Your email address is required to begin the subscription process. We will use it for customer service and other communications from Milk Street. You can unsubscribe from receiving our emails at any time.
Moroccan-Spiced Fish with Chickpeas
This fast, flavorful stew was inspired by chraime, a Moroccan Sephardic dish of fish with a spiced tomato sauce, but we add chickpeas to lend more substance to the skillet-cooked meal. Harissa is a North African chili paste, but because it contains spices such as cumin, caraway and coriander as well as garlic and olive oil, it supplies complex flavor in addition to capsicum heat. Any mild white fish with a firm texture that can hold its own against the meatiness of the chickpeas works well in this recipe. Serve with couscous or warm bread for soaking up the sauce.
4
Servings
Tip
Don’t drain and discard the chickpea liquid. We use the thick, starchy liquid, called aquafaba, instead of water to build the sauce because it lends body as well as flavor to the stew.
30 minutes
Ingredients
-
15½
ounce can chickpeas
-
3
tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more to serve
Directions
-
01Drain the liquid from the chickpeas into a liquid measuring cup. You should have about ¾ cup (a little more is fine); if it comes up short, supplement with water. Set the chickpeas and their liquid aside.
Reviews
June 21, 2025
Fantastic Fish
This dish was my first Milk Street production. The halibut I bought was Canadian wild caught, but the chick peas were the hero’s. Rather than canned in water, the peas were in a thick harissa lemon sauce. The paired couscous was also imbedded with saffron, lemon and some other spices. In short, the meal was a special flavor bomb. Outstanding!
September 12, 2022
Delicious!
I veganized it by subbing pressed tofu for the white fish.
July 27, 2025
Good
Needs a touch more sauce.
April 9, 2024
Very good
I thought it was very good, my wife didn't love it. I used a tsp of harissa powder and the flavor came through very well. I used catfish, which I think would be comparable to most firm, white fish. My impression was that the fish got lost in dish, it would have tasted just about the same as a totally vegetable dish.
September 13, 2022
Easy and tasty fish dish.
This was a very tasty dish, but not as spicy as expected. (I use the Milk Street recipe for homemade harissa which is just not that spicy, but we love the taste.) I may add more hot sauce next time. I also used Alaskan Cod which I found on sale, and it was firm enough to work in this recipe. In full disclosure, I accidentally bought cilantro rather than parsley at the grocery store, used it, and that worked well. Because I am trying to incorporate more seafood (and much less red meat) into my diet, this was a good find and is filed away for future meals.
Become A Subscriber To Rate and Review All Our Recipes.
Please Log in or join today for $1.
