Tandoori Monkfish Recipe: How to Make it at Home
Monkfish has one of the strangest reputations of any fish on a menu. For most of the twentieth century it was thrown back into the sea, too ugly to sell.
Today it is one of the most requested starters in the house, marinated in pomegranate and warm spice, then grilled until the edges catch and the middle stays impossibly tender.
It is one of the standout dishes on Kinara's starters menu, and it is also a dish you can genuinely recreate at home. You do not need a tandoor. You need a hot grill, a good marinade, and a little patience with a fillet knife.
This is our full Tandoori Monkfish recipe, along with the story of the fish itself and why pomegranate and tandoor spice turn out to be such a natural match for it.
What Is Tandoori Monkfish?
At Kinara, Tandoori Monkfish is monkfish marinated twice, first in a simple base of ginger, garlic and lemon, then in a yogurt marinade built around pomegranate, before being grilled hot and fast. In the restaurant that heat comes from a tandoor. At home, a very hot grill, oven or cast iron pan gets you the same result. Either way, the result is a starter with a light char on the outside, a firm, almost lobster-like bite in the middle, and a sweet-sour depth from the pomegranate that plain grilled fish never gets close to.
Monkfish is an unusual choice for Indian cooking, where prawns, salmon and sea bass tend to dominate the tandoori section of a menu. But its dense, meaty texture is exactly what makes it work. Unlike a flaky white fish, which can fall apart under high heat, monkfish holds its shape on the grill in a way that is closer to meat than to fish.
The Fish Nobody Wanted
Monkfish looks nothing like what ends up on the plate. It is an anglerfish, mostly head and mouth, with a build so unusual that fishermen spent decades throwing it straight back into the sea. Before the 1980s it was treated as little more than bycatch from boats trawling for scallops and other whitefish, a fish nobody wanted to sell and few wanted to buy. It only became fashionable once chefs realised what was hiding under that head: a dense, boneless tail fillet with a texture close enough to lobster that it earned the nickname "poor man's lobster".
The name monkfish itself is old and a little uncertain in its origins. It is the most common English name for the genus Lophius in coastal waters around the British Isles, and fishermen along the North Sea and North Atlantic have called it "monk" for generations, though nobody can say for certain why. What is clear is that the fish's reputation has flipped entirely, from something thrown back at the dock to a fixture on serious restaurant menus.
Why the Tandoor and Pomegranate Belong Together
The tandoor itself has a much more recent story in Indian restaurant cooking than most people assume. Tandoori masala, the spice blend that defines this whole style of cooking, is credited to Kundan Lal Gujral, who was working in a restaurant in Peshawar in the 1920s and became the first person to cook meat inside a tandoor that had previously only been used for baking bread. The dish was later popularised at the Moti Mahal restaurant in Daryaganj, New Delhi, in the late 1940s, and from there it spread to become one of the defining techniques of North Indian cooking. Fish came later, but the same logic applies: a hot, dry, smoky oven and a bold marinade to match it.
Pomegranate's place in that marinade has its own history, separate from the tandoor but just as old. Anardana, dried pomegranate seeds ground into a sour, faintly sweet powder, is used across Indian and Middle Eastern cooking wherever a dish needs sharpness without the sourness of lime or tamarind. The most prized variety comes from a wild pomegranate called daru, grown in the lower Himalayas, though pomegranate juice and molasses do a similar job and are far easier to find in a UK kitchen. Against yoghurt, chilli and garam masala, the pomegranate cuts through the richness of the marinade and gives the monkfish a flavour that is unmistakably different from a standard tandoori fish.
Why Monkfish Works So Well on the Grill
Most white fish cannot survive tandoor heat without drying out or falling apart. Monkfish is the exception. Its tail is a single dense muscle with almost no small bones, held together by a tough membrane rather than flaky connective tissue, which is exactly why it behaves more like a piece of meat than a piece of fish once it hits the grill. Marinate it properly and it takes on spice the way lamb or chicken does, holding its shape through a hard sear while staying moist inside.
