Fish Koftas in Tomato and Cardamom Sauce

By Yotam Ottolenghi

Total Time: About 1½ hours
Rating: 4(168)
Notes: Read community notes

On first inspection, this dish looks like herb-flecked meatballs in tomato sauce, but the sauce is spiced, tangy and aromatic, and the meatballs are, well, fish balls, made of a combination of mackerel and sardines. We use tinned sardines here, for ease, but you can obviously substitute with fresh sardines, scaled and boned. You'll also want to pay attention to the total weight or volume of the mackerel: Some types are larger than others. All work here, but you may not need to buy as many fillets. Serve with some couscous or rice and a spoonful of yogurt, if you like.

Featured in: When Cooking Is About Ease, Not ‘Easy’

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

For the Sauce

⅓cup/75 milliliters olive oil
8garlic cloves, finely chopped
3green chile peppers, such as serrano, finely sliced (and seeded if you don’t like heat)
Salt
2large celery stalks, trimmed and finely chopped
1banana shallot (or a large regular shallot), finely chopped
1pound/500 grams ripe vine tomatoes (4 to 5 medium), blitzed in a food processor for 1 minute (or use 2 cups canned tomato purée)
3tablespoons tomato paste
2teaspoons granulated or caster sugar
1½teaspoons ground cumin
1teaspoon lime zest, plus 1 tablespoon lime juice (from 1 lime)
8cardamom pods, crushed in a mortar and pestle, skins discarded (or use a scant ½ teaspoon ground cardamom)
¾cup plus 2 tablespoons/200 milliliters dry white wine
2tablespoons/5 grams finely chopped cilantro or coriander leaves, for serving
2tablespoons/5 grams finely chopped dill, for serving

For the Fish Koftas

4mackerel fillets (from 2 roughly 1-pound/500-gram fish), skin and pin bones removed, flesh roughly chopped into ¾-inch/2-centimeter pieces (for about 12 ounces/320 grams of chopped fish)
About 5 ounces/150 grams drained tinned sardines in olive oil, roughly chopped
1heaping tablespoon/10 grams pistachios, roughly chopped
½cup/10 grams loosely packed roughly chopped fresh dill
1loosely packed cup/15 grams roughly chopped fresh cilantro leaves (coriander leaves)
1tablespoon finely grated zest (from 2 limes); cut the zested limes into wedges or juice them, for serving
1green chile pepper (such as serrano), finely chopped
1egg, beaten
5tablespoons/70 grams potato flour, divided
3tablespoons/50 milliliters vegetable oil

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Start with the sauce: In a large sauté pan (choose one that has a lid), heat olive oil, garlic, half the sliced chile pepper and a good pinch of salt over medium-low heat. Gently fry for 6 minutes, stirring frequently, until garlic is soft and golden. Remove 2 tablespoons of the oil (with some of the chile and garlic) and set aside.
Step 2
Add celery, shallot and 1½ teaspoons salt to the same pan and continue to cook for 8 minutes, stirring often, until soft and translucent. Increase the heat to medium, add the tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, cumin, lime zest and juice and the cardamom and continue to cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the wine, 1½ cups/350 milliliters water and ¼ teaspoon salt and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for 20 minutes, turning the heat down if the sauce bubbles too much, and stirring once in a while.
Step 3
While the sauce is simmering, make the fish koftas: Add fish, pistachios, herbs, lime zest, chile and egg to a bowl with 3 tablespoons potato flour and ⅛ teaspoon salt and mix together well. Grease your hands with a little oil and roll the mix into approximately 12 golf-sized balls (about 1½ to 1¾ ounces/45 to 50 grams each), applying pressure to compact them as you go. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons/25 grams flour to a plate and roll each ball in the flour so they are coated.
Step 4
Heat vegetable oil in a large, nonstick saucepan over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the fish balls and cook for about 5 minutes, turning throughout until all sides are golden-brown and crisp. (Remove the sauce from the heat and set aside if it finishes before you finish the koftas.)
Step 5
After the sauce has been cooking for 20 minutes, transfer the balls into the sauce, drizzling over some of the frying oil (or return the sauce to medium heat). Cover the pan with the lid and cook for 4 minutes, until hot.
Step 6
Remove the lid and scatter the herbs and the remaining fresh chile over the top, then drizzle with the reserved garlic and chile oil. Serve hot, with lime juice added to taste, or with lime wedges alongside.

Ratings

4 out of 5

168 user ratings

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Private Notes

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Cooking Notes

Diane6 years ago

I have never seen anything but tinned mackerel in the markets near me. Suggestions for a substitute for the fresh mackerel?

Kate6 years ago

I think you could substitute cod, halibut, or snapper that could hold up to the cooking. I think you could totally do the fish kofte a day ahead and freeze it. It will hold better. If you are unwilling to chance it maybe do the sauce ahead of time I suspect given the flavors here the sauce will only get better with time.

FRITZ6 years ago

To reduce the heat of chile, with gloved hands remove the whitish pithy membrane the seeds are attached to (its placenta) and where most of the heat of a chile lives. The seeds have some residual heat only by virtue of their proximity to it. Search online for 'chile' and 'placenta' to see what to remove. I grew up in New Mexico chile country and my mom would reduce chile hotness this way for us wimpy kids. 4th paragraph: http://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/research/horticulture/RR763/

Chefcorvette6 years ago

This would go well with any oily fish. Try Salmon or Bluefish.

AA6 years ago

My grandmother used to serve her version of these for Friday dinner or at Passover as a first course using fresh cod, or whatever fresh firm flesh fish was available. Some sort of a Sephardic "gefilte fish." They were long finger- or date-shaped (dates are "balah" in Arabic), so in Egypt they were called "béléhat." I also make them for Passover Seder.

Britta6 years ago

The tomato sauce is amazing! The the liquid seemed too much (followed amounts to the letter, w/ canned tomato) and it took extra time to cook down to a saucey consistency. But the result was incredibly spicy and delicious. Fish balls, however, too much effort and a waste of good fish. Would have been better and easier to make with ground meat. Or just cook the fish fillet and serve with sauce. Tomato sauce 5 stars, fish balls 1 star.

Michael6 years ago

Fresh mackerel is readily available in Southern California. It's plentiful off the coast here. Our local farmers market has a sustainable fish vendor that sells them whole (I usually smoke them but now look forward to trying these recipes). Check your local Asian markets, like 99 Ranch Market or H Mart. They'll have fresh mackerel.

Susan6 years ago

The recipe lists both mackerel and sardines.

Emily Weinstein, Deputy Food Editor6 years ago

Hello — you use a combination of mackerel and sardines in this recipe. We have updated the headnote to make that even clearer. Enjoy.

Ted6 years ago

I was excited about this recipe because I love the chef and have cooked many of his other recipes, but in the end it was just meh. It tasted fine (I used all the ingredients as listed) but not nearly good enough to justify all the work and ingredients. There are much better recipes on this website that are simpler and, frankly, taste better.

Britta6 years ago

Ramsay6 years ago

I couldn’t find Makerel at any of the fish markets near me in Los Angeles, so I ended up using salmon. It turned out super tasty. The other thing I did other than subbing salmon, was sprinkling breadcrumbs on before serving. It added a nice crunch. If you use salmon, cut it smaller than 3/4 inch and maybe add some oil to help the balls stick together. Also be careful and patient when frying the fish balls. I ruined a few by trying to rotate them too early.

Marcia6 years ago

I couldn't find fresh mackerel so I tried Tilapia. That turned out to be too firm; the koftas fell apart while I was cooking them. But it turned out not to matter. Chunks of spicy fish in a great sauce was a crowd pleaser even if it didn't look like the picture.

Thetoughcookie666 years ago

Do you think I could replace the 320 grams of chopped mackerel with all canned sardines?

Britta6 years ago

I used canned mackerel and canned sardines. The effort and mess of all those oily cans was crazy. Just make meatballs instead if you are a meat eater. The sauce is delicious and would go great with any other meatball, which are much easier to make than these.

Peter6 years ago

I suppose you could substitute ground lamb for the fish balls?

Andrea Vayda6 years ago

I have a question about the recipe: Fish Koftas in Tomato and Cardamom Sauce. For the fishballs -- is it mackerel fillets AND the sardines or is it mackerel fillets OR the sardines?? Thank you!

Emily Weinstein, Deputy Food Editor6 years ago

Hello — you use a combination of mackerel and sardines in this recipe. We have updated the headnote to make that even clearer. Enjoy.

eileen6 years ago

Can regular flour be substituted for potato flour?

Kerry6 years ago

I dont know... I am hoping someone answers your question though, I have the same one...

AA6 years ago

FRITZ6 years ago

Jacques6 years ago

Obviously a mistake. You mean sardines, right?

William A. Loeb6 years ago

The article calls for sardines, but the recipe calls for mackerel. Which should we use?