- Fibre
- 3 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does fish singari (Alexandrian baked fish) take?
- About 65 minutes in total: 25 minutes to prepare and 40 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 3 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of garlic cloves?
- ½ tsp garlic paste or ⅛ tsp garlic powder per clove.
- What can I use instead of ground cumin?
- Cumin seeds, toasted and ground.
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Moreton Bay bugsSlipper lobster with garlic butter
Moreton Bay bugs are the flat, shovel-nosed slipper lobsters caught off the Queensland coast around Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast, and for Queenslanders they are a summer treat, split and grilled at the beach house. The tail meat is sweet and rich, somewhere between lobster and prawn. Buy them raw, frozen or fresh, from a fishmonger and ask them to halve them if you like. A common mistake is overcooking, which makes the meat rubbery; it is ready the moment it turns white. Chef's tip: grill flesh side down first to mark it, then turn and baste in the shell.
Australian
Ful nabitSprouted fava bean soup
Sprouted beans are ladled out with their cooking liquor in Cairo homes when the weather turns cold or someone is feeling run down, and Egyptians swear by the broth as a pick-me-up. The beans are soaked and left to sprout for a few days, then simmered with onion, garlic and cumin into a light, earthy soup that is sharpened at the table with plenty of lemon. You can eat the beans with a spoon or pop them from their skins. Allow 3 to 4 days for sprouting, although the hands-on work is only about 20 minutes. People with G6PD deficiency (favism) must not eat fava beans. Chef's tip: stop the sprouting when the shoots are about 1 cm long; longer sprouts taste grassy and bitter.
Midia saganakiMussels with tomato and feta
Thessaloniki is Greece's mussel capital, with farms in the Thermaic Gulf a few kilometres from the seafront ouzeries where this two-handled pan arrives, still bubbling, at the table. Mussels steam open in a quick sauce of peppers, tomato and chilli, and crumbled feta melts into the juices at the end. Bread is essential. The classic version adds a splash of ouzo; this one is alcohol-free, using a pinch of fennel seed for that aniseed note (add 2 tbsp ouzo with the tomatoes if you like). Common mistake: overcooking — take the pan off the heat as soon as the shells open. Chef's tip: buy mussels on the day and keep them in the fridge in a bowl covered with a damp cloth, never in water.
Greek