I scoured the net for blackening mixtures, and then played around with a few different recipes - they were pretty consistent in their ingredients, and after a little trial and error with the thirteen year old, we settled on the following mixture. This batch is enough to make about 8 fillets of fish, so don't pop it all into the plate in one go, and you should have enough left to make a further meal.
Ingredients:
3 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp chilli powder
1½ tsp cumin
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp thyme
2 tsp oregano
4 tsp onion powder
4 tsp garlic powder
1½ Tbs golden granulated sugar
4 tsp garlic powder
1½ Tbs golden granulated sugar
3 tsp salt
4 tsp black pepper
4 tsp black pepper
Method:
Mix all of the ingredients together. Coat the meat or fish in the blackening spice, and cook in a skillet, or heavy frying pan, until the fish or meat is cooked. #simples
Notes:
- You can up the oregano and thyme if you prefer a grassier mixture - we found it overwhelmed the balance if any greater than this, but the joy of blackening spice is that you can adapt it to suit your personal tastes
- Ditto the sugar, we've made it with the sugar, and without - it's definitely nicer when it's included as it adds a caramel edge to the blackening
- Although this blend sounds as though it will be quite hot, it's more of a fragrant tingling heat, than a blow-your-socks-off, palate-numbing combination. The heat comes predominantly from the black pepper, so if you want to make it truly spicy, you might consider upping the chilli powder
- Yes, part of the gig is that you actually have to blacken your food! I usually pop it into a high heat first, blackening on both sides, before turning it down and allowing the fish to cook through.
