Amanda A-mangia: Friday fish
Here is a quick and easy recipe for pickled fish, a traditional Good Friday dish in South Africa. It is best prepared a couple of days in advance so that the flavours have time to develop.
Ingredients
500 g frozen hake fillets (skinned and filleted)
75 g chilli bite mix
Sunflower oil
1 large onion, sliced into half-rings
3 whole cloves
5 ml curry powder
5 ml ground coriander
2 lemon leaves, torn (bay leaves can be substituted)
250 ml white vinegar
125 ml water
2 ml turmeric
40 ml brown sugar
2 ml ginger and garlic paste
Salt to taste
Whole peppercorns to taste
60 ml sultanas
Method
Partially thaw the fish, and roll each piece in the chilli bite powder mix until well coated. Place into a pan of hot shallow oil and fry on both sides until golden brown – about 5 minutes. Do not turn the fish pieces over until they easily lift away from the base of the pan.
Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Gently fry half the onion slices in a little oil. Add the cloves, curry powder, coriander and lemon leaves. Stir in the vinegar, water, turmeric, sugar, ginger and garlic paste, and the remaining onion slices. Simmer until the liquid has reduced significantly.
Add the sultanas and salt according to taste.
Pour the pickling sauce over the cooked fish. Cool completely before covering and refrigerating.
