If you’ve never grown up seeing, touching and eating whole fish, it can be an uncanny experience to have your dinner staring back at you. I remember bringing whole tilapia to a predominantly American potluck and no one would as much as look at it. My son thinks it ‘s creepy and that the fish would bite him. However, you should have seen him swallowing the fish when it was cooked- no kidding! He did not chew it. What happen to the creepy fish? I guess it was too good to pass up on.
Ok, so when the attendees are mostly Africans, Asians or Caribbean it is a different story. Everyone just digs in- usually the fish is the first to go. I guess it is a cultural thing. In Africa, we never let anything go to waste. Some people love to lick, nibble, chew and completely eat the bones. The eyes staring back at you don’t scare anyone. In some households, you dare not get rid of the head or else you would be in seriously trouble. This was the case in my home.
In Africa, specifically West African, countries like Nigeria, Cameroon, Senegal, Ivory coast, Ghana you can find an array of grills in every street corner with women or even men selling some sort of grill fish. It is the quintessential nighttime or some would say after work meal for bachelors, students or even families. Making grill fish at home is quite easy, there are countless variations each with it’s own unique taste. To be honest, I seldom make it the same. I usually go with the spices I have on hand but there are a few must have like garlic, black pepper, some fresh herbs (basil- my favorite, parsley, celery or thyme)
Here is the deal when grilling fish it is easier to grill when you use a grill fish basket – makes a difference (easy flipping). I included grill ripe plantains they go great with grill fish. It is customary to serve grill fish with some sort of spicy sauce. Use this one here or your favorite sauce spicy hot sauce.
[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”mO9iEOVd” upload-date=”2018-09-04T11:49:02.000Z” name=”Grill Tilapia (African Style)” description=”Easy whole grilled Tilapia with smothered in spices and herbs with an African spicy hot sauce for dipping.”]
