Mackerel meatballs with tomato. Moroccan recipe

How to make mackerel dumplings . As you can see on the blog, we have more and more recipes from our neighboring Morocco.

Mediterranean cuisine is one of the most important in the world and all the countries that comprise it have many similarities in their gastronomy. The gefilte fish prepared with sardines or herring is a classic Moroccan dish but also very famous in the coastal areas of Spain, Italy and Greece.

The variant that I present to you today is some mackerel dumplings  accompanied with 2 types of sauce, a  chermoula sauce , aromatic and spicy, and a homemade tomato sauce , spicy, salty and sweet at the same time.

Today’s proposal is a cheap dish, not very complicated and different from what I am used to. The main ingredient is mackerel , in some places it is known as verdel , a very tasty, nutritious and healthy blue fish since it has many omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins and proteins.

Now is the best time to taste this fish as you can see in the food calendar . It has a very good price, it is perhaps one of the cheapest and tastiest fish on the market.

It could not be perfect, for my taste they have  a lot of thorns,  but the work is worth it. In this case we need to remove all the bones to eat the meatballs without problems.

But if you prepare them open on the grill or in the oven you can always serve them with them. To remove them and not destroy the bug you will need tweezers and a little patience, but once you get the hang of it, you ventilate them in a jiffy.

I leave you with this recipe for mackerel, sarda, verdel or verta. A dish where you will notice the exotic footprint of Moroccan cuisine .

One more of its vibrant gastronomy that reflects its great imperial past and the many influences absorbed over centuries of commercial exchanges, invasions and conquests. I hope you enjoy it as much as me.

Preparation of the meatball bases. Mackerel cleaning

1. First we are going to crumble the mackerel, this is the most entertaining task of the whole recipe. To make it a little easier we can ask the fishmonger to cut the mackerel into two halves. Preferably in fillets, this will make it easier to remove the bones and shred the fish.
2. At home I cleaned the mackerel and it is true that they give a little work, but surely your trusted fishmonger will have no problem doing it.
3. We chop the mackerel into pieces (minimum in pieces of 1 cm.) And we review very well so that it does not have any bones. It is very important that we do not miss any because it is not comfortable to remove thorns while we eat. We reserve in a bowl.
4. We break the bread into small pieces and add them to the bowl with the fish.
5. We pass the chives or onion and celery through a grinder and we combine with the rest of the ingredients. It should be very chopped, almost mashed, so that the pieces on the meatballs are not noticeable.
6. We add the 3 tablespoons of chermoula sauce and salt, the latter to the taste of each one. We stir very well until all the ingredients and flavors come together.
7. We try salt and if necessary add a little more. Let it rest for a few minutes.
8. We put plenty of extra virgin olive oil to heat in a saucepan.

Preparation of the mackerel meatballs. Form, frying and final presentation

1. We make very compact balls that are not very large (golf ball size) so that they are perfectly made inside. We can help ourselves with 2 spoons, with practice you will do them in a few minutes without staining yourself, but if you do not have the point caught, you can do them by hand.
2. We pass them for a little wheat flour. Fry over high heat, round and round until golden.
3. As we make them, we will place them on absorbent paper.
4. We got about 25 meatballs, ideal for 4 people, calculate that each person will eat about 6.
5. Only the tomato sauce is missing, to prepare it we have to previously cut all the ingredients. Fry everything in a saucepan with a thick bottom for 10 minutes over high heat.
6. Season with salt and pepper, add the cumin powder, sugar and a teaspoon of La Vera paprika. We stir for a few minutes and crush the content until we have a thick sauce.
7. If we see that it is very thick we can add a few tablespoons of water. If we want the sauce without lumps, we can sift it.
8. Once we have the sauce at its point and incorporate the meatballs into the casserole. Let cook over medium heat for 6 minutes until the sauce thickens. We turn the meatballs halfway through cooking.

As an accompaniment I recommend  a cooked white rice , something simple so that the real protagonists are the meatballs.

This preparation admits practically any type of fish, either blue or white (hake, cod …) and can be prepared with another type of sauce.

Be sure to enjoy all the recipes with fish  that we have on the blog.