Samke Harra - Middle Eastern Spicy Fish

[FoodMan]

Samke Harra is one awsome dish, Basically it is baked whole fish (sometimes lighlty fried first), stuffed with a mixture of chilies, walnuts, cilantro and garlic. The final and very importatnt touch is to top it with a good dose of Tahini sauce (tahini, lemon, garlic,...). It is a truly amazing dish that is not hard to make but sure seems like it. hmm..maybe we should have a Samke Harr cookoff thread? Actually when cooking for my wife and I, I often sub fish fillet for the whole fish, but the real deal is much more dramatic.

Ok, I will do my best to make Samke Harra this weekend and start the thread. I do not really use a recipe so if it is ok I would rather wait and I will post the recipe once the thread is up and I am sure it works. If someone wants anything sooner, then I’ll type up some basic instructions and we can go from there. BTW, as far as I know the dish also exists with the same name in Syria, but I am not sure about anywhere else.

Elie

[Smithy]

Thank you, Elie!

Please make sure to let us Midwesterners know what kind of fish is best...if not species, at least general description as far as firmness, flavor and oil content so we can substitute if necessary. If I want fresh whole fish I'll pretty much have to stick to herring, whitefish or possibly lake trout. I can get any of those frozen and whole, as well as salmon. If I want to go with frozen filets the opportunities open up, and I can get tuna, cod, talapia, orange roughy or - maybe - snapper.

[Behemoth]

Thank you, Elie!

Please make sure to let us Midwesterners know what kind of fish is best...if not species, at least general description as far as firmness, flavor and oil content so we can substitute if necessary.  If I want fresh whole fish I'll pretty much have to stick to herring, whitefish or possibly lake trout.  I can get any of those frozen and whole, as well as salmon.  If I want to go with frozen filets the opportunities open up, and I can get tuna, cod, talapia, orange roughy or - maybe - snapper.

←

Smithy, there is a HUGE variation in recipes for this dish. I looked around a little and what I'm planning to do looks a lot like this: Link

I really loved the garnish I had at our friends' house, so I will add caramelized onion and toasted pine nuts after it is baked.

As for type of fish, you want a white-fleshed sea fish. In a pinch cod filets would be a lot better than oily fish like tuna or salmon. You'll get the best results with red snapper, if you can find it.

[Almass]

There are two versions of Samkeh Harra which are equally nice.

One version called Samkeh Harra is simply with coriander, garlic, onions, pine kernels and cumin/paprika S/P in fried in oil.

The second more important version is called Samkeh Harra Traboulsieh and has Tehina as the differential ingredient.

The Tehina is either mixed in with the remaining ingredients or cooked in with the remaining ingredients.

So two recipes and should you go to a Lebanese restaurant, you better be specific as to which you want. I go for the Samkeh Harra Traboulsieh any time.

[FoodMan]

Thank you, Elie!

Please make sure to let us Midwesterners know what kind of fish is best...if not species, at least general description as far as firmness, flavor and oil content so we can substitute if necessary.  If I want fresh whole fish I'll pretty much have to stick to herring, whitefish or possibly lake trout.  I can get any of those frozen and whole, as well as salmon.  If I want to go with frozen filets the opportunities open up, and I can get tuna, cod, talapia, orange roughy or - maybe - snapper.

←

The 2 fish I use here in Houston, TX are red snapper or sea bass. Either one is good, but any white fleshed fish with a firm texture and low oil content will be fine. Avoid stuff like salmon, mackerel, Tuna. I would even think some fresh trout that have been deboned would make for a very nice personal serving fish.

Elie

[FoodMan]

There are two versions of Samkeh Harra which are equally nice.

One version called Samkeh Harra is simply with coriander, garlic, onions, pine kernels and cumin/paprika S/P in fried in oil.

The second more important version is called Samkeh Harra Traboulsieh and has Tehina as the differential ingredient.

The Tehina is either mixed in with the remaining ingredients or cooked in with the remaining ingredients.

So two recipes and should you go to a Lebanese restaurant, you better be specific as to which you want. I go for the Samkeh Harra Traboulsieh any time.

