Tadjine de Saurel | Tadjine of horse mackeral

بِسْــــــــــــــــــــــمِ اﷲِارَّحْمَنِ ارَّحِيم

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته

Saurel, horse mackeral or scad in English is in abundance in Algeria, Mediterranean and in the Atlantic. While this fish is widely used in sushi bars around the world, here in Algeria it's practically overlooked,  nappreciated and under estimated fish.

This blue oily fish is curved in the middle and covered over its entire length of a row of bony plates, spiny on the back. The head is large, the first spiny dorsal fin, the second elongated, the tail slightly forked.

Unfortunately here in Algeria, it is many times overlooked amoung all the other small fishes like the sardine and anchovy. Quite a shame, I think. They are ideal for frying, making fish boulettes but also for tadjines or tray bakes.

Here's one simple yet worthy of this noble little fish.

active prep time: 5-10mins | inactive prep time: 0min | cook time: 10-15 mins 

serves 4

• 1 kg saurel (horse mackeral, scad), cleaned
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 TBS tomato paste
• 1 tsp cumin and coriander
• handful of chopped parsely and cilantro
• 3 lemons, sliced
• 2 tomatoes, sliced
• ¼ tsp hot paprika 
• salt/pepper/olive oil

CLEAN the fish by scaling it and removing the insides and fins.

PREPARE the chermoula by mixing the lemon juice and herbs.

STUFF the inside of the fish with the chermoula.

LAYER the tomatoes, lemons and fish in a tadjine or baking dish. Then add another layer of lemons and tomatoes.

DISSOLVE the tomato paste in about half cup of water that you have seasoned to taste.

POUR over the fish.

BAKE covered for about 10m or until the fish is cooked through.

Serve with crusty bread or couscous.

Variation
You can use the recipe for other fishes like sardines, round sardinella or allache.

Mediterranean, Algerian, fish and seafood

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