The one thing monkfish will not forgive is overcooking. It firms up quickly, and a few minutes too long turns a meaty, tender bite into something rubbery. Get the timing right and you get exactly what makes it worth ordering, a fish that eats like the most expensive thing on the table.
Tandoori Monkfish Recipe
Prep time: 20 minutes, plus 2 to 4 hours marinating. Cook time: 8 to 10 minutes
Serves 4 as a starter
Ingredients
For the fish
600g monkfish tail fillet, grey membrane removed, cut into 4 to 6 medallions
First marinade
1 tbsp ginger paste
1 tbsp garlic paste
1 tbsp lemon juice
Salt to taste
Second marinade
150g full-fat Greek yoghurt
2 tbsp pomegranate molasses, or 3 tbsp pomegranate juice reduced by half
1 tsp anardana (dried pomegranate seed) powder, if you have it
2 tbsp mustard oil, or a neutral oil
1 tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground fennel seed
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp kasuri methi, crushed between your palms
Salt to taste
To serve
Lime wedges
Thinly sliced red onion
Fresh pomegranate seeds
Mint and coriander chutney
Method
Prepare the fish. Pat the monkfish medallions completely dry. Check carefully for any remaining membrane and trim it away, it will not soften during cooking and can make the fish chewy.
First marinade. Mix the ginger paste, garlic paste, lemon juice and salt. Rub over the monkfish. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Second marinade. Whisk together the yoghurt, pomegranate molasses, anardana powder, oil, chilli powder, garam masala, fennel, cardamom, kasuri methi and salt until smooth. Coat the monkfish thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate for 2 to 4 hours.
Bring to room temperature. Take the fish out of the fridge 15 minutes before cooking so it cooks evenly.
Cook.
Grill or barbecue: high heat, well-oiled grates, 3 to 4 minutes per side until charred outside and opaque and firm in the middle.
Oven, finished under the grill: roast at 200°C (400°F) for 8 minutes, then grill on the highest setting for 2 to 3 minutes to colour the top.
Griddle or cast iron pan: sear in a smoking hot pan with a little oil for 3 minutes per side.
Rest and serve. Rest for 2 to 3 minutes, then serve with lime wedges, red onion, a scatter of pomegranate seeds and mint chutney on the side.
Fun Facts Worth Knowing
It used to be sold headless for a reason. Monkfish is almost entirely head, and the head is mostly mouth. Once fishmongers started removing it before sale, the fish suddenly looked a lot more appealing on the counter.
It is one of the few fish that gets compared to meat, not fish. Chefs regularly describe cooking monkfish the same way they would cook chicken or steak, because of how it sears and holds together.
Pomegranate was once a substitute for lime, not the other way round. In parts of North India where fresh citrus was hard to come by seasonally, dried pomegranate seeds did the souring work instead.
Tandoori cooking is younger than most people think. The style most associated with Indian restaurants worldwide only dates back to the 1920s and 1940s, not centuries of royal kitchens.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you make Tandoori Monkfish without a tandoor?
Yes. A very hot grill, a smoking griddle pan, or an oven finished under the grill will all give you a well-charred, firm result. The key is getting the heat high enough that the outside chars before the inside overcooks.
What part of the monkfish should I use?
The tail fillet, sometimes sold as monkfish loin. Ask your fishmonger to remove the thin grey membrane running along the outside, it toughens badly if left on.
How long should I marinate monkfish for?
Much less time than lamb or chicken. Two to four hours is enough. Monkfish is dense but still a fish, and an overnight marinade in acidic pomegranate and yogurt can start to break the texture down.
What do you serve with Tandoori Monkfish?
Lime wedges, thinly sliced red onion, and a mint or coriander chutney. A scatter of fresh pomegranate seeds over the top echoes the marinade nicely.
Taste the Original at Kinara
If you would rather leave the marinating and the grill to us, Tandoori Monkfish is on our starters menu at Kinara, cooked in a real tandoor by Chef Shabu Natarajan and the team. Book a table at our Merchant City restaurant in Glasgow and try the dish that started this whole story.