←

Almass can you elaborate a little please? IS the fish actually stuffed then fried? that does not sound feasible. Also, all the ones I have had are made with walnuts in the stuffing including the ones I've seen in cookbooks and the ones my family makes, not pinenuts. Was your experience different?

On another note, Bahamoth's recipe sounds pretty close to what I do and I would think it is a good starting point.

Elie

[Behemoth]

Chef Ramzi has four different recipes in his book -- the one we are talking about is indeed closest to what he calls "tripoli style" although his version does not include the stuffing. There is yet another version in Paula Wolfert's book, based on the cookbook by Selwa Anthony et all, which includes green peppers in the stuffing, and finally I've also seen a sixth version that is more like a stew, in that you fry pieces of fish and then place them in the tahini mixture afterwards.

(edited to correct author name.)

Edited July 19, 2005 by Behemoth (log)

[Behemoth]

By the way, our hosts served fish that was about the size of large trout, approx one per every two persons. They looked really cool lined up on the platter, alternating heads and tails.

[kanljung]

This thread is really timely. A couple of days ago, I browsed through the fish chapter in “The New Book of Middle Eastern Food” by Claudia Roden. There were many mouth watering fish recipes and Samke Harra was one that particularly caught my attention.

Elie, when you use fillets, how do you apply the "stuffing"? Spread it on top of the fillets and bake them flat?

[FoodMan]

Elie, when you use fillets, how do you apply the "stuffing"? Spread it on top of the fillets and bake them flat?

←

Exactly!

For a slightly different texture, I've also pan fried the fish fillets once to give them a nice crust, then topped with the stuffing that has been stir fried a bit to warm it. Then top the whole thing with the warmed tahini sauce.

Elie

[SuzySushi]

Sounds delicious! I'm waiting to see the results!

[Almass]

There are two versions of Samkeh Harra which are equally nice.

One version called Samkeh Harra is simply with coriander, garlic, onions, pine kernels and cumin/paprika S/P in fried in oil.

The second more important version is called Samkeh Harra Traboulsieh and has Tehina as the differential ingredient.

The Tehina is either mixed in with the remaining ingredients or cooked in with the remaining ingredients.

So two recipes and should you go to a Lebanese restaurant, you better be specific as to which you want. I go for the Samkeh Harra Traboulsieh any time.

←

Almass can you elaborate a little please? IS the fish actually stuffed then fried? that does not sound feasible. Also, all the ones I have had are made with walnuts in the stuffing including the ones I've seen in cookbooks and the ones my family makes, not pinenuts. Was your experience different?

On another note, Bahamoth's recipe sounds pretty close to what I do and I would think it is a good starting point.

Elie

←

There is no stuffing involved.

Samka Harra Traboulsieh

The fish can either be fried dry in oil if size allows or baked dry if large size.

Lightly fry the onions till soft and add garlic+fresh coriander+cumin+chilli+Tahina diluted with lemon juice and bring to slow boil and lift and add separately fried pine kernels and fresh coriander.

Dress the fish and back for 10mn in the oven but you cannot do the same if the fish is fried..

In Lebanese terminology this can be summarized as: make a "Ta'alieh" and stir in some Taratour.

Other recipe is to omit the onions and other recipe is to stir in the diluted Tahina off the pan as lighter or to add parsley as well.

I did not come across walnuts or green/red peppers. However the non Tahina version contains tomato concasser.

As far as my personal taste is concerned, I would like to have the tahina taste predominant and less of the Ta'alieh.

[Hector]

I had a recipe of a Samake Harra as it was served by the Lebanese/Syrian immigrants in Trinidad and Tobago. The recipe calls for a spice sauce, called "samak". I don't know what that is, or what "samak" means in Arabic. Can someone explain?

[archestratus]

I had a recipe of a Samake Harra as it was served by the Lebanese/Syrian immigrants in Trinidad and Tobago. The recipe calls for a spice sauce, called "samak". I don't know what that is, or what "samak" means in Arabic. Can someone explain?

←

There is no spice sauce called "samak," as that word simply means "fish" in Arabic. But who knows what's happening to the dish in Trinidad. Take a look at this recipe http://www.cliffordawright.com/recipes/sam_harra.html.

