This post is sponsored by Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. I’m thrilled to be partnering with ASMI to share a series of delicious recipes highlighting sustainable, wild-caught seafood from Alaska.

This tandoori-spiced Alaska halibut with grilled vegetables and cooling cilantro-mint raita is the perfect healthy meal to kick off grilling season!

Who else gets really excited about dusting off the grill once the weather warms up each spring? I love to cook outside, which is part of why I’m particularly excited about this recipe, which is the sixth in a series of recipes highlighting Alaska seafood that I’m sharing in partnership with Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. This month’s recipe features Alaska halibut, which is a versatile whitefish with great flavor that holds together well for grilling.

Like other seafood from Alaska, halibut is a great source of omega-3 fatty acids. I recently learned that  omega-3s have been found to play an important role in the body’s immune system by helping downregulate the immune response and decrease inflammation after an infection. Halibut also contains selenium and Vitamin D, which are both key to immune function and are found in only a few foods, plus potassium and magnesium. With all that, I’d definitely call Alaska halibut a superfood! You can read more about all the nutrients in Alaska seafood here.

And like all Alaska seafood, halibut is wild caught in a sustainable way, and frozen halibut goes right into the freezer within hours of being caught so that its freshness is locked in.

For this recipe, Alaska halibut is marinated in a mix of yogurt and homemade tandoori masala, then grilled alongside plenty of fresh vegetables and served with creamy cilantro-mint raita.

Tandoori masala is a spice mix used for dishes like tandoori chicken that are traditionally baked in a tandoor, an extremely hot clay oven. Even though you probably don’t have a tandoor at home, you can still get irresistibly spicy, smoky flavor! The spice blend for this recipe is made from ground spices to keep things quick, but you can use a store-bought tandoori masala if you’d like to save even more time. 

The marinade here is super simple: just spices, salt, yogurt, and a little oil. Before adding the fish, a bit of the marinade is removed and set aside to add some oomph to the raita, a yogurt sauce that pairs well with spicy food. You may have tried cucumber raita, but there are many other varieties, and this one is made with fresh cilantro and mint.

After marinating, the Alaska halibut is grilled with red onion, asparagus, bell pepper, and zucchini. Those are some of my favorite quick-cooking vegetables to throw on the grill, but you can sub in what you prefer or what you happen to have: summer squash, okra, eggplant, and cabbage are other great choices. Since the fish is heavily spiced, we’re keeping the vegetables simple with just oil and salt.

The combination of flavorful grilled fish, fresh vegetables, and herb-studded yogurt is such a satisfying one–this is a dinner that leaves me feeling happy and healthy, and I hope you’ll love it, too!

Once you get started on an Alaska seafood kick, you’ll probably want to try the other recipes I’ve created as part of this project: Alaska sablefish poached in brown butter with baby potatoes and kale, stuffed avocados with Alaska crab, sesame-crusted Alaska salmon salad, gluten-free fritto misto with Alaska seafood, and pumpkin alfredo with seared Alaska scallops.

Just want more Alaska halibut? Consider pan-broiled halibut with lemon, capers, and parsley from Alexandra’s Kitchen (it’s also great with Alaska cod–I made it with that a couple weeks ago!) or fennel-roasted Alaska halibut from Eating Rules. 

Tandoori-Spiced Alaska Halibut with Grilled Vegetables and Cilantro-Mint Raita

Yield: 2 servings

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

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Ingredients

For the Alaska halibut and marinade*:

• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika (or sweet paprika for a milder dish)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (omit for mild or increase if you want more heat)
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 3 tablespoons full-fat yogurt
• 1 tablespoon olive or avocado oil, plus more for grilling
• 2 (6-ounce) Alaska halibut fillets

For the raita:

• 1/3 cup full-fat yogurt
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
• 1 tablespoon fresh mint
• 1 tablespoon marinade (reserved from above)
• Up to 1/4 cup water, as needed
• Sea salt, to taste
• For the grilled vegetables:
• 1 red bell pepper, stemmed, deseeded, and cut into 8 sections
• 1 zucchini, thickly sliced into coins
• 1/2 bunch asparagus (about 15 spears), trimmed
• 1/2 red onion, cut into four wedges
• 1 tablespoon avocado or olive oil
• Sea salt, to taste

For serving:

• Fresh cilantro and/or mint (optional)

Instructions

1. Pat the Alaska halibut fillets dry and place them skin side down in a shallow bowl or baking dish.
2. To make the marinade, mix the spices, salt, yogurt, and one tablespoon of oil in a small bowl. Remove about a tablespoon of the marinade and reserve it in the refrigerator for the raita. Spread the rest of the marinade on the top and sides of the fish. Cover and refrigerate the fish for at least 30 minutes or up to two hours.
3. To make the raita, use an immersion or regular blender to combine the yogurt, cilantro, mint, and reserved marinade, adding the water a bit at a time as necessary for blending. Season with salt to taste. The raita can be made right after you make the marinade and stored in the refrigerator, or you can make it immediately before grilling the fish and vegetables.
4. When you’re almost ready to cook, preheat a grill to medium high (400-450°F). Once the grill is hot, oil the grates thoroughly but rubbing them several times with a paper towel with oil on it (use tongs to hold the towel so you don’t risk burning yourself). Toss the vegetables with oil and sprinkle them with a little salt.
5. Place the Alaska halibut fillets skin side down on the hottest part of the grill, and arrange the vegetables on the cooler parts of the grill. Close the lid and grill for about 6 minutes, until the vegetables have nice grill marks on the bottom. Flip the vegetables, close the lid, and cook for about two more minutes, until the veggies are done to your liking. Transfer them to a plate.
6. Carefully slide a fish spatula under each halibut fillet and flip it (if the fish seems to be sticking, give it another minute and then try again). Close the grill and cook for about two minutes, or until the fish measures 130-135°F. Carefully slide the spatula under each fillet again to remove it from the grill and transfer to a plate. Let the fish rest for five minutes, then serve hot with the grilled vegetables and raita, sprinkled with fresh herbs if desired.

Notes

If you’re making the spice blend and see a few spices you don’t like or don’t have, you can leave them out—the blend is very customizable. As written, it comes out with about a medium heat level. If you’d like, you can use 2-3 teaspoons of store-bought tandoori masala instead of all the individual spices listed here.