Whole Tandoori Trevally

Name: Whole Tandoori Trevally
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Ingredients: 1 whole trevally, gutted, gilled and dried.; Juice of a lemon or lime.; A jar of tandoori paste.; Sea salt.

SpotX Wild Foods Recipe from Mark Kitteridge
Prep:15 minutes Cook:30 minutes Difficulty:1

Ingrediants:

1 whole trevally, gutted, gilled and dried.
Juice of a lemon or lime.
A jar of tandoori paste.
Sea salt.

Directions:

Score the fish diagonally on both sides with a sharp knife.
Score right down to the bone.
Squeeze the lime/lemon juice over the fish, and into the gut cavity.
Sprinkle with sea salt, inside and out.
Spoon a generous quantity of tandoori paste over the fish.
(Any Indian curry paste will do).
Also add extra lemon/lime juice and salt.
Work it into the skin, gut cavity and score marks.
Bake the fish in a hot (220°C) oven, or place under the grill.
Can also cook on a medium-hot barbecue, turning once.
The fish is done when the flesh is opaque all the way to the bone.
Serve with rice, plain yoghurt, salad and chutney.
Also serve with your choice of Indian accompaniments.
This recipe works equally well with trevally steaks or pieces, bone-in.
Cut the whole fish through the backbone into one piece per serving.

Trevally Recipes

Mark’s Trevally Kokoda

Smoked Trevally Spread

Whole Tandoori Trevally

Fried Trevally Fillets

Smoked Trevally Pie

Trevally in a Mushroom and Cheese Sauce

Trevally Julienne

Trevally Marsala

Trevally
Like kahawai, trevally was for many years considered only good as bait. The flesh is relatively dark and quite oily, making it ideal for smoking. Filleted, the fish has a strong flavour that works well in pasta and other dishes where sauces might overpower the more delicate taste of other species. Trevally is also excellent grilled or barbecued as steaks, fillets or cooked whole. Where possible, leave the skin on – it helps keep the fish together and the fat under the skin keeps the flesh moist.
Trevally makes brilliant raw or marinated fish and is great in sushi or as sashimi. Trevally is best eaten fresh, as it does not freeze well.
Trevally can be caught seasonally around most of the New Zealand coast and quite often the schools of these fish can be seen gorging in krill on the surface. While this makes them relatively easy to find and catch for recreational fishers, unfortunately a commercial seine boat can hoover up whole schools in a single sweep.
Trevally are easy to fillet and are dealt with in the same way as you would a snapper. Removing the skin can be a little more difficult and requires a sharp knife run flat and firm between the skin and the flesh to remove in one piece. Because of its lack of ‘real’ scales, some people cook their trevally fillets with the skin on.