[Almass]

I had a recipe of a Samake Harra as it was served by the Lebanese/Syrian immigrants in Trinidad and Tobago. The recipe calls for a spice sauce, called "samak". I don't know what that is, or what "samak" means in Arabic. Can someone explain?

←

There is no spice sauce called "samak," as that word simply means "fish" in Arabic. But who knows what's happening to the dish in Trinidad. Take a look at this recipe http://www.cliffordawright.com/recipes/sam_harra.html.

←

Yo archestratus. The man is right, in a way.

Although "Samak" is the arabic transliteration and means "Fish".

But Hector is talking about spice in a sauce in which case he is talking about Sumac!!! the spice widely used in the Levant and particularly in Lebanon for the Fatoush salad and other. And I suppose his friends made Sumac based sauce which would go well with fish.

So it is a Sumac Samak.

LoL,

[archestratus]

I had a recipe of a Samake Harra as it was served by the Lebanese/Syrian immigrants in Trinidad and Tobago. The recipe calls for a spice sauce, called "samak". I don't know what that is, or what "samak" means in Arabic. Can someone explain?

←

There is no spice sauce called "samak," as that word simply means "fish" in Arabic. But who knows what's happening to the dish in Trinidad. Take a look at this recipe http://www.cliffordawright.com/recipes/sam_harra.html.

←

Yo archestratus. The man is right, in a way.

Although "Samak" is the arabic transliteration and means "Fish".

But Hector is talking about spice in a sauce in which case he is talking about Sumac!!! the spice widely used in the Levant and particularly in Lebanon for the Fatoush salad and other. And I suppose his friends made Sumac based sauce which would go well with fish.

So it is a Sumac Samak.

LoL,

←

Well, let's ask. Hector, are you talking about sumac in the sauce for this fish, hence sumac samak?

[Smithy]

Thank you, Elie!

Please make sure to let us Midwesterners know what kind of fish is best...if not species, at least general description as far as firmness, flavor and oil content so we can substitute if necessary.  If I want fresh whole fish I'll pretty much have to stick to herring, whitefish or possibly lake trout.  I can get any of those frozen and whole, as well as salmon.  If I want to go with frozen filets the opportunities open up, and I can get tuna, cod, talapia, orange roughy or - maybe - snapper.

←

Smithy, there is a HUGE variation in recipes for this dish. I looked around a little and what I'm planning to do looks a lot like this: Link

I really loved the garnish I had at our friends' house, so I will add caramelized onion and toasted pine nuts after it is baked.

As for type of fish, you want a white-fleshed sea fish. In a pinch cod filets would be a lot better than oily fish like tuna or salmon. You'll get the best results with red snapper, if you can find it.

←

I did this last night for dinner, and (as usual) ran into questions when it was too late to ask.

First question: The recipe in the link above calls for 1 chili pepper. Ahm, what kind? How big? How hot? I have some dried shatta from Egypt that I was afraid would overpower the dish. I ended up substituting a tablespoon of paprika (mostly hot, some sweet, mixed) to get a bit of heat without burning our taste buds.

Second: how thin is the tahina supposed to be? Thin enough that you can pour it onto the fish? I had to plop mine onto the fish with a spoon, and then try to spread it. I think if it had been thinner it would have looked more artistic - although the flavor was fine.

All in all this was nice. I used red snapper filets. I wasn't crazy about the flavor of the fish when it was all finished; to me it tasted maybe a little old, maybe a little overcooked. My husband loved the fish as it was. The sauce was quite good, and we had to laugh: he'd have liked a bit less lemon and more tahina; I was squeezing extra lemon on overall! This is fairly typical of our respective tastes, though. What intrigued me was that I used a lot more cilantro than the recipe calls for, and still couldn't taste it unless I tasted *for* it. Then, if was tasting for it, I could detect a subtle hint of that herb. It added a nice background flavor without shouting everything else down.

Overall, we both liked this dish and I will do it again, but probably with some fish that didn't have to be frozen quite so long before eating. (Maybe a northern pike, which wouldn't have to be frozen at all.) I would like some advice on what type of pepper would be typical. Finally, next time I'll remember about the garnish. That sounds lovely.

