Cashew Battered Fish

I came up with this out of my frustration with off-the-shelf batter mixes. All measurements were done on the fly (my appologies). Maybe a bit too "Fish n' Chips" for tiki food but here goes.

Your favorite seasoning (black pepper, ground cayanne, thyme)
Salt
Olive oil
3 or 4 medium fish fillets (I use the smaller frozen bagged fillets because I'm cheap :wink: )
1/3 cup cashews (salted or unsalted)
2 extra large eggs
2 (maybe more) teaspoons baking powder
5 rounded teaspoons (more or less) cornstarch
salad portion of sliced fresh cabbage
1 stalk celery
handful of fresh spinach leaves

First I soak/thaw fillets in solution of Kosher or Alea salt and set aside. In a blender chop the cashews -- they should be reduced to a coarse powder (you may need to loosen caked powder from bottom of blender jar). Add eggs, starch, seasoning and powder and blend. coat thawed fillets by rolling in shallow pan of batter. Prepare medium frying pan with about 1/4 inch of olive oil, set on medium heat.
fry fillets one at a time until fish seems tender when poked (batter should be on the darker side of golden brown). Serve on a bed of cabbage, spinach, and thin sliced celery.
-FB

(I don't usually admit this, but here in the Bong Hut I do all the cooking...)

The recipe sounds great.

Speaking of fried fish, my first job when I was 15 (no, not that one) was as a fry cook at H Salt Fish & Chips; making the big $1.10/hr (which of course leads one to selling stuff and not ringing it up!)

Fantastic! I'm looking forward to trying this one out.

Another unique but very tasty fish or chicken fry coating is Cracker Jack believe it or not. You process it just as you described (only I prefer a Cuisinart to a blender) and then eggwash, and fry. You might give it a try. Best on a less delicate white fish like cod.

Nice work, thanks for sharing!

Ahu

On 2005-01-08 16:08, Tiki_Bong wrote:
...a fry cook at H Salt Fish & Chips; making the big $1.10/hr (which of course leads one to selling stuff and not ringing it up!)

Yeah I've done my share of manual labor. For a few years I worked at "Long John Silver's", Known for its basic "Fish n' Chips" similar to "Arthur Treacher's". It's a scary thought that the experience may have led me to create my own fish fry recipe!

I'm trying the batter on eggplant tonight... so bump :wink: