While developing these gari-herb crusted baked fish fillets, I had a why-did-I not-think-about-this-earlier moment. The fish fillets in this recipe are delicate and flaky and the gari is super flavourful and so beautifully spiced. Gari is a staple in Ghana. You can have it savoury or sweet and the list of you can make with it is endless: Soakings (gari mixed with water, milk, groundnuts and sugar), gari fotor (gari mixed with a tomato-based stew), gari + shito + sardines (the ultimate boarding school saviour). It's one of those must-haves at home.
One of my favourite food bloggers Sweet Adjeley has a lovely video on how to make gari which you can check out here. If on the other hand, you're looking for a lovely snack coupled with an unfortunate series of explosive events, then you should check this Agbeli Kaklo recipe.
The inspiration for this dish comes from a video I saw in which a lovely Brazillian woman was making Farofa and fried the gari in some oil and bacon bits and I definitely thought that was worth noting. The second inspiration was a ready-made herb-crusted fish filet I ate often when I lived in Germany. It was easy to pop in the oven and have that for lunch or dinner with rice and spinach. Putting both of these experiences and ideas together, I thought this gari-herb crusted fish fillet would make a great pairing.
The choice of fish is mainly left to you but I used cassava fish. Yes, the coincidence is not lost on me and was definitely not intentional. Any fish that is fleshy and firm and not overly bony is a good substitute for cassava fish.
I filleted an entire fish for this but readily available fillets are perfect as well if you cannot gut and fillet an entire fish or you just don't want to. I also left the skin on but if that is not your thing, take it off.
For this recipe, the gari was fried in butter. You can use vegetable oil or coconut oil but butter gives it a lovely flavour. Depending on how thin or thick your fillets are, your cook time will vary. You want your fish to be flaky and juicy and definitely not dry. I would also recommend that you prepare these fish fillets just in time as I have painfully discovered that preparing this meal ahead and re-heating is not optimal.
Getting the gari on top of the fillets can be a bit of a juggling act so place the baking paper on the tray and then work on that. A trick is to press the topping together so that it is compact and this makes it easier to pack on top. Once you are done you can transfer the tray immediately into your heated oven.
I kept the seasoning on the fillets themselves pretty simple as the gari-herb crust brings a ton of flavour to the fish and we want a well-spiced but not an overwhelming end result.
Gari-Herb-Crusted Baked Fish Fillets
Ingredients
- 3 fish fillets about 2 cm thick
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp black mustard seeds
- 1 tsp coriander leaves finely chopped
- 1 tbsp green chillies finely chopped
- 1 tsp garlic paste
- 1 tsp black peppercorns crushed
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 1 tbsp thyme finely chopped
- 1 tbsp spring onions chopped
- 1 tbsp onion paste
- 4 tbsp gari
- 30 grams butter
- 1 lemongrass stalk
- salt
Instructions
- Remove fish fillets from fridge or freezer to come to room temperature.
- Melt butter in a pan on low heat and add lemongrass stalk.
- Add coriander and mustard seeds and stir to ensure that the butter is not burning.
- Once the seeds start to splutter, stir for another minute and then take out the lemongrass stalk and the seeds from the pan.
- Add gari to the melted now lemongrass-infused butter and stir for about a minute.
- Add all the herbs, spices (except black and white pepper) and then stir together for another minute.
- Taste for salt, let cool completely and heat oven to about 180°C-200°C.
- Pat fish dry and season with salt, black pepper and white pepper and place fillets on a tray lined with baking paper.
- Take about 2 tablespoons of the gari mixture and press firmly on top of each of the fillets.
- Bake fillets for approx 20-25 minutes or until the fish begins to flake when you put a fork in it.
- Serve warm.
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