Fried Fish with Mashed Potato Filling: Mbatan Kawali سمك مقلي محشي بالبطاطا

Mbatan are uniquely Libyan, it means 'lining' two layers with stuffing.  Always fried, Mbatan are vegetables stuffed with a minced meat mixture, like Cauliflower Mbatan  and Potato Mbatan . Mbatan Kawali is the exception, small fish stuffed with potato, garlic and coriander.

The stuffed fried fish are usually served as an appetizer or side dish, and as with all seafood meals in Libya is accompanied with a tomato, garlic and cumin salad.                                                              

Serves 4-6 as Main, 8-12 as Side Dish 

Ingredients

12 Small fish fillets (ideally Kawali, Herring is a good substitute)

Vegetable oil for frying

Potato Garlic and Coriander Filling:

3 medium size potatoes

1 cup finely chopped fresh coriander 

3 large garlic cloves

1 hot chilli

salt and pepper to taste.

Fish coating

2 beaten eggs

1 cup fine bread crumbs

1 cup white flour 

Tomato Salad

4 tomatoes, sliced

2  finely grated garlic cloves

2 tbs vinegar

2 tbs lemon juice

1 tbs ground cumin

1 tbs spoon salt

1 finely grated chilli 

1 cup finely chopped parsley

 Boil and peel the potatoes, cut into cubes, then mash with a fork.

Add the garlic and chilli mix, chopped coriander, spices and salt to the mashed potatoes.

Stuff the fish fillets with the potatoes and herb mixture.

                        
                                           Dip each fillet in the beaten eggs.

Coat each piece with flour and bread crumbs.

          Fry in hot oil, transfer to kitchen towels to absorb excess  oil.              

                                        

Set the fried stuffed fish aside, start to prepare the tomato salad. 

  Slice the tomatoes.

Blend garlic cloves and chillies in the mixer or chop finely.

Add lemon juice, vinager and cumin, mix all the ingredients together into a paste. Rub the paste into each tomato slice from both sides. sprinkle with finely chopped parsley.  

Serve the fish mbatan with the spicy tomato salad.  

Libyan Couscous with Fish: Kusksi bil Hoot كسكس بالسمك على الطريقة اليبية

Couscous is an Amazighi dish served throughout North Africa, and there is an enormous variety of sauces and methods of preparation in the region. In Libya the sauce is most often  tomato-based, although with different toppings, there is for example a root vegetable couscous, coucous with dried meat, coucous with busla (onion sauce), couscous with chicken, with chickpeas and raisins, with squid, and with a variety of fish. In seafood coucous, the vegetables are often fried in oil, then added to the tomatoes sauce, in this recipe I have replaced frying with grilling.

Serves 4-6

Steamed Couscous:

500g couscous (ready-cooked variety can also be steamed)

1 cup of hot water + 3 tbspoon olive oil

Stock

1-2 fish heads (washed, gills removed)

1 medium onion, chopped 

1 medium tomato, chopped  

1 cup parsley, chopped

1 teaspoon black pepper, ground cumin

salt, to taste

1 1/2-2 litre boiling water

Vegetable sauce

1 medium onion cut into wings

1 medium size potatoes 

1 medium size aubergine 

1 medium size squash 

1 medium size red bell pepper

1cup cooked/canned chickpeas (or fresh/frozen peas)  

1 can of chopped tomatoes

1 tbspoon tomatoes paste

5 tbspoon olive oil  

1-2 chilli pepper

3-4 garlic cloves

For the Fish and Marinade:

4-6 portions of firm fleshed fish, grouper is the Libyan favourite

4 large cloves garlic

4 tbspoon lemon 

1 chilli pepper chopped 

1 cup chopped celery (optional )

1 teaspoon of each salt and pepper

2 teaspoons cumin

Olive oil to brush the fish before grilling 

Ideally steamed dishes or Imbawakh (an important category in Libyan cuisine) should be cooked in a kaskas, but any pot with a fitted steamer is fine. When steaming couscous you can place a square of cheese-cloth between the pot and steamer as its holes are larger than a kaskas, but from experience even without you will only lose a few grains.

 Put all the ingredients for the stock in the steamer pot. Bring to boil then reduce the heat and cook on medium heat. 

  

Pour 1 cup of hot water and the 3 tbspoon olive oil over the couscous, mix well. Put the couscous in the steamer, then place it above the stock pot. Lightly rake over the top layer only with a spatula a few times during the first steaming, so it gets steamed properly.

Put all the ingredients for the fish marinade in the food-processor, then use this paste to coat the fish from both sides. Cover the fish with cling film and set aside for at least 30 minutes.

