Pan-seared fish over harissa-spiced rice with sweet roasted garlic, finished with fresh parsley and lemon.
Tunisia has a genuine, deeply rooted seafood tradition thanks to its long Mediterranean coastline, with cities like Sfax and Bizerte famous for fish couscous and grilled catches served with harissa on the side. This rice dish channels that coastal Tunisian style — harissa-forward, garlicky and bright with lemon — while using rice instead of the more traditional couscous, giving it a slightly different but equally authentic Tunisian flavor profile. Whole garlic cloves are roasted until soft and mellow, then mashed and stirred into the rice along with harissa and a little tomato paste, building the same fiery, tomato-based backbone found in Tunisian fish stews. The rice absorbs all that flavor as it simmers, while the fish is seared separately, skin-side down first, so it stays crisp on top of the rice rather than steaming into it and losing texture. A generous scatter of fresh parsley and a squeeze of lemon at the end mirrors how fish is traditionally finished at Tunisian coastal restaurants.
Serves 4
Drizzle the garlic head with a little olive oil, wrap in foil, and roast at 200C (400F) for 35-40 minutes until soft. Squeeze out the cloves and mash into a paste.
Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a pot over medium heat. Cook onion 6 minutes until soft, then stir in harissa, tomato paste and the roasted garlic paste, cooking 1 minute.
Add rice, stock and salt, stir well, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer 18-20 minutes until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed.
Pat the fish fillets dry and season with salt. Heat the remaining olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and sear skin-side down 4 minutes until crisp, then flip and cook 2 minutes more.
Let the rice stand covered off heat for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork.
Spoon the rice onto plates, top with the crisp-skinned fish, and finish with fresh parsley and lemon wedges.
Roast the garlic in advance — it can be made up to a week ahead and keeps well refrigerated, saving time on a weeknight.
Pat the fish completely dry before searing so the skin crisps rather than steams in the pan.
Adjust harissa to taste; brands vary widely in heat, so start with less and add more once you've tasted the rice.
Couscous swap: serve the harissa-garlic sauce over steamed couscous instead of rice for a more traditional Tunisian presentation.
Shrimp version: substitute large shrimp for the fish fillets, added in the last 5 minutes of the rice cooking.
Extra vegetables: stir in diced bell pepper with the onion for a more substantial one-pot meal.
Refrigerate fish and rice separately in airtight containers up to 2 days. Reheat the rice on the stovetop with a splash of water; reheat the fish gently to avoid drying it out, or serve it cold over the reheated rice.
Tunisia's long Mediterranean coastline has supported a genuine seafood tradition for centuries, with fish couscous, grilled fish and harissa-based fish stews all common in coastal cities. Harissa itself, believed to have originated in Tunisia before spreading across North Africa, remains the defining flavor of the country's cuisine, appearing in nearly every savory dish including its seafood preparations.
Any firm, mild white fish with skin on works well — sea bass, grouper, snapper or even cod are all good choices that will crisp nicely in the pan.
It varies significantly by brand, from mild to quite hot. Start with 1 tablespoon if you're unsure of your harissa's heat level and add more to taste.
You can use 4-5 cloves of regular minced garlic sauteed with the onion instead, but you'll lose the sweet, mellow flavor that roasting develops — it's worth the extra 40 minutes if you have the time.
Per serving (370g / 13.1 oz) · 4 servings total
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