Easter Eats: The start of a new Easter Tradition – pickle me fish!

I did it! Made my first batch of pickled fish from scratch!

To be honest, I’ve got no idea what it tastes like, will probably only know tomorrow (if I don’t do that funny sleepwalk to the fridge thing again). Okay, I don’t eatsleepwalkthing, but I do get to tend the munchies at around 22.00 on some nights. #WhyIAmFat

But, as usual, I digress.

Growing up we didn’t really do the ‘pickled-fish-for-Easter’ thing.  There was more of an focus on Hot Cross Buns (STILL my favourite Easter Eat) and marshmallow Easter Eggs.  So the sweet stuff.  And I never really realised it until just now.  Lightbulb moment.

My Mommy loves pickled fish, but she normally just buys the tinned stuff.  And that is okay I guess, but I was keen to try making my own.  Anything ‘pickled’ normally sounds like a lot of hard work to me, but after paging through a few recipes, I realised that it actually isn’t that complicated.

I stumbled upon this recipe on the Your Family website.  Changed it a bit, mainly because the original recipe makes a HUGE family-size batch, so I halved the recipe and added tweaked some of the ingredients a bit as well.

So let’s just do it!

• 750g hake (defrosted – with the skin removed.  I removed the skins while the hake was still frozen, helps a bit!)
• 50g flour (in a plastic zip seal bag), lightly seasoned with salt and white pepper
• Oil for shallow frying

Cut the hake into medium-sized chunks, shaking a few chunks at a time in the ziplock bag to cover with flour.  Shake off the excess flour and shallow fry in batches until cooked.  Keep the flour mixture!

It cooks quite quickly – don’t over fry, you still want the fish chunks to keep the shape and not fall apart. Drain on kitchen towel and keep aside to cool slightly.

And now, for the curry sauce!  Bring these ingredients to boil over a medium heat:

• 350ml white vinegar
• 125ml water
• 125ml brown sugar
• 30ml Mrs Balls’ Chutney
• 10ml curry powder (I used Woolies’ Hot Curry Powder)
• a heaped teaspoon of turmeric

Add to the sauce:

• 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger, and
• one large onion, sliced into rings

Simmer for 10 minutes – you don’t want the onion to be cooked too soft – it should still have some crunch!

Place the drained fish chunks into a glass bowl (plastic will stain), and cover with the curry sauce.

This smells so good!  And this is where the tricky part comes in.  And where I’m at at the moment.  Cover with clingwrap and put in fridge overnight, or even a bit longer.

So for now, I can just stare at these photos, will be able to taste tomorrow!

Something that smells and looks so good, MUST be delicious!  I will keep you in the loop!

Sweet dreams Honeys!