This Persian-style marinated fish is delicately, and deliciously flavored with a lightly spiced lime and yogurt marinade. It's easy to make and a wonderful change from plain old fish. This recipe was created in partnership with the dairy farm families of New England.

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You've probably seen me talk about different food holidays before, well today is the start of one I'm pretty excited about - it's the start of dairy month. Dairy is a big part of our family's diet in lots of ways. For both flavor and texture, I can't imagine family favorites like pesto, moussaka and lemon risotto without cheese.

Then some of our favorite desserts like panna cotta and strawberry tiramisu get their richness and smoothness from dairy. Even our favorite everyday breakfast, banana oatmeal, wouldn't be the same without milk. Not only is the flavor so much better, it's nutritionally better too.

Cooking creatively with dairy

Recently I got to see even more interesting ways to use dairy at a fun event hosted by New England Dairy at Milk Street. You may have seen me mention at the time on Instagram or Facebook, but you can see a bit more below. It was great to both learn some new and interesting dishes using dairy in different ways.

I also learnt from some of our local dairy farmers. For example, the increase in robotic milking, how a lot of dairy farmers are diversifying, and that the corn used to feed cattle is a different variety from what we eat.

One of the things I was reminded by some of the dishes we made was how diverse the uses of yogurt are. It then led me to think about a dish I had come across from Sabrina Ghayour's book Persiana for marinated fish, that I've drawn on here. I've since found other dishes using similar spicing, which comes from the coastal area of Iran, Bandar Abbas.

How to make Persian-style marinated fish

For this dish, you make a simple marinade with a couple spices, yogurt, dill and lime then rub it over the fish. It might not seem that much but it gives a nice layer that really adds a lovely gently aromatic flavor.

Fish doesn't need long to marinade, so you don't have to wait long before cooking. I baked the fish, but you could also pan fry it and even grill it (though I'd recommend indirectly).

What should you serve with this marinated fish?

I've served the fish with cacik, a simple dip/sauce from the region that's very much like tzatziki. It's more typical with bread or grilled meats but works well here too. Then I made a simplified herb rice. If you have time, the herbed rice from my sabzi poow mahi would be great, but this is a speeded-up version. A salad would also go well with this, either in addition or instead of rice.

This Persian style marinated fish is gently but deliciously flavored by the spice, herb and yogurt marinade. Alongside the deliciously creamy cacik sauce and herb rice, it's a light meal that's oh so good. Just that bit different, and one you'll want to make again.

Try these other seafood recipes:

Baked swordfish with asparagus, lentils and chermoula
Chinese oven steamed fish
Tandoori shrimp/prawns
Plus get more seafood recipes in the archives.

You can also find more Persian recipes including the classic fesenjan (walnut pomegranate stew) in the archives, too.

Print Recipe

5 from 5 votes

Persian style marinated fish with cacik

The simple marinade adds a lovely aromatic flavor to the fish, and the herb rice and cacik really round out the meal.

Prep Time10

Cook Time20

Total Time30

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Persian

Servings:

Calories: 425kcal

Author: Caroline's Cooking

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Ingredients

For fish:

1 tablespoon Greek style yogurt
¼ teaspoon turmeric
¼ teaspoon ground coriander
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon garlic grated/crushed
1 teaspoon ginger grated
1 teaspoon dill (chopped fresh)
½ lime zest (ie from ½ lime)
2 teaspoon lime juice
1 lb halibut or other firm white fish

For rice:

½ cup basmati rice
1 cup water
1 tablespoon parsley (chopped fresh)
1 tablespoon dill (chopped fresh)
1 teaspoon butter approx

For cacik sauce:

2 tablespoon cucumber finely grated (2tbsp is approx 2in/5cm piece)
3 tablespoon Greek style yogurt
½ teaspoon dill (chopped fresh)
1 pinch garlic granules

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

For fish

Mix together the yogurt, turmeric, coriander, cumin, garlic, ginger, dill, lime zest and juice in a small bowl. Line a baking dish with foil large enough the fish to lay flat. Rub the yogurt mixture over all sides of the fish then leave to marinade approx 30-45 minutes (no more than an hour).
Preheat oven to 400F. While oven is warming, bring fish to room temperature. Bake the fish for approx 20 minutes until cooked through, but do check as it will depend on the thickness of the fish and you don’t want it overdone. It should be transparent and with a little juice coming out but not dry.

For rice

While fish is cooking, put rice and water in a pan and bring to a boil. Once cooked, stir through the parsley and dill. Dot the butter on top and cover the pan again. Leave to sit a couple minutes to melt then stir through.

For cacik sauce

While rice is resting, grate the cucumber and squeeze out the excess water. Mix it with the yogurt, dill and garlic and stir well.
Serve the fish with the herbed rice and cacik sauce on the side.

Notes

If you have time, try the herb rice from sabzi polow mahi as a side instead of the above. You can also add more herbs, if you like - either more dill and/or parsley, plus cilantro/coriander would be good too.

Fish marinade adapted from Persiana by Sabrina Ghayour.

Nutrition

See some of my favorite cooking tools and ingredients in the Caroline's Cooking Amazon store.

For information about the dairy farm families of New England, school nutrition, and health and wellness topics, please visit New England Dairy & Food Council.

Persian-style marinated fish with cacik

Cooking creatively with dairy

How to make Persian-style marinated fish

What should you serve with this marinated fish?

Try these other seafood recipes:

Persian style marinated fish with cacik

Ingredients

For fish:

For rice:

For cacik sauce:

Instructions

For fish

For rice

For cacik sauce

Notes

Nutrition

Remember to pin for later!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Cooking creatively with dairy

How to make Persian-style marinated fish

What should you serve with this marinated fish?

Try these other seafood recipes:

Persian style marinated fish with cacik

Ingredients

For fish:

For rice:

For cacik sauce:

Instructions

For fish

For rice

For cacik sauce

Notes

Nutrition

Remember to pin for later!

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Comments

Leave a Reply Cancel reply