Persian Tamarind Fish Recipe (2024)

My husband reads me the recipes while I execute them - he read this one wrong and he had me put the herb mixture on the fish after cooking it. He then confessed half way through eating it, but he was quickly forgiven: I can't imagine it any other way - the herbs (mint, thai basil, scallions and parsley) stay fresh, bright, and distinct. I think that cooking them for 10 or 15 minutes with the fish might blend together and dull the result. We loved it, mistake included!

I made a half batch using salmon (my fishmonger says it is illegal to sell striped bass in NJ). Whole Foods had small packages of tamarind paste in the Thai section and I found dried barberries at Nader Food Market 1 East 28th in NYC. This was really yummy and I would make it again.

Yes, good and flavorful. Has the sourness often found in Persian food. Easy and pairs well with rice and Golden Beet and Beet-Greens Salad with Yogurt, Mint & Dill.

Made this for a small dinner party and everyone LOVED it - used wild Alaskan salmon and accompanied with wild rice and a kale salad. I'd never cooked with tamarind paste and wasn't sure how to handle the block so cut it into small chunks and figured the heat would work its magic. My friend said a former boyfriend cooked all the time with this paste - he mashed it with a mortar and pestle and added a bit of water before adding to a dish.

I used concentrated tamarind paste, and this is very strong, so I suggest only 1 and 1/2 tablespoons if you use it. Still tasted good with 2, but just stronger/more bitter.

After cutting the onions pole-to-pole, I will also cut them in half across the equator next time, then thinly slice. The long sliced onions make it harder to cut with a fork. The squeeze of lime at the end really made the dish.

Herbs turned dark when baked and lost a lot of their freshness. Despite this, everyone liked it a lot. Make again.

soak the cranberry in water over night and if you can keep changing the water. also add a bit more tamarind

Fantastic flavors and very easy to do. The tamarind mixture elevates even lowly inexpensive rockfish, which I used, to be special. Made per recipe. Notes: 1) If using dried cranberries, find good ones, not 'craisin' quality, and coarse chop them...barberries are smaller. 2) Grating the garlic is best. 2) Used cilantro, chives, parsley and mint together. Great combo with the tamarind. 3) The squeeze of fresh lime and additional minced herbs as garnish are just right.

Made this with sea bass (actually Peruvian toothfish, per Whole Foods). Fantastic!! It's one of those magical dishes where it's hard to discern the ingredients, but it doesn't matter -- everyone knows it just tastes amazing. Agreed that the lime pulls it together & kicks things up to another level - don't forget it like we almost did! This recipe's definitely a keeper. I'm looking forward to trying the topping with rice idea, too...

LOVE this recipe! Fresh herbs are essential. I substituted goji berries for the barberries. They were nice and tart and IMO a better sub than cranberries. Thinner pieces of fish are preferable if you don't want the topping to burn.

very, very good but not over the top. I suspect that the tamarind paste I used had too little actual tamarind in it (55%) so next time I will look a little closer at the ingredient listing on the paste I buy.
I used barberries, chives, parsley and mint.
I had 1/2 amount of fish called for but made full amount of the barberry mixture in order to mix some in with rice which I would recommend.

This recipe was delicious, made it with seabass. I couldn't find barberries so used a combination of currants and cranberries. Also, used 5 garlic cloves, cilantro, parsley, and basil. I mixed in half of the herb mixture with the cranberry almond topping and saved the other half for garnish.

This was delicious when made with sole fillets — on sale. Better when trout was on sale. I had 3/4 cup of topping left, and several cups off rice — so I kept more or less to Persian Flavors and used Sam Sifton ‘s fried rice no recipe — adding leftover marinated shrimp from a catered lunch, more onion and garlic, two eggs, leftover spinach, leftover herbs, and a glue of OJ to get the rice heating through. Delicious.

Cooked for Nowruz. Be careful using tamarind concentrate. I used 1 tbsp. for a quarter recipe and it was way too much. Tamicon Paste is potent. Half a tbsp. is more like it. I might double the toasted almonds next time.

This recipe was way over my head: I was unable to create the Marinade paste pictured. I was only able to find sweetened cranberries. The sauté followed by baking caramelized the sugar in the cranberries, so they became crunchy balls that couldn't blend with anything. Rinsing them mat y have helped. The tamarind paste I found was in a New Orleans store called Mona's that was a brick that I had to grate. the marinade became a chunky mass that didn't marinade the fish at all. I need help.

This was absolutely delicious. Salmon.

This was delicious! We will definitely make it again.

This was incredible - we couldn’t find barberries but used rehydrated goji berries to great effect. Well served over saffron rice or with couscous.

This was nothing short of exceptional! I used striped bass (I’m in NJ so I don’t know about it being against the law). Had several substitutions (no tamarind…I was too lazy to find it so I subbed brown sugar and rice vinegar and dried cherries…thought I had cranberries). Followed others advice and added fresh herbs after it came out of the oven…also used left over topping in rice. Had some sautéed beet greens on the side. Amazing!

We used tamarind chutney and added around 2 tablespoons. The onion berry mixture is great as a finishing topping vs. slathering it on the fish before baking. We have used it to top roasted chickpeas and canned sardines, omitting the almonds. The herbs, tamarind, onions, and berries are all we really need!

Tamarind paste is not the same thing as concentrated tamarind pulp (the latter typically comes in a block, the former in a jar).If you have concentrated tamarind in a block, it's easy to make tamarind paste - simply boil 1 cup of water per 6 oz tamarind pulp. Put boiling water & tamarind in a large bowl, and stir with a fork. As the water cools, you can rub the tamarind pulp with your fingers to get it to break apart & mix. Wait 30-45 min, then strain and you have tamarind paste.

We added 1 tsp of boiled cider to sweeten. We used mint and basil. 3/4 basil and 1/4 mint.

A wine recommendation would be much appreciated. Would love to hear what others have enjoyed with this dish.

Delicious! I didn't have fresh herbs so I took half a cup of dried gormeh sabzi herbs (for 2 people) soaked them in water for 20 min and squeezed out the water before adding them to the sauce. Used coarsely chopped walnuts instead of almonds. Didn't have barberries so just upped the tamarind paste. This will become a regular dish!

A good way to jazz up a salmon and use garden herbs. I added a tablespoon of pomegranate syrup to the mix. I use dried cranberries. I found that the amount of garlic was too much for my taste (need half). Overall I liked it. Served with Israeli Couscous and Swiss chard.

This was all right, but I wasn't "wowed" by the dish. It honestly didn't need the almond meal, and I just found the tamarind overpowering but I was short on fresh herbs so maybe that would've made a difference. I wouldn't make this again.

Very good. fish was moist, topping mixture of sweet and sour.

found this to be utterly tasteless. was completely disappointed, and I had even enhanced the spices and herbs....