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Samaki wa kupaka

Mike Robinson from Safari Chef with Mike Robinson
Mike Robinson gives us a glorious East-African recipe for grilled fish, cooked over charcoal and served with a sensational sauce

Samaki wa kupaka

Method

1. Carefully trim the tails and fins from the fish and discard them. Make several slashes in the flesh to allow the flavours of the marinade to be well absorbed.

2. Mix the garlic, ginger, salt, oil and lime together. Rub this mixture into the slashed flesh and stomach cavity. Cover and set aside for 30 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, make the Kupaka Sauce. Place the tomato puree, onion, tomatoes and spices into a food processor and blend to a paste.

4. Heat a frying pan over a medium heat and add the paste to the pan. Cook for 2 minutes over a low heat, stirring all the time to stop the mixture sticking and burning.

5. Add the chillies and simmer for 10 minutes. If the mixture becomes too dry, add a little of the tamarind paste and coconut cream.

6. Remove the mixture from the heat, stir in the remaining tamarind paste and coconut cream and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

7. Meanwhile, grill the marinated fish over the charcoal barbecue, basting regularly, until cooked through. Serve immediately, with the Kapuka sauce, some plain boiled rice and coconut spinach.

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Serves: 2

Prep: 30 min, plus marinating
Cook: 30 min

Ingredients
400g whole flat fish, descaled
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 cm fresh ginger root, finely chopped
salt and fresh ground black pepper
2 tbsp Olive oil
juice of 1 lime

For the Kapuka sauce:

1 tbsp tomato purée
1 onion, finely chopped
200g Tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 red chilli, finely chopped
3 tbsp tamarind paste
150ml coconut cream
salt and fresh ground black pepper