I seem to always crave fish and chips on a Friday night. Its a typical British friday night dinner from the local chippie. Its also a tradition that my family has adopted while living in America. However, unlike England, you must make everything at home as there is no local chippie. Seeing that we are living in Germany and have Köln’s famous Kölsch available just about everywhere, I decided to put a little twist on the recipe.
These are great with another beer to drink and a side of mushy peas. A little salt and malt vinegar sprinkled on top and its just like you’re in England!
The secret to the crunchy batter is the corn flour. It makes the batter light and crunchy, not so doughy like you sometimes get. The secret to chippie style chips is to par boil them for a little bit beforehand.
This recipe is a good dinner for 2 people
Fish
- 1 and 1/4 cup plain flour
- 1/4 cup corn flour
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/8 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 cup to 1 cup light beer to get the desired consistency
- 10 -15 oz white fish – cod or haddock is good
Potatoes
- 2-3 large potatoes cut into 1/2 inch thick slices
- 1/2 tsp salt
For the chips, place into a medium pan with enough water to cover. Add the salt and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cook for about 5-7 minutes. You want to just parboil the potatoes so that they are slightly cooked. This will make frying easier and shorter later and will make the potatoes fluffy inside too. Once done, drain and dry with a paper towel.
Place 1/2 cup of the plain flour into a shallow bowl. Cut up the fish into 3×1.5 inch long slices and dredge in the flour and set aside.
Start to heat about 1 liter of vegetable oil to medium hot. Depending on what pan you’re using, it should be about 3 inches high. I learned how to test the heat by putting a little piece of what you are cooking into the oil. If it browns too fast, then it is too hot and should be turned down a touch. If there are no bubbles, then the oil is not hot enough. Its not a science. You just want to make sure it is not too hot, because the fish needs to cook.
Mix together the dry ingredients and then whisk in the water till you get a consistency like pancake batter. It should be quite runny, but thick enough to coat the fish.
By the time you have made the batter, the oil should be hot enough to start frying.
I always like to cook the chips first and then put them in a low heated oven, so that they don’t taste fishy from the oil.
Then dip the fish into the batter and drop into the oil. Cook until lightly browned, about 5-7 minutes.
For serving, sprinkle some salt and a lot of malt vinegar!
Fig & Honey 