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CAMEROONIAN ROASTED FISH RECIPE

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cameroonian roasted fish recipe

Father Francis fried five fresh fish for five French fathers from France.

Say that really fast.
I remember walking on the streets of Cameroon, looking for some "roasted fish" to quench my raging taste buds after being away from home for a whole year. After eating the fish on that day, I felt very happy and at home. "Roasted fish" as it is called in Cameroon is fish, grilled on charcoal and popularly sold on the streets.

It is:
  • Smoky
  • Spicy
  • Song-inducing (it will make you sing!)
  • Succulent

Known in French as Poisson Braisé, this darling is widely loved in Cameroon. I started trying to make mine first by loading an old pot with charcoal, lighting it up, putting a grill on it and grilling.

how to make roasted fish cameroon

Then one evening I visited a friend and in a few minutes, just like magic, she had made some delicious grilled fish. I asked her how she did it and she said she "grilled" right on her gas cooker (stovetop). The thing is I could not even tell the difference between her fish and the "real deal" made on charcoal. This was totally cool so I started making my fish in a skillet or oven tray on the stovetop. Oh man, best decision of ma laif!


The capital of the Littoral region in Cameroon, Douala is the hub of this dish. As the curious Precious that I am, I asked a Douala woman to teach me how they make their exotic pepper sauce to go with the fish. The first time I made the sauce with her prescribed ingredients, I felt like I was eating fish at the roadside. So authentic! By the way, "Curious Precious" will make a good cartoon title.
Can I brag a little? This recipe is the best and easiest Cameroonian Roasted Fish recipe you will find!
cameroon roasted fish easy method

Click the play button below to see how the magic happens.

Here is the printable recipe for you!

print recipe

Cameroon Roasted Fish
by August-10-2016
This is grilled fish done with Cameroonian flavours. So good!
Ingredients
  • 2 medium-sized mackerel or another type of fish
  • 2 habanero (hot) pepper
  • 1 large onion
  • 1-inch ginger root
  • 7 cloves garlic
  • ½ teaspoon white pepper
  • 2 small seasoning cubes (Maggi)
  • 12 seeds njangsa
  • A pinch salt
  • ½ cup vegetable oil
  • 2 stems green onions
  • 1 "pebe" (African nutmeg/Ehuru)
Instructions
1. Clean and gut fish. Rinse thoroughly with water then cut diagonal lines across each fish on each side. Sprinkle with about a quarter teaspoon of salt and rub well, making sure salt gets into the cuts. Set aside.2. Chop onions, peel garlic, ginger and pebe. Put all in a blender. Add in njangsa, white pepper, Maggi and a pinch of salt. Add in a quarter cup of water and blend into a paste.3. Pour half of the paste into a bowl to use as your marinade. Now add hot pepper to the spice paste and blend again.4. Pour the pepper and spice mixture into a small pot. Add a quarter cup of oil and bring to a boil. Let it boil for about 5 minutes.5.At this point, you could just marinate the fish and grill in an oven or follow this super easy method: Put a flat frying pan or an oven tray on medium heat (see video). Pour in a cup of water and about a quarter cup of oil to prevent fish from sticking.6. Rub marinade on fish and place on cooking tray. Let one side cook for about 5-10 minutes. Watch carefully to make sure water and oil are evenly distributed. If it dries up when fish is not properly cooked, add a little more. Flip and let the other side cook for about the same time.7. The fish is ready if it flakes easily when pricked with a fork. Serve warm with some of the made sauce on the side and some Niondo/Bobolo (fermented cassava (yuca) rolled in leaves and cooked) or some grilled plantains or fried Irish potatoes.
Details

Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: 2 servings

 Notes: If you wish to use an oven to grill, feel free to place the fish into the oven after rubbing marinade all over.

 Check out my oven grilled fish recipe.

 What's the one thing you like to eat with grilled fish? Fried/grilled plantains, French fries, Bobolo, Miondo or bread?

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Comments

  2. Precious Nkeih says

    Dig in, Favour!

