Intermediate
Moroccan
Chicken Tagine with Olives and Lemon
Source: Traditional
90 min4420 kcal
HalalGluten-freeDairy-free
Photo coming soon
Intermediate
Chermoula-Stuffed Grilled Sardines
Two butterflied sardines pressed together like a sandwich around a spoon of green chermoula, then grilled until the skin blisters — Morocco's coast on a plate.
Source
Recipe by Moroccan home kitchens · 🏺 Traditional · Moroccan household cooking
Moroccan coastal street food — Chermoula is a Maghrebi marinade and relish of herbs, garlic, cumin and paprika, used traditionally to flavour fish and seafood. Along Morocco's sardine-rich Atlantic coast, butterflied sardines sandwiched around chermoula and grilled are classic cheap street food. There is no single author; the chermoula's heat and herb balance vary by cook.
⏱ 45 min🍽 4 servings🔥 300 kcal🇲🇦 Morocco🌶️
HalalPescatarianDairy-freeGluten-freeNut-free
Steps
Make the chermoula: pound or blend the coriander, parsley, garlic, cumin, paprika, cayenne, lemon juice, olive oil and salt into a loose green paste.
Lay half the butterflied sardines skin-side down. Spread a teaspoon of chermoula over the flesh of each.
Top each with a second sardine, flesh-to-flesh, so you have little fish sandwiches. Chill 20 minutes to firm up.
💡 Pressing them flesh-to-flesh traps the chermoula inside so it steams the fish from within instead of burning off on the grill.
Brush the outsides with a little more oil and season lightly. Heat a grill pan or barbecue until very hot.
Grill 4–5 minutes on each side, turning once carefully with a fish slice, until the skin is charred in spots and the flesh is opaque.
💡 Sardines are delicate — turn them only once, and only when the skin has set and releases from the grill on its own. Poking and flipping tears them apart.
Serve hot with lemon wedges and bread, eaten with your fingers.
💡 Tips
- Sardines are a cheap, oily, fast-cooking fish sold everywhere along Morocco's Atlantic coast, where this is genuine street food. Buy them as fresh as you can — bright eyes and a clean sea smell — because oily fish turns fast.
- If butterflying whole sardines feels fiddly, buy ready-butterflied fillets and simply sandwich them. The chermoula and the char are what matter, not perfect knife work.
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