[Adam Balic]

In Charles Perry's translation of "al-Kitab Wasf al-At'ima al-Mu'tada's" ("The Book of the Description of Familiar Foods," of 1373) the is a recipe for "Stuffing for fish", from my notes, the ingredients of this are; Walnuts, garlic, sumac, coriander, cinnamon, tahini, parsely, mint and lemon juice. I think that this is an early version of the recipe discussed here, originally for fish from Lake Van I think. I will check the original recipe and see if I have got this right.

[chefzadi]

A little bit off topic, but since Adam brought up Charles Perry, I want to mention this article about him. A Medieval Feast for Albright.

"There are more cookbooks in Arabia than in the rest of the world put together," he said. "We owe to Persia the cult of gastronomy. It was a court tradition for Caliphs to keep favorite recipes in a notebook. Gentlemen were expected to do so. It was also a means of social climbing: cook like your betters."

[Behemoth]

A little bit off topic, but since Adam brought up Charles Perry, I want to mention this article about him. A Medieval Feast for Albright.

"There are more cookbooks in Arabia than in the rest of the world put together," he said. "We owe to Persia the cult of gastronomy. It was a court tradition for Caliphs to keep favorite recipes in a notebook. Gentlemen were expected to do so. It was also a means of social climbing: cook like your betters."

←

Farid & Adam, not that I need any more distractions right now, but do you have a URL for the translation? This is gold for nerds like me. (Tried to google it, only got bits and pieces.)

[Adam Balic]

I think that the article that Farid refers to is here, the translation I am refering was published in "Medieval Arab Cookery", which I thought was out of print, but this site (scroll down) claims to have it in stock.

A very good resource, in the last few weeks I have seen at least two extant dishes mentioned on egullet, identified in this book (or the other way around).

[chefzadi]

A little bit off topic, but since Adam brought up Charles Perry, I want to mention this article about him. A Medieval Feast for Albright.

"There are more cookbooks in Arabia than in the rest of the world put together," he said. "We owe to Persia the cult of gastronomy. It was a court tradition for Caliphs to keep favorite recipes in a notebook. Gentlemen were expected to do so. It was also a means of social climbing: cook like your betters."

←

Farid & Adam, not that I need any more distractions right now, but do you have a URL for the translation? This is gold for nerds like me. (Tried to google it, only got bits and pieces.)

←

I posted a link to an Andalusian cookbook translated by Charles Perry on "Ya Rayi" on the left side in the "online cookbooks" category.

A very good resource, in the last few weeks I have seen at least two extant dishes mentioned on egullet, identified in this book (or the other way around).

Not the same book I know, but Algeria is a country that forgets nothing. You'd be surprised how many these dishes or variations of are still being prepared.

[FoodMan]

Thank you, Elie!

Please make sure to let us Midwesterners know what kind of fish is best...if not species, at least general description as far as firmness, flavor and oil content so we can substitute if necessary.  If I want fresh whole fish I'll pretty much have to stick to herring, whitefish or possibly lake trout.  I can get any of those frozen and whole, as well as salmon.  If I want to go with frozen filets the opportunities open up, and I can get tuna, cod, talapia, orange roughy or - maybe - snapper.

←

Smithy, there is a HUGE variation in recipes for this dish. I looked around a little and what I'm planning to do looks a lot like this: Link

I really loved the garnish I had at our friends' house, so I will add caramelized onion and toasted pine nuts after it is baked.

As for type of fish, you want a white-fleshed sea fish. In a pinch cod filets would be a lot better than oily fish like tuna or salmon. You'll get the best results with red snapper, if you can find it.

←

I did this last night for dinner, and (as usual) ran into questions when it was too late to ask.

First question: The recipe in the link above calls for 1 chili pepper. Ahm, what kind? How big? How hot? I have some dried shatta from Egypt that I was afraid would overpower the dish. I ended up substituting a tablespoon of paprika (mostly hot, some sweet, mixed) to get a bit of heat without burning our taste buds.

