Hot dinner: Roasted red mullet with spicy tomato salsa

Roasted red mullet with spicy tomato salsa from Reza Mahammad, author of the new cookbook Reza’s Indian Spice (Quadrille, £17.99).

Once, when I was in France, I ate an amazing fish à la grenobloise, with lemon segments and capers. I thought it would be so nice to spice the recipe up, but not too much because red mullet is a delicate fish. You could use grapefruit segments instead of lemon here, if you prefer; there’s nothing better than wedges of citrus with a fresh tomato salsa. The lovely sweet-sharp-sour quality from the chaat masala in the salsa is delicious with the red mullet, giving it an amazing je ne sais quoi! Serve with rice or glass noodles if you want something else. Fabulous!

Serves 4

For the spice mix:

1 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 tsp black peppercorns

1 tsp red chilli flakes

For the mullet:

4 red mullet fillets, each weighing 160g, scaled and pin-boned

salt

4–6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

100ml vegetable or mild olive oil

For the salsa:

250g ripe tomatoes, deseeded and sliced

100g red onions, thinly sliced

3 unwaxed lemons, zest finely grated and fruit segmented

80ml olive oil

1 tsp chaat masala

1–2 thin green chillies, deseeded if you like, finely chopped

4–6 sprigs of coriander, leaves picked and chopped

caster sugar, to taste

Mix together the coriander and fennel seeds and the peppercorns and roast them in a dry frying pan. Crush them coarsely in a mortar and pestle and add the chilli flakes. Rub the mixture on to the fish fillets and set aside for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F/gas mark 3.

Place the fillets on a baking tray and season with salt, add the garlic and drizzle over the oil. Cook for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile combine all the ingredients for the salsa in a mixing bowl, adding salt and sugar to taste.

Remove the fish from the oven and place on warmed plates. Pour any of the juices from the fish into the salsa. Spoon the salsa over the fish and serve.