I found in the food blog universe a mix of vegetables & fish, adjusted the spices & decided to serve the mess w/ plain cooked rice. That was the idea (which worked out well!).
The best mate to our mess of fish & vegetables will be plain cooked rice. If you happen to have some cooked rice in your fridge – fine. If not, just cook some rice along to preparing the mess.
What do we need for the mess?
- white fish fillets (firm fillets – nothing that falls to pieces when touching)
- fresh spinach leaves
- canned peeled tomatoes
- onions resp. shallots
- vegetable stock (home-made or from your trusted food store)
- fresh garlic & a bay leaf
- dried coconut
- spices … like ras el-hanout.
The original recipe added – of course – some chili … You may add some chili, if fresh, if dried, if powder … if you like.
The original recipe also worked w/ peanut butter – not one of my favorite ingredients. I substituted peanut butter for dried coconut & ras el-hanout.
We start w/ trimming, peeling & chopping the shallots & the garlic. All marches into a pan & is fried w/ some peanut oil (or any other oil w/o flavor of its own).
We mix the spices & the dried coconut.
We continue preparing the ingredients while the mess is cooking resp. frying in the pan:
- We chop the fish; small cubes of about 1 cm are fine.
- We clean & trim the spinach leaves. If you happen to have large spinach leaves just pick them to pieces.
While the onion mess has been softly frying for about 5 min we add the bay leaf & the dried coconut & the spices – and the vegetable stock. Let it simmer for another 5 min.
Then add the canned peeled tomatoes. Drain the tomatoes to get rid of the water in the can. Some remaining tomato pulp is fine.
Crush the tomatoes & mix well. Then let it simmer for about 20 min. The mess shall get smooth w/ pieces of tomatoes & it shall thicken a little bit.
Don’t forget to discard the bay leaf!
Add the spinach leaves – they will wilt within some minutes.
Add the fish … & let it cook for about 5 min, maybe 10 min. Afterwards the fish should be fine & well done.
Finally add some salt & pepper. A pinch of sugar will also be fine because of the tomatoes.
Now it’s ready to be served.
My better half & I had dinner for the 2 of us. The amount of the mess was just fine for us. If you like to cook for 4 people you may adjust the amounts of fish, tomatoes, spinach, stock … correspondingly. Be sure it’ll work accordingly.
It’s up to you how hot the mess will be. Chili in each manifestation is welcome. (Check before how hot & spicy the ras el-hanout mix is … For my better half & me our ras el-hanout mix is fine & doesn’t need any further chili encouragement.)
Preparation & cooking is simple & goes parallel. You may also prepare the mess during early afternoon & reheat for dinner.
Enjoy!
- 1 tbsp peanut oil (any oil w/o flavour of its own)
- 2 shallots
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tbsp dried coconut
- 1 tbsp ras el-hanout
- 300 ml vegetable stock
- 1 can peeled tomatoes (about 260 g)
- 100 g spinach leaves
- 300 g white fish (firm fillets)
- a pinch of sugar
- salt & pepper (to taste)
- cooked rice
- Trim, peel & chop the shallots as well as the clove of garlic & start frying in peanut oil – softly for about 5 min.
- Mix dried coconut & ras el-hanout. Add the mix & the bay leaf to the frying project.
- Add the vegetable stock & mix well. Let it simmer for about 5 min.
- In the meantime drain the peeled tomatoes & drop them into the pan. It's fine if there is some thick tomato pulp around the tomatoes. Break-up the tomatoes & let it simmer for about 20 min. The mess shall get smooth & thicken slightly. At the end discard the bay leaf.
- In the meantime clean, dry & trim the spinach leaves. If the spinach leaves are to large just tear them into appropriate pieces.
- Cut the fish fillets into small pieces (cubes of about 1 cm or so).
- Add the spinach leaves to the simmering mess & stir until the spinach wilts.
- Add the fish & let it simmer for another 5-10 min.
- Add salt & pepper to taste. Add a pinch of sugar for the tomatoes.
- Serve w/ plain cooked rice.
