Masgouf

Ingredients

• Carp — whole, split along the back2 kg
• Vegetable oil100 ml
• Turmeric2 tsp
• Tamarind paste2 tbsp
• Onion2
• Tomatoes4
• Lemon2
• Curry powder1 tbsp
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Cut the fish along the back without separating the belly, gut it and open it out like a book. Leave the spine in.

   20 min

2. 2

   Mix the oil, turmeric, tamarind, curry powder, salt and pepper and paint the flesh with it. Leave the skin alone.

   8 min

3. 3

   Leave the fish half an hour at room temperature; cold, it cooks unevenly.

   30 min

4. 4

   Light the fire and let it settle to a steady flame. Stand the fish upright, flesh towards the fire, half a metre away.

   15 min

5. 5

   Cook for an hour, turning as needed. The flesh should whiten and dry at the edges without scorching.

   60 min

6. 6

   Move the fish skin down onto the coals, lay the onion and tomato over it and give it ten more minutes.

   12 min

7. 7

   Serve it on the board, with flatbread, lemon and raw onion.

   5 min

About the dish

The fish is split down the back, opened out and stood upright around a fire of poplar wood. It cooks beside the flame rather than over coals — for hours, on reflected heat.

The marinade is minimal: oil, salt, turmeric and tamarind. The point is the smoke and the fish itself, so the carp is bought alive and cleaned just before cooking.

For the last minutes the fish is laid skin down straight on the embers, so the fat renders back into the flesh. That is when the tomato and onion go on top.

Worth knowing

• — In an oven, masgouf goes under the top grill: flesh up on a rack, forty minutes at 200 °C. Not the same thing, but closer than a frying pan.
• — The spine is left in for a reason — it holds the fish open and stops the flesh curling in the heat.
• — Tamarind can be replaced with pomegranate molasses. Lemon juice cannot: it evaporates in the first minutes.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

480 kcal

Protein

52 g

Fat

27 g

Carbs

8 g

More from Iraq

• Iraqi dolma — Vine leaves and vegetables stuffed with spiced rice and meat, layered in one pot and cooked under a weight.