Chraime

The name comes from the word for hot, and the chilli is the dish rather than a seasoning in it.

Fish. Not vegetarian — contains fish.

Ingredients

the fish

• 6 thick white fish steaks
• 2 teaspoons salt

the sauce

• 3 tablespoons harissa
• 2 tablespoons sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon cayenne
• 12 cloves garlic, crushed
• 3 tablespoons tomato purée
• 400 g chopped tomatoes
• 150 ml olive oil
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground caraway
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 400 ml water
• salt

to finish

• juice of 1 lemon
• a large handful of coriander, chopped

Method

1. THE NAME COMES FROM THE WORD FOR HOT, AND THE CHILLI IS THE DISH rather than a seasoning in it. Three tablespoons of harissa, two of paprika and a teaspoon of cayenne for six people. This is meant to be properly, lip-tinglingly hot, and a cautious spoonful of chilli makes a mild tomato fish stew with the wrong name on it. The other fish stew on this site is built on capers and preserved lemon and is sour; this one is built on heat. They are not variants of each other.
2. TWELVE CLOVES OF GARLIC, CRUSHED, AND THAT IS NOT A MISPRINT. Crushed rather than sliced, so it dissolves into the sauce and carries the heat. With the chilli it is the whole character of the pot.
3. THE PAPRIKA IS BLOOMED IN THE OIL AND MUST NOT BURN. Two tablespoons into warm oil, off the direct flame, for twenty or thirty seconds until it darkens and smells sweet. Paprika scorches in seconds over a high heat and goes bitter, and a bitter base cannot be rescued. The pan comes off the heat for this step.
4. THERE IS A GREAT DEAL OF OLIVE OIL AND IT IS NOT REDUCIBLE. A hundred and fifty millilitres. It carries the chilli and paprika -- capsaicin and the paprika colour are both fat-soluble -- and it emulsifies with the tomato into the thick red sauce the dish is eaten for. Cut it down and the spice sits on the tongue as dust.
5. THE FISH GOES IN RAW AND POACHES IN THE SAUCE FOR TWELVE MINUTES. Not fried first. The flesh takes up the sauce as it cooks, which is the point; seared fish is sealed against it.
6. IT IS SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED, ONCE THE FISH IS IN. The pan moved gently. Steaks break under a spoon.
7. IT IS BETTER AFTER AN HOUR OFF THE HEAT, AND BETTER STILL COLD. Taken off and left to stand. The heat settles from sharp to round and the fish takes up more of the sauce; it is commonly eaten at room temperature the next day.
8. The fish salted and left 20 MINUTES.
9. The olive oil warmed in a wide pan and THE PAN TAKEN OFF THE HEAT.
10. The paprika and cayenne stirred into the warm oil 20 to 30 SECONDS, until darkened and sweet-smelling. NOT burnt.
11. Returned to a low heat, the crushed garlic in for 1 MINUTE, then the harissa and purée fried 2 MINUTES.
12. The tomatoes, cumin, caraway, sugar, water and salt added and simmered 15 MINUTES.
13. The fish laid in RAW and the pan covered.
14. Cooked 12 MINUTES, the pan SHAKEN gently rather than stirred.
15. The lemon juice and coriander added off the heat.
16. LEFT TO STAND at least 1 HOUR before eating.
17. TESTED: it should be genuinely hot and the sauce thick and brick-red, not watery. Dusty-tasting spice means the paprika burnt or there was too little oil.
18. Served warm or cold with bread.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Tunisia · All recipes