Grilled bolti (Nile tilapia)
Bolti mashwi: whole Nile tilapia rubbed with cumin, garlic and lemon and grilled over charcoal
From the Nubian villages near Aswan to the fishing camps on Lake Nasser, bolti caught that morning is gutted, slashed and grilled over charcoal for lunch, and fish grills all over Egypt cook it the same way. The rub is simple: crushed garlic, plenty of cumin, lemon, chilli and oil, which toasts on the skin and seasons the sweet, mild flesh. A stuffing of onion and parsley in the belly keeps it moist. Eat it with your hands, picking the flesh from the bones, alongside tahini, green salad and rice or bread. Chef's tip: oil the grill bars as well as the fish and leave it alone for the first 6 minutes; fish moved too early tears and sticks, which is the usual grilling mistake.
- Total time
- 40 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
- 4 whole tilapiaabout 350 g each, scaled and gutted
- 6 garlic clovescrushed
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp chilli flakes
- 2 lemonsjuiced
- 4 tbsp vegetable oildivided
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
- 1 onionthinly sliced
- ½ oz flat-leaf parsleyroughly chopped
To serve
- 4 lemon wedges (optional)
- 4 tbsp tahini (optional)thinned with lemon and water
Shop this recipe on Amazon
Fresh ingredients (4)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Rinse 4 whole tilapia and pat dry. Cut 3 deep slashes on each side down to the bone.
Step 2: Mix 6 garlic cloves, 2 tsp ground cumin, ½ tsp chilli flakes, 2 lemons, half of 2 tbsp vegetable oil, 1 ½ tsp salt and ½ tsp ground black pepper. Rub it over the fish and into the slashes and belly. Fill each belly with some 1 onion and ½ oz flat-leaf parsley. Cover and marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes.
30 minStep 3: Light a charcoal grill and wait until the coals are covered in white ash, or heat a gas grill to medium-high. Brush the bars or a fish basket well with the rest of 2 tbsp vegetable oil.
20 minStep 4: Grill the fish for 6–8 minutes without moving it, until the skin is charred in places and releases from the bars by itself.
7 minStep 5: Turn carefully with a wide spatula and grill the other side for 6–8 minutes, until the flesh by the backbone is opaque white and flakes easily with a fork.
7 minStep 6: Serve straight away with 4 lemon wedges and 4 tbsp tahini.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 320 kcal
- Protein
- 38 g
- Carbs
- 6 g
- Fat
- 16 g
- Fibre
- 1 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does grilled bolti (Nile tilapia) take?
- About 40 minutes in total: 15 minutes to prepare and 25 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 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
Singapore chilli crab
Chilli crab was first sold from a pushcart on the Kallang river in the 1950s and is now the dish visitors queue for along Singapore's East Coast seafood strip. Big mud crabs are cut up, wok-fried and simmered in a thick, sweet, tangy and gently hot sauce of chilli, tomato and garlic, which is then silked with beaten egg. Everyone eats with their hands and mops up the sauce with fried or steamed mantou buns. It is a weekend or celebration meal, messy and loud. Buy crabs live or freshly cooked the same day from a fishmonger you trust. Discard any live crab that doesn't move, smells of ammonia or has a cracked, leaking shell. The common mistake is boiling the sauce after adding the egg, which scrambles it into lumps; pour it in a thin stream over a low heat. Chef's tip: ask the fishmonger to clean and quarter the crab for you, and crack each claw lightly with the back of a cleaver so the sauce soaks in.
Singaporean
Rhode Island clam cakes
At beach shacks along Narragansett Bay and in Galilee, clam cakes are bought by the paper bag, half a dozen at a time, to dunk in a cup of clear clam chowder. They are not patties but craggy, golden fritters, crisp outside and soft inside, studded with chopped quahog clams. Chef's tip: use the clam juice as part of the liquid; it puts the sea flavour into every bite of batter.
American
Tunisian octopus salad
Fishermen of the Kerkennah islands, off Sfax, still catch octopus in clay pots laid on the shallow seabed, and in winter the season's catch turns up in harbour cafés and home kitchens as this simple salad. The octopus is simmered slowly until tender, cooled in its broth, then sliced and tossed with red onion, plenty of parsley, lemon juice and good olive oil, with a little harissa if you like. It is light, clean and briny, eaten as a starter with bread or on a summer table of salads and grilled fish. Buy octopus from a reputable fishmonger; frozen and thawed octopus is often more tender than fresh. A common mistake is boiling the octopus at a rolling boil, which makes it rubbery; keep it at a gentle simmer until a knife slides in easily. Chef's tip: let the cooked octopus cool in its cooking liquid for 20 minutes before slicing; it stays juicy rather than tightening up.
Tunisian