The salt harvested in Goa is renowned for its flavour and it adds an edge to your dish that cant be achieved in any other way.
Fish baked in a salt crust has a very specific texture, its rich in all its flavours but still moist, fatty and succulent, it is something everyone has to try to understand the amazing difference that it makes.
Ingredients
- 1 Medium-size fish (with scales, gutted)
- 4kg Sea Salt
- 2-3 Lemons
- 3-5 Green Chilies (deseaded)
- 3-5 Cloves Of Garlic
- Pesto-Chutney (Click Here)
Method
Preheat the oven at 200°C.
Roughly slice the lemons, split the chilies in 2, and crush the garlic.
Season the fish belly with a little salt and stuff the cavity with the lemon, chilies and garlic.
Put the 4kg of salt into a bowl and add water, little at at time, and mix the salt until it feels like wet sand.
Place about a third of the sea salt on a baking tray, followed by the stuffed fish. Proceed to cover it with the remaining salt.
Bake the fish for at least 30 minutes or until the salt crust is hard (whichever is longer).
Crack the salt crust open with a hard hit from the back of a knife, pull off the skin, and place the succulent pieces meat on a plate followed by the Pesto-Chutney!
Please make sure you only use a fish with scales, since the Salt will otherwise overpower the fish.
If you want to cook the fish directly in a fire, wrap the tray in aluminium foil and place some coal on top of the fish after about 10 minutes, this will help it have a more even cook. Don’t worry about burning the fish as the salt will protect it.
