An alternate take on beer-battered fish and chips, with the chips replaced by grilled halloumi cheese and accompanied by sweet and sour mango and walnut salad. No need for the traditional sauces when you have a salad like this to compliment the fish.
I knew the mango and walnut salad was great. And how could it not work great with grilled halloumi chips. The surprise with this dish is how well these two components worked with the beer-battered fish. The sweet and sour mango and walnut salad worked so well with the battered fish, any other condiments would have ruined the party. The grilled halloumi cheese, drizzled with honey, added an additional dimension in both taste and texture.
See this herb crumbed fillet with strawberry relish for another take on pairing fish with fruit. And for a more traditional approach, try this fish & chips with a roasted red pepper tomato sauce.
Part of why this beer-battered fish and chips worked so well was the choice of fish, and the batter. I used snakehead fillets. The texture and density was ideal for this cooking method. The name is not very appetising, and they have a bad name in the US as an invasive species, but nevertheless, they are a great tasting fish.
And the batter… the credit here goes to one of the great chefs, Marco Pierre White. See this YouTube video for his take on fish and chips…
And finally, the plate. Did you notice the plate? I found it at the Te Papa Museum shop in Wellington, New Zealand. It is a piece by Royce McGlashen. More here… https://www.roycemcglashen.co.nz/
Beer battered fish and halloumi chips with mango walnut salad
Ingredients
Mango Salad
- 1 red pepper
- 1/4 cup walnuts lightly roasted
- 1/4 cup finely diced spring onions
- 2 mangos
- 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 Tbsp liquid honey I used a truffle infused honey
- 200 g haloumi cheese
Fish in Ale Batter
- Oil for frying
- 1 small bottle ale about 350ml, room temperature
- 1 tsp active yeast
- 1 cup flour
- 4 fish fillets i.e. 4 portions
Instructions
Mango Salad
- Preheat the oven to 180 degC
- Roast the red pepper for 30 minutes.
- Whisk/shake together the balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, salt, pepper, then add the oil and whisk/shake again until combined and thickened.
- Toast the walnuts in the oven for a few minutes.
- Peel and dice the mangos into roughly 10cm cubes.
- Cut the haloumi cheese into 10x10x40mm strips or thereabouts.
- Grill under oven griller until golden.
- Dice the roasted red peppers.
- Toss the dressing together with the cubed mango, diced red pepper, walnuts, and spring onions.
Fish in Ale Batter
- In a large bowl, whisk the yeast into the beer.
- Allow the beer and yeast mixture to sit until new bubbles form.
- Whisk in the flour a little at a time until the batter reaches a consistency sufficient to coat the fish fillets. You may need to experiment a bit.
- If necessary trim the fish into appropriately sized fillets.
- Deep or shallow fry the fillets until golden brown.
Assembly
- Spoon out some mango salad.
- Top with grilled haloumi cheese. Reheat in the microwave if necessary.
- Drizzle with liquid honey.
- Serve with the battered fish fillet.
Miso marinated salmon and miso butter corn. Ponzu dressing and poached egg
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