Ingredients

Method

• 4 floury potatoes
• 1 L sunflower oil
• 4 X 200 g hake portions
• sea salt to taste
• 1 cup cake flour, plus extra to dust
• ½ cup cornflour
• 1 t mixed masala (I like Spice Emporium’s Bombay Delite)
• 1 t turmeric
• 1 t baking powder
• 300 ml ice-cold lager
• 2 vodka
• lemon wedges, Maldon salt and chopped fresh coriander to serve
Tartare sauce
• 200 ml mayonnaise or aioli
• 1 large pickle, finely chopped
• 1 t capers, chopped
• ½ thumb ginger, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely grated
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• juice and zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 10 g fresh coriander, finely chopped
• 1 small green chilli, finely chopped
• salt to taste

Method

Ingredients

1. To make the tartare sauce, combine all the ingredients and adjust seasoning. Set aside in the fridge.

2. Peel the potatoes and cut them into thick chips (or wedges). Rinse in cold water to remove excess starch, then pat dry with paper towel.

3. Heat the sunflower oil to 160 °C in a deep-fryer or pot. Fry the chips in batches until soft but still pale. Remove from the oil and drain on paper towel.

4. Season the hake portions with a sprinkle of sea salt and set aside in the fridge while you prepare the batter.

5. In a large bowl, mix the cake flour, cornflour, masala, turmeric and baking powder. Slowly pour in the ice-cold lager and vodka while whisking continuously to form a smooth batter.

6. Reheat the oil in the deep-fryer or pot to 180 °C. Fry the chips once more until golden and crispy, then set aside on a plate lined with paper towel to drain.

7. Pat dry the fish with paper towel and coat each portion with some extra cake flour. Dip each floured portion into the batter, ensuring they are completely coated.

8. Carefully lower the battered fish into the hot oil and fry for about 5 minutes or until the batter is golden brown and the fish is cooked through. Use a slotted spoon to carefully remove the fish from the oil and place it on another plate lined with paper towel to drain.

9. Serve the curry-battered fish with the crispy chips, a generous dollop of tartare sauce and lemon wedges. Season with Maldon salt and garnish with coriander.

Find more fish recipes here

Extracted with permission from Freestyle Cooking with Chef Ollie (Penguin Random House South Africa)