Baked Tamarind Fish  Recipe

cooking.nytimes.com

Ingredients

  • 1 piece ginger

  • 6 scallions

  • 4 cloves garlic

  • 2 tbsp. sesame oil

  • 1/2 cup tamarind concentrate

  • 2 tbsp. light soy sauce

  • 2 tbsp. rice vinegar

  • 1 tsp. Kashmiri red chile powder

  • 1 tsp. date, palm or brown sugar

  • 3/4 tsp. salt

  • 4 cod, halibut or other flaky white fish fillets

  • 3 Thai green chiles

  • white rice (for serving)

Directions

  1. 1

    Heat oven to 400 degrees.

  2. 2

    Roughly chop 2 inches of the ginger, and slice the remaining 1 inch piece into matchsticks.

  3. 3

    Roughly chop 4 scallions, and thinly slice the remaining 2 scallions.

  4. 4

    Smash and peel the garlic, and finely chop 1 of the cloves.

  5. 5

    Toss together the roughly chopped ginger, the roughly chopped scallions, the 3 smashed garlic cloves and 1 tablespoon sesame oil in a 9 by 13-inch baking pan.

  6. 6

    Arrange these ingredients so they make a bed for the fish to lay on.

  7. 7

    Make the tamarind sauce: In a bowl, whisk together the finely chopped garlic, the remaining 1 tablespoon sesame oil, the tamarind concentrate, soy sauce, vinegar, chile powder, sugar and salt until the mixture thickens slightly, 2 to 3 minutes.

  8. 8

    Place the fish fillets on the bed of ginger, scallions and garlic.

  9. 9

    Top each fillet with the tamarind sauce until the fish is covered in sauce (about 2 tablespoons per fillet).

  10. 10

    Cover with foil and bake until the fish flakes when poked with a fork, 12 to 15 minutes.

  11. 11

    Use a spatula to scoop up the bed of aromatics along with each fillet and transfer to plates or a platter.

  12. 12

    Top the fish with more sauce as desired, and garnish with the matchstick ginger, sliced scallions and chopped green chiles.

  13. 13

    Serve with white rice.