Have you ever heard about “kabsa” dish?
It is a delicious traditional dish of Saudi Arabia. It is a rice-based dish served with chicken, lamb, beef and may other kind of meats. Kabsa dish is all about the spices used in it.
I think for me this is the most important elements to make the kabsa dish stand out in flavor. The kabsa spice blend can be found in any grocery store in the middle-eastern or Arabic section and you can make it at home also. It is a blend of cardamom, white pepper, saffron, cinnamon, all spices, turmeric, black pepper, cumin, coriander powder and dry lemon.
In addition to spices, there is a lot of others ingredients that are essential to the final amazing taste of this dish. Every small detail will add-up in building this amazing kabsa deep flavor and vibrant color. Of course, you can adjust and play with the recipe around but I highly recommend you try it first as it is than modify from there. But I urge you to try it first with the combination I will share down in the recipe.
Now for the twist! You didn’t really think, I am just going to share a chicken kabsa recipe ?! there is millions of those online!
First, my recipe is with fish.
Second, it not cooked like traditional kabsa. It is baked!
And it is an easy freezer friendly kind of recipe.
in the contrary with normal kabsa, this recipe is simple from the ingredients to the way of cooking.
I always prepare a big batch of “kabsa vegetable stew” as I call it and store in the freezer. And whenever I am too lazy to even think about cooking, I remove some of those veggies preheat them, pour them on top of some fish fillet and bake! 20 minutes later we have a delicious kabsa dish on the table to impress everyone for dinner or lunch !
It can be served with some flavored jasmine rice or some potato wedges also.
If you preparing this recipe for the first time, I highly recommend you double or triple the veggies and cook a big batch at once. Freezing some will make your life a lot easier, later on. Those kabsa veggies are so aromatics and delicious , you can even eat them alone with some bread!
I even prepare a hummus dish with kabsa veggies check it out!
if you liked this baked fish recipe check out my other delicious fish recipes like my favorite baked fish stew or my healthy super delicious fish burger
Now without more explanation, let’s start chopping those veggies and get cooking!
Baked Fish Kabsa
Ingredients
For the kabsa veggies: * see notes
- 2 tbsp neutral vegetable oil I use rapeseed oil
- 1 ½ tbsp kabsa spice mix
- ½ tbsp curry powder
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- ½ cup mixed nuts or nut of your choice almonds, cashew, pine nuts
- ¼ cup raisins
- 2 big onions diced
- 2 tbsp fresh ginger shredded
- 1 carrot shredded
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 big tomatoes diced (or blended)*
- 1 bay leave
- 1 dry lemon loumi optional
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 cardamom pods
- ½ cup vegetable broth and more water if needed
- Salt to taste
For the fish:
- 600 g of white fish fillet I used seabass in this recipe
- 2 tbsp Kabsa spice mix to season the fish
- 2 tbsp neutral vegetable oil I used rapeseed oil
- Salt for seasoning
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
Instructions
Start with the fish fillet:
- Remove the fish from fridge and tap both sides dry with clean paper towel, sprinkle some salt and kabsa spices and rub on the fish fillet, flip and do the same to the other side.
- Warm the oil in skillet on medium-high heat. Carefully lay the fish in the skillet. Cook for 3 minutes than flip and cook for extra 3 minutes on the other side. Remove from the skillet and lay in a baking dish, set aside. Preheat your oven on 180 C° while you prepare the sauce.
For the kabsa veggies: see notes
- Preheat oil in skillet on medium-high heat. Add the kabsa spices along with the curry and turmeric powder, cook it for 2 minutes until you can smell the aromas of the spices.
- Add the nuts and raisins and stir for 3 minutes until nuts are golden brown. Add the onion and cook through till tender and start to caramelize. Add the ginger and stir for a minute. Add the carrots and mix. Cook for 3 more minutes. Add the tomato paste and mix till all the veggies are coated. Add the diced tomatoes and mix it through. Now add all the remaining aromas (bay leave, cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, loumi). add the broth and mix it all through. Bring to boil, lower the heat and simmer for 12 minutes until the liquid reduce and it is more like a paste not watery sauce. If you feel that it is drying out quickly you can add little bit more water and continue to simmer until you have this thick ketchup sauce kind of texture. Turn of the heat. If you are cooking a big batch you may remove what you need to freeze here. (see notes)
For baking:
- Pour the sauce over the cooked fish in the baking dish and spread it until all the fish fillets are covered with the kabsa sauce. Cover with some aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes remove the foil, mix the lemon juice with the pomegranate molasses and drizzle over the fish and bake for an extra 10 minutes.
- Remove from oven let it rest for 10 minutes before serving.
- Serve with some turmeric basmati rice aside and enjoy!
Notes
- About the kabsa veggies: first thing if you are doing these veggies only for this recipe stick to the quantities mentioned but if you are cooking a big batch to freeze like I do make double or triple this batch and store in freezer for later use.
For the kabsa veggies also once you are done cooking your fish in this recipe , make sure to cook the veggies in different sillet if you are going to store them for later use. But if you are only cooking small quantities only for this recipe you can proceed and cook the veggies in the same pan you cooked the fish in, it will be more flavorful. - For tomato: you can use fresh diced tomato, or you can also use canned tomtato , chopped or strained.
- For storing: I always prefer to enjoy fish recipes fresh after cooking, but if you need to meal prep this recipe you can. I recommend eating it in the next 48 hours maximum. Store in fridge in airtight containers to keep it fresh.
And it is very easy to meal prep this recipe fresh also. Just prepare your veggies kabsa stew in advance and store in fridge for 4 days or freezer for 3 months. Whenever you are ready to cook. Just cook your fillet, top it with the veggies sauce and bake!