Be honest, I won’t tell anyone – do you think you can find Oman on a map? Can you tell Oman from Yemen? Do you know what they eat there? As a real to-the-core geography nerd, I’ve known where Oman is located since about middle school (and its capital, of course), but until recently I knew very little about the country, its culture or its food.
Oman is located on the Arabian peninsula, bordering Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and recently it’s started making its way into the travel magazines I read with such fervor every month. It’s never really been on the tourist map, but there are a number of new hotels that have recently opened or are slated to soon (two Anantara properties, for example) and word of Oman’s beauty is getting around in the travel community. Coinciding nicely with this development was the release of a cookbook called The Food of Oman, which sounded just unique enough for me to immediately snatch up.
The book got great reviews, and a fabulous write-up in Saveur, and I recently got around to cooking from it. But first, I read the introduction, which was fascinating and completely surprising. I’m familiar with the rice-based dishes of Oman’s neighbors and obviously the broad “Middle Eastern” genre, but I had no idea that Omani food is so diverse, and completely unique to the country. Oman’s history with Zanzibar- located off the coast of southeastern Africa- has a lot to do with the delicious food; Zanzibar was an overseas holding of Oman beginning in 1698, and Oman became a major player in the spice trade.
That wraps up the broad-strokes history and geography lesson (thanks for getting through it), but I think it’s important (and fascinating) to understand a little about where food comes from. It always reminds me how interconnected the world is, and always has been, and there are few things more exciting for me than tasting a delicious cuisine I’m not familiar with. If this sounds up your alley, I can’t recommend this cookbook enough.
Onto the recipe! This curry dish is complex and interesting, but, most importantly, absolutely delicious. It’s a green pepper and tomato-based curry filled with cinnamon, cumin, garlic, onions and chile. It features big chunks of fish (I used swordfish but you can also use tuna steak) and a squeeze of bright lime. It tastes like a true cultural mash-up, and has made its way straight to my list of things to cook again for a crowd. You can serve this with basmati rice or with Omani flatbreads, which are incredible and not hard to make. I’ll be posting that recipe later in the week!
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup ghee
- 2 medium red onions, minced
- 6 cloves garlic, mashed into a paste
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 3 plum tomatoes, cored and minced
- 1/4 green bell pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
- 1 serrano chile, halved lengthwise, seeded with stem attached
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 3/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
- 1 1/2 lbs. tuna or swordfish steaks, skin and bones removed, cut into 1 1/2- to 2-inch pieces
- 1 lime, halved
Instructions
- Melt the ghee in a medium pot or saucepan over medium heat. Saute the onion until slightly caramelized, about 15 minutes. Add the garlic paste and cook for a few minutes, then stir in the tomato paste, tomatoes, bell pepper and chile. Cook 15 minutes, then add the salt, cumin, black pepper, cinnamon and cayenne. Stir and cook another minute or two.
- Pour in 1 cup of water and bring to a simmer. Add the fish and stir gently to mix, being careful not to break up any pieces. Simmer, uncovered, until the fish is cooked through, about 10 minutes.
- Squeeze a lime half (or the whole lime if it's not particularly juicy) into the pot, stir gently and remove from the heat. Cover and let sit 5 minutes before serving. Serve with basmati rice or flatbread.
Notes
From The Food of Oman
