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Chermoula Sauce and Marinade

This hot, spicy, garlicky mixture is the all-purpose, ubiquitous Moroccan sauce for fish. It goes on every kind of fish—fried, grilled, baked, and stewed. It is marvelous, and I strongly recommend it, but not for a fish with a delicate flavor. Use half of it to marinate the fish in for 1/2 hour before cooking, and pour the rest on as a sauce before serving.

Recipe information

  • Yield

    serves 4

Ingredients

2/3 cup chopped cilantro
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4–1/2 teaspoon ground chili pepper (optional)
6 tablespoons peanut or extra-virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon or 3 tablespoons wine vinegar

Preparation

  1. Blend everything together in the food processor.

Cover of Claudia Roden's The New Book of Middle Easter Food, featuring a blue filigree bowl filled with Meyer lemons and sprigs of mint.
Reprinted with permission from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food, copyright © 2000 by Claudia Roden, published by Knopf. Buy the full book on Amazon or Bookshop.
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