In the mood for some good ol’ fashioned grub? Then how about you whip up some traditional fish and chips at home courtesy of Chef Noor Raskan at the Hawksbill Restaurant in Saadiyat Beach Golf Club.
Chef Raskan says, “Instead of using hammour, we have used a locally sourced non-endangered fish. Guests can indulge in an old favourite – the crispness of the fish is complimented by the rich creamy tartar and the fresh squeeze of lemon – and of course, the thick cut chips!”
Ingredients:
- 220g Nile perch fillet
- 80g flour and one egg
- 150ml sparkling water
- one large potato
- 80g mayonnaise
- 30g lemon
- 10g capers and 10g gherkins
- 10g silver skinned onion
- Salt and white pepper to taste
- Oil for frying
Preparation:
- Wash the potato and cut into thick chips. Place in a bowl of cold water.
- In a separate bowl mix flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. Mix in sparkling water and egg. Stir until smooth.
- Preheat the oil to 175 degrees celsius.
- Fry the potatoes in hot oil until they are tender. Drain them on paper towels.
- Dust the fish lightly with flour and dip in the batter until fully covered. Fry until golden brown and drain well on paper towel.
- Fry the potatoes again for one to two minutes for added crispiness.
- Finely cut capers, gherkins and onion and mix into mayonnaise to make tartar sauce.
- Place on the plate and serve with tartar sauce and fresh lemon wedges.
Check out our very own Tried and Tested review of this recipe below;
We received this recipe from Chef Noor Raksan from the Hawksbill Restaurant at Saadiyat Beach Golf Club. Since we love our traditional fish and chips we were quite keen to try this recipe out ourselves to finally learn exactly how they make those delicious battered delights.
The recipe is quite easy to follow and surprisingly simple. We already had some white Kingfish in our freezer so we used that instead of the Nile perch. After defrosting the filets we cut two medium sized potatoes and placed them in water. We decided to keep the skins on, since that's how the restaurant does it, but peel them if you prefer.
We fried the chips until they were golden brown and then let them drain on paper towels. Then we quickly mixed up the batter. Adding the sparkling water caused the entire batter to fizz. Perhaps we had put too much flour, however our batter was quite thick and didn't coat our fish properly. Even after flouring the fish thoroughly beforehand, the batter seemed more intent on sticking to itself than the fish.
We ended up dipping one side and after placing the fish in oil, spooning some more batter on top to coat the other side. The effort however, was worth it as the crust came out thick, crispy and tasted like it was from a small chip shop in London instead of our kitchen.
We then re-fried our chips as they had gone soft while cooling down. This definitely helped to firm up the fries. We quickly plated the hot chips with the fish and ate them with some store bought tartar sauce we already had at home. If you are in the mood for some homemade delights, this recipe is for you.
We give it four out of five spoons!
