Ingredients
- 2.5 pounds tilapia fillets (or whole tilapia cleaned)
- 3.5 cups hot water
- 2 tsp salt (or to taste)
- 2 tbsp cumin
- 1/2 cup lime juice (or lemon juice)
- 1-2 tsp fresh ground pepper
scroll for more
Tilapia Broiled Egyptian Style
Time: 5 minutes prep, 20 minutes cook
Servings: 6
Directions
- Broil the tilapia fillets on high broil for 3 minutes per side (7 minutes per side for whole tilapia)
- While tilapia is broiling put water in a large bowl (sufficient to hold the tilapia) and add salt, cumin, lime juice and pepper. Taste and add additional spices to taste.
- Take hot tilapia from oven and immediately put it into the bowl. It should be fully submerged under the liquid. If not, find a different shaped dish or add additional water and spices to compensate.
- Let sit for 10-15 minutes and serve with white or brown rice. Make sure to scoop plenty of the flavorful liquid over both the fish and the rice.
- We normally serve this with a green vegetable. Broccoli is good because the head can be used to sop up the extra liquid. Yum!
scroll for more
Summary
We adopted this recipe from our Egyptian babysitter in San Francisco named Hoda. We came to her house once to pick up our son and were greeted by the most amazing smell! She invited us to take a bite of the tilapia she had cooked. We were smitten. It was the first broiled, then soaked, recipe we had tasted, and it is still one of our favorite recipes. It's best with whole tilapia (the skin adds a great flavor) but we've gravitated towards fillets given concern about our kids swallowing bones.
Reviews
March 4, 2009
This recipe is outstanding when you use a whole Tilapia. Recently I've begun to make it with Tilapia fillets, and while it is still good this way, it does not compare to when you cook it with the skin on. The skin really absorbs the cumin and lime flavors, and imparts more fat and flavor to the dish.I've cooked/tasted this recipe!