    Reply

  3. Kachee Tee says

    That tongue twister! lol. Used to say it a lot as a kid. Nothing like grilled fish man. Love it!
    http://www.KacheeTee.com

    Reply

  4. Precious Nkeih says

    Lol, you know that tongue twister too?
    Grilled fish is my fave way to eat fish. Unbeatable!

    Reply

  5. Bubu Green says

    Ah,Precious. This is why I love you. I always learn something new from you. I didn't know I could grill over a stove. I'm concerned about the fumes though but will try it out. As for the Mackerel, that's my fave fish (bole and fish addict!). http://www.bubusboulevard.com

    Reply

  6. Precious Nkeih says

    Awww I love you too, Bubu.
    Is Bole grilled plantain? I love it!

    Reply

  7. Anonymous says

    Thnx gurl i just learned how to roast fish today via ur recipe . Dat was perfect n simple

    Reply

  8. Precious Nkeih says

    Thanks for coming back to let me know!

    Reply

  9. Daddy's Girl says

    Awesome recipe, I never knew this could be done on a stove-top, and I will have to try it very soon. I really enjoyed the video too, including the soundtrack from the girls and the smoke alarm. Thanks for welcoming us into your kitchen and showing us how you create memorable meals. I'm learning a lot!

    Reply

  10. Precious Nkeih says

    Thanks for watching, dear.
    To know that you are learning a lot just warms my heart.
    Have a great week!

    Reply

  11. Madame says

    Nice, keep up the good job.
    Do you know where I can get Njangsa in Lagos?

    Reply

    • Precious says

      Hi Madame, sorry I have no idea where you can get Njangsa in Lagos. You could equally make sauce for fish without it and it will taste great!

      Reply

      • Angie says

        Hi Precious,
        I'm in Washington, DC, and I have the same question. I suppose I could try the international markets here. Is there a substitute that you can recommend, or do you think it's better to do without if I can't find it?

        Reply

  12. Jennie says

    Thank you for this recipe!! My husband is Cameroonian so I thought I should make an effort to try to make some Cameroonian food for him. He absolutely loved this dish and so did I! I felt like being in Cameroon for a moment. Do you have any plans for adding a recipe for bobolo? I would love to learn how to make them.
    I've also tried your chicken DG and pepper sauce recipes, so delicious! Can't wait to try some of your other recipes as everything I've tried has turned out amazing 🙂

    Reply

    • Precious says

      Hi Jennie! Thanks so much for the feedback! So glad to hear of your success with the recipes. How sweet of you to learn how to make Cameroonian food!
      I will eventually add a recipe for bobolo. I'm working on that.
      Thanks Jennie!

      Reply

  13. Lontsi Tiomela Vanina says

    I Cant's keep calm cause I tried this today even though it didn't cm out well but the test was breath taking

    Reply

  14. Linda says

    My sauce keeps coming out of the blender bitter. Why?

    Reply

    • Precious says

      Linda, I have no idea why that's happening. With my combination of spices, there should be no bitter taste in there.

      Reply

  15. Emmanuela says

    wow! thanks so much precious I was so enthralled with your recipe its indeed the best for roasted fish . I got it all right and perfect thank you.

    Reply

    • Precious says

      I'm so happy to hear that, Emmanuel! Thank you for the feedback!

      Reply

  16. Christine says

    Hi good day ma I'm very happy to learn on how to do roasted fish I'm very great full and I will like to learn more because I got married to a man from Bassa land .

    Reply

    • Precious says

      You are welcome, dear. You can learn more by visiting my homepage and searching for recipes. My homepage is preciouscore.com. You can also watch my videos at YouTube.com/PreciousKitchen

      Reply

  17. Temitope says

    I enjoyed every bit of the RECIPES. You are a genius

    Reply

    • Precious says

      Thank you, dear.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  3. […] delicacy. On the roadside in my country, Cameroon you can often spot women, mostly at night laying mackerel fish on rustic grills. As they deep their basting brushes into spice-filled bowls and brush spices over […]

    Reply

  4. […] vendors. There is roasted plum (not the American plum but an African buttery fruit), there is grilled fish grilled over charcoal – the taste is epicccc. There is suya, roasted plantains, roasted corn […]

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