Cuttlefish with Baharat Recipe - Great British Chefs

This fresh, summery cuttlefish recipe from Selin Kiazim makes the best of this under-used mollusc, quickly pan-fried with baharat, a Turkish spice blend including allspice and nutmeg. You can make the blend yourself or buy it premade from a Turkish supermarket if preferred. This recipe is taken from Oklava by Selin Kiazim, published by Mitchell Beazley. Photography by Chris Terry.

Ingredients

print recipe

shopping List

Metric

Imperial

2 cuttlefish, with tentacles, cleaned
100ml of extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for frying
1 onion, diced
125g of peas, fresh or frozen
100g of samphire
1 lemon, juiced
3 sprigs of fresh mint, leaves only
4 sprigs of flat-leaf parsley
flaky sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Baharat

30g of allspice berries
30g of cloves
15g of mahlep, (dried cherry seeds, available in Turkish supermarkets)
10g of nutmeg
5g of mastic, (resin from the mastic tree, available in Turkish supermarkets)

print recipe

shopping List

Cut open the cuttlefish and score the inside in a cross-hatch pattern. Slice it into irregular diamond shapes about 4cm wide. Pat the cuttlefish dry with kitchen paper and keep in the refrigerator until needed

2 cuttlefish, with tentacles, cleaned

To make the baharat, blend together all the spices in a spice grinder. Don't worry if you can't find all the ingredients here, just leave them out if you can't. Stored in an air tight container, this will keep for up to 4 weeks

30g of allspice berries
30g of cloves
15g of mahlep, (dried cherry seeds, available in Turkish supermarkets)
10g of nutmeg
5g of mastic, (resin from the mastic tree, available in Turkish supermarkets)

Heat the measured olive oil in a small saucepan and add the onion. Cook over a medium heat until light golden brown. Remove from the heat and add 2 tbsp of the baharat

100ml of extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for frying
1 onion, diced

Heat a large frying pan and add 1 tbsp olive oil. Add the cuttlefish and let it fry for at least 1 minute before moving it; you want the edges to caramelise. After that, move the fish around a little in the pan and cook for 1 more minute

Now add the cooked onion, peas and samphire and cook for 1 more minute, or until the samphire has just wilted. Remove the pan from the heat, add the lemon juice, season with salt and pepper and add a little more olive oil to make a dressing in the pan. Finally, stir in the herbs and serve

125g of peas, fresh or frozen
100g of samphire
1 lemon, juiced
3 sprigs of fresh mint, leaves only
4 sprigs of flat-leaf parsley
flaky sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Discover more:

Share recipe

Selin Kiazim

At Oklava, Selin Kiazim expertly navigates Turkey's diverse culinary landscape, drawing on her own Turkish Cypriot heritage to create delicious dishes that are bursting with flavour.