Nothing better than to start this new year with a fish recipe my family and friends enjoy .The recipe was passed on to me from an old Libyan Jewish neighbor of our family in the old city...
Haraimi ( A Libyan Jewish Dish)
Serves 5-6 according to number of fish slices.Time needed approx.1 hour
1 Large Dentice (Dentex) or Faruge (*Sea Bass)cleaned and cut into thick slices
¼ cup olive oil
1large onion chopped fine
1tbs. Red Cayenne pepper (fil fil ahmar har)
2-3 cloves of crushes garlic
1 tsp. cumin powder (camoun el hout)
1 Tbs heaped tomato paste
3 -4 cups water
Warm the olive oil in a shallow pan on medium heat. Add the chopped onion ,sauté till onion is transparent . Immediately add the red pepper and other spices then add the tomato paste and water sauce must be of slightly thick consistency –
Bring to boil for 5 minutes then simmer for 20 minutes ie when you see the sauce is nice and thick and the grease has come to the top. Now the fish slices are added and left to simmer for another 10 minutes on low flame-never over cook fish ,so it doesn’t dry out and remains tender.
As soon as the fish is cooked switch off the heat and leave for yet another 10 minutes before serving. Haraimi is served at room temperature –never hot , with fresh bread …
Blessings
great dish, thank you
ReplyDeletewhen I went to Benghazi to visit the family, my cousin took me to a fish restuarant which was superb, with the salads they serve a little dish of Haraimi which was so delicious that I asked the Egyptian waiter to get me more HARAIMI, he said this is called Egyptian Harissa not Haraimi, I pointed to the empty dish and said this is an ancient Libyan dish and we call it Haraimi and that the only Egyptian Harissa I know of is some kind of sweet! he insisted it was Egytian Harissan and not haraimi so I said ok what ever just get me one, my cousin then said to me as with everything else in Libya we are losing our identity left right and centre!
sa7a
Thank you for being the first to comment Al as always..
ReplyDeleteIn Benghazi they are very much influenced with our Egyptian neighbours as we here in Tripoli are with our Tunisian ones. So I find it only natural they,that would have to knowledge of the 'Haraimi ' it being a typical dish in the Tripoli area.
Dont get upset brother as loss of identity is bound to happen while we become global citizens..InshaAllah Kheir Ya Rob.
Salam