Pickled Fish

Ingredients

• 15 pieces of fish ( I’m using hake)
• 6-8 onions peeled and sliced into rings
• 1/2 a cup of water
• 1 cup of vinegar
• 5 bay leaves
• 1 tsp peppercorns
• 1 tsp Coriander seeds
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• Salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons of roasted masala or curry powder or pickled fish masala
• 2 teaspoons of turmeric
• A little cake flour to coat the fish
• A little oil to fry fish
• 1 heaped tablespoon of cornflour mixed with a tablespoon of cold water.
• 1-2 tablespoon of fine apricot jam( optional )

Method

1. Season the fish with a salt and a little turmeric, dip the seasoned fish in a little cake flour and then fry in shallow oil about two minutes on each side depending on thickness of fish.
2. Place in a big bowl and put aside .
3. In a large pot, on high heat add the water, vinegar, bay leaves, peppercorns, coriander seeds, turmeric and masala and a heaped teaspoon of salt.
4. Bring to the boil and add the onions that has been sliced into rings.
5. Add half a cup of sugar.
6. Cook on medium heat for 8 minutes until all the flavours has infused into the onions, next add the cornflour mix and stir until you see the sauce thicken, at this stage you can add your apricot jam.
7. Take off the heat and pour over the fish in a bowl.
8. Wait to cool .
9. Cover and place in fridge until ready to eat .
10. Enjoy.

Notes

Do not cook onions for too long or fry them, this is a pickle, meaning the onion should still have a bit of crunch to it. The sugar plays a vital role as it creates the very important sweet and sour taste synonymous with pickled fish made the Cape Malay way. I make mine the day before or else it will not last until the Friday. Therefore I use water as well in my recipe. If you are going to make it a month or few weeks in advance. Do not add any water to the process, instead add just a bit more vinegar.
Should your pickled fish taste on the bland side too little salt is normally the culprit.
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