Second: how thin is the tahina supposed to be? Thin enough that you can pour it onto the fish? I had to plop mine onto the fish with a spoon, and then try to spread it. I think if it had been thinner it would have looked more artistic - although the flavor was fine.

All in all this was nice. I used red snapper filets. I wasn't crazy about the flavor of the fish when it was all finished; to me it tasted maybe a little old, maybe a little overcooked. My husband loved the fish as it was. The sauce was quite good, and we had to laugh: he'd have liked a bit less lemon and more tahina; I was squeezing extra lemon on overall! This is fairly typical of our respective tastes, though. What intrigued me was that I used a lot more cilantro than the recipe calls for, and still couldn't taste it unless I tasted *for* it. Then, if was tasting for it, I could detect a subtle hint of that herb. It added a nice background flavor without shouting everything else down.

Overall, we both liked this dish and I will do it again, but probably with some fish that didn't have to be frozen quite so long before eating. (Maybe a northern pike, which wouldn't have to be frozen at all.) I would like some advice on what type of pepper would be typical. Finally, next time I'll remember about the garnish. That sounds lovely.

←

Unfortunatly, I could not get fresh whole snapper this past weekend. The 2 places I tried here in Hosuton said that boats did not go out because of the hurricane so no fresh catch. So, this has to wait for a few more days. Sorry.

Smithy, I am glad you took the first stab at it and I will try and answer your questions.

Concerning the chillies, use what you want and however much you like. The fish should be pretty spicy. For example my wife cannot tolerate hot stuff so the one I make is usually pretty mild, unless I am cooking for myself only.

The Tahini sauce should be pourable not pasty, any decent taratoor (tahini sauce)should be pourable. In this case make loosen it with enough lemon juice and/or water to have the consistency of heavy cream.

Elie

[Adam Balic]

In Charles Perry's translation of "al-Kitab Wasf al-At'ima al-Mu'tada's" ("The Book of the Description of Familiar Foods," of 1373) the is a recipe for "Stuffing for fish", from my notes, the ingredients of this are; Walnuts, garlic, sumac, coriander, cinnamon, tahini, parsely, mint and lemon juice. I think that this is an early version of the recipe discussed here, originally for fish from Lake Van I think. I will check the original recipe and see if I have got this right.

←

OK the medieval recipe is called "Samak Tari Mahshi" (Stuffed fresh fish). The stuffing is (approximately).

50 gms of sumac*

20 gms of dry thyme

12.5 gms peeled, finely chopped garlic

25 gms of walnuts

mix these

Adjust flavour with cassia (USA cinnamon), caraway, mastic, tahini, lemon juice, parsley and mint.

Stuff the fish, smear with saffron and bake.

* This refers to whole sumac berries, so I think that the amount of ground sumac would have to be adjusted down. It also seems like a lot of garlic compared to walnut meat.

[Almass]

In Charles Perry's translation of "al-Kitab Wasf al-At'ima al-Mu'tada's" ("The Book of the Description of Familiar Foods," of 1373) the is a recipe for "Stuffing for fish", from my notes, the ingredients of this are; Walnuts, garlic, sumac, coriander, cinnamon, tahini, parsely, mint and lemon juice. I think that this is an early version of the recipe discussed here, originally for fish from Lake Van I think. I will check the original recipe and see if I have got this right.

←

OK the medieval recipe is called "Samak Tari Mahshi" (Stuffed fresh fish). The stuffing is (approximately).

50 gms of sumac*

20 gms of dry thyme

12.5 gms peeled, finely chopped garlic

25 gms of walnuts

mix these

Adjust flavour with cassia (USA cinnamon), caraway, mastic, tahini, lemon juice, parsley and mint.

Stuff the fish, smear with saffron and bake.

* This refers to whole sumac berries, so I think that the amount of ground sumac would have to be adjusted down. It also seems like a lot of garlic compared to walnut meat.

←

"Samak Tari Mahshi" (Stuffed fresh fish)

Samak is fish

Mahshi is stuffed

but Tari is not fresh.

As matter of fact, Tari means soft and to my knowledge, here the recipe is drawing your attention to soft water fish v sea water fish.

My 2ct.