Grilled Halibut With Ancho Tamarind Sauce is a tangy sauce with ancho chiles to go with delicious, moist fish. Tamarind is a great ingredient that adds a fruity tang to the deep chile flavor. Tamarind pulp can be found in packages already peeled and seeded. We use some from the package and then freeze the rest in 2 tablespoon cubes.

This recipe is naturally gluten free.

Watch a Video

Here is a video of 2 Cooks in the Kitchen making Grilled Halibut With Ancho Tamarind Sauce

Ingredients For Grilled Halibut With Ancho Tamarind Sauce

• 4 Ancho Chilis
• 2 Tbls Tamarind
• Hot Soaking Water
• 5 Garlic Cloves
• 1/4 Cup Raisins
• 1/4 tsp Black Pepper
• 1 tsp Mexican Oregano
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 2 Tbls Oil
• 1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
• 2 Halibut Steaks

Prepare the Dried Chiles

We’ll start by preparing our dried chiles. We need to remove the seeds and stems from our anchos and then tear them into pieces. Put the pieces in a dry frying pan over medium heat and then sweat them for about a minute on each side. Then place the chile pieces in a bowl and cover with hot water. Allow to soak for 30 minutes.

Cook the Garlic

Put the whole, unpeeled garlic cloves in the frying pan and cook for about 10 minutes, until the peels darken and the garlic becomes soft. Let them cool and then remove the peels.

Blend Chiles, Spices, Raisins and Tamarind

Put the soaked chiles in the blender along with the garlic, raisins, black pepper, Mexican oregano, cinnamon and tamarind. Then add 1 cup of the chile soaking liquid and blend until smooth.

Push the Sauce Through A Strainer

Push the resulting paste through a fine mesh strainer. We like to use a rubber spatula for this job as the flexibility makes it easier to push. For more stubborn straining jobs a serving spoon works too.

Cook the Sauce

Now we need to cook the sauce. Heat a generous puddle of oil in a sauce pan over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the sauce. If the oil is hot enough the sauce should start bubbling right away. We’ll cook this for 6 minutes, stirring constantly. After 6 minutes, remove from heat and then stir in the sugar. let the sauce cool before marinating the fish.

Marinate the Halibut

Now we need to marinate our halibut. Really, you could make this with any kind of fish but we bought a halibut at the docks and have a lot in the freezer. Put the halibut into a sealable bag and then add enough of the cooled sauce to fill it. marinate the fish for at least an hour. You have to plan ahead for this recipe as the sauce needs time to cool and the fish needs time to marinate.

Grill the Fish

Let’s grill our fish. Spray a grill basket with cooking spray and then place the fish on it. Close the basket and put it on the grill. The basket will make it easy to turn the fish without losing it on the grill. Cook the fish for 2 minutes on each side. When the second side is cooking, put some more sauce on top of the fish, flip it after 2 minutes and then cook the first side for one more minute for a total of 5 minutes cooking time.

Plating

Heat the leftover sauce and plate the fish with sauce on top of it.

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You might also like our Halibut With Roasted Paprika Sauce recipe.

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