                                  

                                    

                                      

Put the fish on a hot tray, grill until golden in colour, and keep warm to serve with the couscous.

After about 45 minutes, the stock will be ready. Remove the steamer and put the couscous in a deep plate,  pour about 5 ladles of hot stock onto the  couscous.

 Mix well, then return the couscous to the steamer for another 45 minutes. Stir lightly thoroughly 2-3 times during the second steaming to break up lumps.

Brush the vegetable generously with olive oil,  place on a pre-heated tray and grill (or fry the vegetables).

Meanwhile, begin preparing the sauce by putting olive oil, chopped onion, chopped chilli and whole garlic cloves in the pot, then stir until they have softened. Add tomato paste and chopped tomatoes, cover  and cook on low heat.

 Remove the vegetables from the grill at this point ( half done), and add to the onion and garlic mix in the pot.

 Add the peas/cooked chickpeas and about 3 ladles of strained fish stock, so the liquid is just about covering the vegatables, and cook for a further 15 minutes.

Remove the couscous from the steamer, add about 2 ladles of sauce from the vegtable sauce pot ( avoid the peas and onion), mix well. Put the couscous in a serving dish, arrange the vegetables above the couscous, spoon some of the remaining sauce around the vegetable.  Serve with the grilled fish and lemon wedges.  

Coucous is usually served in a communal dish in Libya. However if you want to serve couscous on individual plates, a suggested presentation is to arrange the vegetable in the base of a bowl, fill with couscous, spoon some sauce on top, leave for 1 minute and then turn upside down on a flat plate.

Herbed Rice with Coriander Seeds and Fish Fillets in a Cumin Marinade: Ruz Hoot bil Kusbur رز مع السمك

Ruz bil Kusbur is a strongly flavored rice with herbs and tomatoes, studded with crunchy coriander seeds. It is served with seafood, and traditionally cooked in a stock made from fish heads. The typical Libyan marinade for fish is based on cumin and garlic, sometimes with the addition of chillies. It is used for grilled and baked fish; but also to add zing to fried fish fillets, as in this recipe.

Despite Libya having one of the longest coastlines on the Mediterranean, with the majority of the population living in the coastal areas, lamb and chicken based dishes dominate the cuisine. Seafood is eaten regularly though, some favorite recipes being Haraimi (fish poached in a spicy tomato sauce), baked Faruj (grouper), stuffed squid, and small fried fish with potato stuffing (Mubattan Kawali). While sometimes eaten with bread, these seafood dishes are more often accompanied by Ruz  bil Hoot.

Serves 4-6

Herbed Rice with Coriander Seeds
3 cups short grain rice washed and well drained
about 6 cups hot fish stock (or 2 fish stock cubes dissolved in 6 cups hot water )
5 tbspoons corn oil 
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped tomatoes
1 finely chopped chili peppers
2-3 garlic cloves, grated
1 tablespoon grated ginger root
1-2 tablespoons pan roasted coriander seeds
1 teaspoon of each, cumin,black pepper, paprika
2 tablespoons salt

Libyan Cumin and Garlic Marinated Fried Fish

6 White fish fillets (any kind)
vegetable oil for deep frying  

Marinade (also used for whole grilled or baked fish)
3-4 garlic clove, finely grated
1 tablespoon cumin
1 finely chopped chili pepper (optional)
Salt and Pepper
Juice of half a lemon


for fish coating 
5 tbspoon white flour  
5 tbspoons fine breadcrumbs

2-3 tbspoons water  

2 eggs

Combine all the ingredients for the marinade, put in food processor until it becomes a smooth paste, coat the fillets and set aside while you start cooking the rice. 

Put the oil in a thick base pot, add the chopped  ingredients, stir for a few minutes, and leave  to cook on low heat until the onion soften.

Meanwhile roast the coriander in a frying pan, preferably just before adding. Some like to grind them first, but whole coriander seeds give a nutty texture to the dish.

 Add the rice, the remaining spices, stir well and add the fish stock (or crumble stock cubes and add hot water). The stock should be about 2 fingers above the level of the rice. Leave on moderate heat until evaporated to just above the level of the rice, stir well, cover and leave on low heat for approx. half an hour.

Meanwhile, start frying the fish. Whisk the egg with 3tbspoon water, dip each fillet first in the egg mix, then coat both sides with flour and breadcrumbs mix, then deep fry in batches until golden in colour, place on kitchen towel to absorb excess oil.

Put the rice in serving plate, top with the fish fillets. Serve with haraymi sauce and lemon wedges