Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Bourzwa Griye (Grilled Red Snapper)
A whole red snapper slashed and packed with a garlic, ginger, and chili paste, grilled over coals and served with a chunky Creole tomato sauce.
Seychellois Creole · easy · serves 4
prep 25 min · cook 20 min
~136 cal · 2g protein · 11g carbs · 10g fat · 2g fiber · 4g sugars · 1g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Bourzwa griye is the taste of a Seychellois Sunday: a whole bourzwa, the prized red bourgeois snapper, scored to the bone, rubbed with a fiery paste of garlic, ginger, and bird chili, and grilled over the embers of coconut husks until the skin blisters and the flesh stays sweet and moist. On an island nation where the reef is the larder, grilled fish is the everyday centrepiece, cooked on the beach or in the yard while the rest of the meal comes together.
The seasoning is pure Creole: garlic, ginger, thyme, and a Creole spice blend of coriander, cinnamon, and clove pounded into the slashes so the smoke and the aromatics reach deep into the fish. Alongside comes lasos kreol, a quick sauce of onion and tomato softened in oil and brightened with lime, spooned over the fish at the table.
Served with plain rice, lentils, or a mango satini, bourzwa griye is that the Seychelles is as much a grilling culture as a curry one. It is the dish islanders miss most when they are away, the one that smells of woodsmoke, sea salt, and a squeeze of fresh lime.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
2 lbs whole red snapper (bourzwa), scaled and gutted
5 cloves garlic, crushed to a paste
1 inch piece fresh ginger, grated
1 to 2 bird's eye chilies, finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon and clove
2 limes (juice for the paste, wedges to serve)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
to taste salt
1 onion, thinly sliced (for the sauce)
2 ripe tomatoes, chopped (for the sauce)
Instructions
1
Cut three deep parallel slashes to the bone on each side of the snapper so the seasoning and heat reach the middle.
✎ Chef’s note
Pat the fish very dry first; a dry skin blisters and chars over the coals instead of steaming and sticking.
2
Pound the garlic, ginger, chili, thyme, coriander, cinnamon and clove with the juice of one lime, a little oil, and salt into a rough paste, then work it into the slashes and all over the fish. Rest 15 minutes.
3
Meanwhile soften the sliced onion and chopped tomatoes in a spoon of oil with a pinch of salt for about 10 minutes into a loose Creole sauce, then finish with a squeeze of lime.
4
Rub the fish with the remaining oil and grill over medium coals (or a hot ridged pan) for about 8 to 10 minutes a side, turning once, until the skin is charred and the flesh flakes at the bone.
5
Slide onto a platter, spoon the warm tomato sauce over the top, and serve with the lime wedges and plain rice.
Seychellois beach-grill tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Victoria. Victoria is one of the world's smallest capitals, cooking Creole fish curry with coconut milk, turmeric, and curry leaf. Seychellois food is Indian, African, and French at once, with octopus, breadfruit, and mango chutney common.
🗺️
Seychelles. Seychellois Creole cuisine is fragrant and coconut-rich, fish curries, grilled snapper, and the sweet plantain-in-coconut ladob. French, African, and Indian roots meet over fresh reef fish and tropical spice.
🌍
Africa. The structure repeats across most of the continent: one starch and one sauce. A grain or root is cooked stiff, torn or rolled by hand, and used to carry a stew of leaves, groundnut, okra or fish, usually from a shared bowl and with the right hand. UNESCO listings have followed that logic, inscribing couscous in 2020 as a shared Maghreb tradition and Ivorian attieke in 2024.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Seychelles
Seychellois Fish CurryA fragrant Creole coconut fish curry brightened with lime, ginger, and fresh curry leaves.
Ladob BanannRipe plantains simmered soft in sweet, vanilla-and-nutmeg coconut milk, a Creole breakfast or dessert from the Seychelles.
Kari ZouritOctopus simmered until tender in a fragrant coconut curry with ginger, garlic, and island masala, a Seychelles classic.
Browse all Seychelles recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Grill or barbecue.
Storing it: Best straight off the heat. Leftovers keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated and reheat well in a hot oven rather than the microwave.
Make it a Seychelles meal
Nouga Koko ek Bannann (Coconut and Banana Nougat)Dessert
Kari ZouritLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Bourzwa Griye (Grilled Red Snapper)?
A whole red snapper slashed and packed with a garlic, ginger, and chili paste, grilled over coals and served with a chunky Creole tomato sauce.
Where does Bourzwa Griye (Grilled Red Snapper) come from?
Bourzwa Griye (Grilled Red Snapper) is a Seychellois Creole dish from Victoria, Seychelles.
Can Bourzwa Griye (Grilled Red Snapper) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Bourzwa Griye (Grilled Red Snapper) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Bourzwa Griye (Grilled Red Snapper) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Bourzwa Griye (Grilled Red Snapper) take to make?
About 45 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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