Crisp Batter Fried Fish

Crisp Batter Fried Fish

The base recipe is courtesy a chef I admire greatly for the changes he has brought about in the culinary world. He is extremely well known for many signature dishes. He changed the culinary scene with his work when he used chemistry in the kitchen. I won’t call it ‘molecular gastronomy’ because it’s a well known fact that he dislikes the term. He feels it makes the cooking process sound extremely complicated and elitist. Yes, I’m talking of none other than Heston Blumenthal. From all that I have read and seen, he’s a culinary genius. Here I am, a simple, self-taught home cook, and let me add, a deranged Bawi. Why deranged, you ask? Well, I was planning to attempt Heston's recipe but with substitute ingredients and techniques as certain ingredients and kitchen equipments were unavailable to me. That’s a good enough reason to call myself deranged. I mean who in their right mind trifles with Heston’s recipe. But, the substitution worked beautifully. I’d recommend this recipe with substitutions, to anyone and everyone, in a jiffy. As always, don't take my word for it. Give it a try and check it out for yourself.

Ingredients:

1 kilo fish fillet (I used King fish/Surmai)

1 cup refined flour/maida

1 + ½ cup rice flour, separated

Salt to taste

Black Pepper powder, to taste

1 teaspoon baking powder

450 - 500 mils fizzy water/soda water

Oil to deep fry

Method:

1. Cut the large fish fillets into one inch thick fillets.
   
   

   

   The new baby of my kitchen..The Robert Welch Signature Chef's Knife from Lakeland Store - Phoenix Mall - Pune
   
   

2. Season the fish fillets with salt and pepper and leave to marinate for an hour. If you wish to marinate it longer, store the fillets in the fridge and bring them out of the fridge 30 minutes before frying them.
   
   
   
   
3. Sieve ½ a cup of rice flour. Season with salt and pepper. Keep aside.
4. Sieve 1 cup rice flour, refined flour and mix it in a bowl. Add baking powder. Season with salt and pepper to taste and give the dry ingredients a mix.
5. Heat oil in a frying pan.
6. Add soda water to the mixed dry ingredients in the bowl. Quickly mix the flour and soda (half a cup, at a time) with a whisk to make a batter thick enough to coat the fish fillets. You will need a total of anywhere between 450 to 500 mils of fizzy water/soda water.
   
   
   
   
7. Dredge the fish fillets in dry seasoned rice flour. Shake off the excess.
8. Dip the fish fillets in the batter and deep fry them in oil. Fry them on medium high heat till the batter covering the fish turns crisp and golden brown.
   
   
   
   
9. Remove the fillets from the oil on to kitchen towels and allow them to rest for a minute.
10. Serve with Triple Cooked Chips, Mushy-Minty Peas and Tartar sauce.
    
    

Triple Cooked Chips… Recipe here

Mushy- Minty Peas… Recipe here

Tartar Sauce… Recipe here

Chef Notes: 

1. I do not own a siphon to aerate the batter or a deep fryer hence went the simple home cook route and made adjustments with the cooking process.
2. This recipe can be made with lager/beer instead of fizzy water/soda water but I could not do that as Grumpy (read: husband) is a strict, boring teetot. :P You can also use vodka and beer, half and half. Hic! ;-)
3. The, time and again, tested frying time for a batter-coated fish fillet, one inch in thickness, is a minute and a half (max two minutes) on each side, with one minute resting time. If you cut the fillets thicker or thinner than one inch, please increase or reduce the frying time accordingly.
4. You will require anywhere from 450 to 500 mils fizzy water depending on the quality and brand of flours used. Once the batter is of coating consistency, stop adding the fizzy water.
5. I definitely recommend the use of a whisk instead using a fork or a spoon to mix the batter. The mixture comes together quickly and without any lumps when a whisk is used, hence the recommendation.
6. When you put the fish fillets into the hot oil, do so very slowly and gently so that the temperature of the oil doesn’t undergo a sudden change. Also, the batter will remain intact on the fillets when they are slowly lowered into the hot oil.
7. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes and my photographs on any blog-site or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism.