Balti Fried Fish

Balti Fried Fish

If you like Asian food and want a change from plain-cooked fish, try this. Ready in minutes. You will need (for 4):

• White fish (fillets, off-cuts) e.g. cod, pollack, pouting, dogfish, bream, bass: about 675 g/1.5lb
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 1 tbs lemon juice
• 0.5 tsp salt
• 1 tsp garlic puree
• 1 tsp dried or minced chillies
• 1.5 tsp garam masala
• 2 tbs fresh coriander leaves
• 2 tbs cornflour
• Oil for shallow frying

Chop the fish into bite-sized chunks. Dry and chill.

Take everything else except the oil and cornflour, and whizz to a pulp with a blender - a hand blender is ideal. Put it into a bowl and mix in the cornflour.

Put your oil in a pan to  a depth of 2cm and heat until a cube of bread turns brown in 30 seconds.

Mix the fish into the sauce until well coated. Take individual pieces of fish and drop into the hot oil one at a time, do this in batches so you don't over-crowd the pan and cool the oil. When the fish lumps turn brown (1-2 minutes max) use a slotted spoon and scoop them out. Put them on kitchen paper to drain and keep warm while you do the rest - probably 4-6 batches in total.

Serve with rice or paratha bread, plenty of chutney (apricot or mango is good), and a raita. Not forgetting the cold beer of course.

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