Spicy Fish Recipe: Bold and Flavourful Seafood Dish in Just Minutes

Introduction to a Quick Spicy Fish

This spicy fish recipe brings together bold flavours and tender seafood in a quick, hassle-free dish. Whether you’re craving a flavourful dinner or looking to impress guests with an exotic twist, this recipe delivers with minimal effort and maximum taste.

This fish recipe really evolved when entertaining for my family. My mum who isn’t really a meat eater would never eat any of the classic meat dishes that the rest of the family would devour like lamp chops or chicken legs. She would eat fish quite happily, so this quick spicy fish evolved. Not only would mum happily eat the fish, the kids would too. Absolute bonus in my book.

I love this recipe for giving me a quick spicy fish that I can either serve as a starter or a main dish. It’s even great as a weeknight dinner as it is so quick to make.

Inspiration for this Spicy Fish Recipe

In South Asian cuisine, I feel like there are lots of easy seafood recipes. I would like to think that this recipe joins that club along with my masala fish dish!

Fish has a long history in South Asian cooking. Fish curry or Machhi Curry is made in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. This dish features fish simmered in a tomato-based curry infused with turmeric, red chili powder, and garam masala. My fish masala recipe pays tribute to this style of cooking the dish.

A South Indian Fish fry usually entails marinating the fish with a spice mix and shallow-frying in coconut oil. . Curry leaves are often added for aroma. This recipe pay tributes to this style of cooking fish. I’ve of course introduced my Western influences by using seabass instead of traditional South Asian fishes like tilapia.

Tips and Tricks on making this Spicy Fish Recipe

1. Choose the Right Fish

• Opt for firm, flaky fish like tilapia, cod, snapper, salmon, or haddock, as they hold up well with bold spices. My personal favourite is seabass.
• Fresh fish works best, but frozen fish (thawed properly) can also deliver great results. Make sure you dry off any excess moisture in the fresh fish with a kitchen paper towel, otherwise this may mean the fish crumbles when being cooked. This actually happened to me on one occasion when cooking at my in laws. We went to the fresh fish monger to get fresh fish and it crumbled into pieces when I came to trying to shallow fry it. Needless to say it was a total disaster.

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2. Perfect Your Marinade

• You can let the fish marinate for 15-30 minutes. This ensures the spices infuse deeply into the flesh. As seabass is quite a thin fish, it is not an essential step. The flavour is mainly held in the batter when fried.
• Avoid over-marinating delicate fish to prevent it from becoming mushy.
• I use gram flour for the recipe, but you quite as easily use plain flour instead.

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3. Cook at the Right Temperature

• Use medium-high heat for frying to get a crispy exterior without overcooking the fish.
• Cook fish to an internal temperature of 145°F (63°C) to ensure it’s done but not dry.

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4. Use the Right Cooking Method

• Pan-Frying: Heat oil in a non-stick pan, ensuring the oil is hot before adding the fish to prevent sticking. Cook each side for 3-4 minutes.
• Air Fryer: Brush the air fryer bottom with oil to stop the fish from sticking, before cooking on 160C for 15 minutes. Check half way and you can turn the fish fillets over, brush with any oil in the air fryer to ensure all the flour batter is crispening as it cooks. If you have an oil spray bottle, spray the fish instead of putting the oil into the air fryer. You will use less oil this way and ensure a nice crispy batter all over the fish. I recently air fried a fillet of salmon this was and it turned out so good. My son asked for a second fillet!

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5. Balance the Heat

• Add garnishes such as fresh cilantro, lime wedges, or pomegranate seeds to provide freshness.
• Serve spicy fish with cooling sides like cucumber raita, yogurt dip, or a fresh salad.

9. Control Oil and Spices for Healthier Options

• Use olive oil or avocado oil for healthier cooking.

How to Serve this Spicy Fish for Dinner

I love to serve this spicy fish recipe with roast sweet potatoes, a mint and coriander chutney and lovely green leafy salad. The sweet potatoes you can cook in the air fryer or in the oven. I sprinkle the potatoes with some olive oil and spices and roast them in the oven for 40 minutes, they are usually soft and crispy on the outside after this time.

You could also serve this with a quinoa salad or bulgur wheat salad.

See my video on Youtube, Instagram or TikTok to see how to make this dish. Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comment section below!

Ingredients for Spicy Fish

Preparation- 3 minutes

Cooking Time- 10 minutes

• 6 tbsp of gram flour (or plain flour)
• 2 tsp of ginger powder
• 2 tsp smoked paprika (or paprika)
• 0.5 tsp cumin powder
• 0.5 tsp turmeric powder
• 0.5 tsp ajwain / carom seeds
• 0.5 tsp red chilli powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 seabass fillets (or any other white fish you prefer)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Fresh coriander for garnish- optional
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges for serving

Method for making this Spicy Fish Recipe

Preparing the Spicy Rub

1. Add the flour, ginger, smoked paprika, adjwain/ carom seeds, turmeric, cumin, red chilli powder, coriander seeds and salt into a large bowl. Mix through.

2. Then add the fish fillets into the flour mixture, and make sure both sides of the fish fillet is coated in the flour mixture.

Cooking the Fish

3. Heat the oil in a frying pan and shallow fry each side of the fillet for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown and crispy. I start with the skin side down first.

• The time will vary depending on the thickness of your fillet. Seabass is quite thin, so 2 minutes is more than enough time for each side.

4. Let the fish sit on plate covered in kitchen roll to drain off any excess oil before serving with a refreshing mint and walnut chutney, lemon wedges and sprinkles of fresh coriander.