Roasted bell peppers stuffed with chermoula-marinated white fish, baked in a tomato-saffron sauce — the Moroccan coast's fish-meets-vegetable hybrid.
Felfla bil hout (literally 'peppers with fish') comes from the small fishing ports between Casablanca and El Jadida, where households turned the day's catch into a stuffed-pepper dish that could feed a family. The fish is flaked and bound with chermoula, the peppers are pre-charred, and the whole thing bakes in a thin saffron-tomato broth that becomes the sauce.
Fish slow-roasted with whole roasted peppers and tomatoes — the peppers char-blacken, the fish absorbs the pepper-smoky oil. Atlantic coastal dish, eaten with bread to mop the sauce.
Roasting peppers whole at 220°C blisters the skin, allowing easy peeling that removes bitter peel proteins. The charred, caramelized sugars and Maillard browning of the pepper skin infuse into the fish oils, creating a smoky note that fresh peppers can't produce.
Variations
Larache version uses sardines; Tangier version uses sea bream; modern Casablanca version uses cod — three Atlantic fish in pepper sauce.
On the Palate
Where Felfla bil Hout sits in the Moroccan flavor cloud
Ingredients
How it's made
5 steps · 1 hour 15 min
- 14 min
Char 6 large red or green bell peppers over a gas flame or under a broiler until skins blacken. Place in a covered bowl 10 minutes; peel, slice off tops, remove seeds.
Watch outChar the peppers until the skin is blackened and blistered all over, then steam them covered — that trapped steam loosens the skin so it slips off in sheets, taking the bitter peel with it.
- 23 min
Cook 400g white fish fillets in simmering salted water 6 minutes; flake into a bowl. Mix with 3 tbsp chermoula paste, 1 tsp cumin, juice of ½ lemon, 1 minced garlic clove.
Watch outPoach the fish only until it just flakes, about six minutes — push it further and it turns dry and rubbery once it bakes again inside the peppers.
- 35 min
Stuff each pepper with the fish mixture, replacing the top.
- 43 min
In a baking dish, combine 3 chopped tomatoes, ½ tsp saffron, 200ml water, 2 tbsp olive oil, salt. Arrange the stuffed peppers in the sauce.
- 525 min
Bake at 200°C for 25 minutes, basting twice with the sauce. Finish with chopped cilantro and serve with bread.
Watch outBaste the peppers with the sauce twice as they bake so the tops don't dry — they're done when the skins wrinkle and the sauce turns jammy.
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