Pickled Fish – My Grand Mother Rachel’s Recipe

Preparation
Hint: Prepare at least 2-3 days in advance in order for fish to rest and pickle in the fridge.

Ingredients for Batter frying fish

1. 1 1/2 kg's Fresh Hake Fish (Cutlets or Fillet) alternately Angel fish
2. 4-5 cups of Sunflower Oil (depending on how much Hake) for frying
Prepare the batter by mixing
3. 2 cups of Cake flour
4. 1 cup of milk
5. 1 cup of water
6. 2 Eggs
7. Add Seasoning to the batter: 2 t-spoons of Ina Paarman Sea Salt and white pepper, 1 tspoon of
mixed Herbs , ½ tspoon garlic powder , ½ tspoon paprika, 1 tspoon of fish spice and (OPTIONAL)
T-spoon of masala.

Ingredients for pickling

1. 20 medium to large Onions sliced in rings (not thick rings)
2. Sunflower cooking oil
3. 500 mls Brown and 500 mls white vinegar
4. 4-5 table spoons Pepper corns (black or mixed with red)
5. 15 Bay Leaves
6. 1 1/2 cups of Brown sugar
7. ½ pkt (50grams) of Cartwrights curry powder (medium)
8. Coriander seeds
9. 2-3 Cloves
10. 2 teaspoons of chilli powder
11. 2 Cups of Apricot jam
12. 8-10 Green chillies (OPTIONAL)

Method: Preparing the Fried Fish

 Ensure fresh fish is seasoned with some salt and pepper.
 Heat oil in a large skillet or pan to 185 degrees C
 Dip each piece of fish into batter
 Fry all the pieces of fish on both sides until golden brown (+/- 3 min on each side)
 Place all the fish on an a cooling rack or paper towels to cool.

Method: Preparing the Pickling Sauce.

The entire process of stove top cooking should not take more than 30-40 min

 Pour about ½ cup of oil into a 5L deep pot.

 Heat oil to about 120 deg C
 Add Onion rings, peppercorns and Bay leaves and Coriander seeds and cloves
 Allow the Onions to sweat until all rings are transparent on low – medium heat
 Keep turning/ stirring the onions from the bottom to the top.
 Once all rings are transparent add the 50 grams of Cartwrights curry powder
 Add the 1 L of Vinegar and ½ cup of water
 Add the brown sugar while continuously stirring.
 Once the mixture has been well stirred and combined using a wooden spoon. Give it a taste.
 The mixture must never boil
 Lastly add the Apricot Jam and chillies and allow to simmer on low heat for 3-5 min
Layering of Fish

 Allow the pickling mixture to sit aside for 20-30 min to cool.
 You will need 2 large and deep Pyrex dishes with lids
 Layer the fish in the pickling mixture starting with some saucy onions and then fish, saucy
onions, fish ….until the dish is almost filled.
 Do the same with the 2nd deep Pyrex dish

Once layered the fish must be allowed to rest in the fridge for 2-3 days

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