Name: Browned Fish with Tahini/Sesame Paste Sauce (Samak Maqli bi-Khal wa Rashi)
Yield: Makes 4 servings
Cuisine: Iraqi
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon whole coriander seeds, fried in a small amount of oil; ⅓ cup (80 ml) tahini/sesame paste; 4 serving-size skinned fish pieces (about 2 lbs/900 g), salmon or white fish; 1 tablespoon mustard; ¼ cup (1 oz/30 g) toasted walnuts, broken into small pieces; ¼ cup (½oz/15 g) chopped parsley; A dash of cinnamon and cumin, optional; A dash of salt; ¼ to ½ cup (60–125 ml) water; 1 garlic clove, grated; ¼ cup (60 ml) vinegar

Preparation info

Makes
4
servings

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Delights from the Garden of Eden

By Nawal Nasrallah

Published 2019

About

I found this delicious recipe in al-Baghdadi’s thirteenth-century cookbook, where it is called Samak Maqlu bi-Khal wa-Rahshi (fish fried with vinegar and tahini/sesame paste). We still use the same medieval indigenous name rahshi (tahini), except that we pronounce it rashi. The quantities suggested below are my improvisation.