If you’re a fan of Brit food, you might’ve heard about the classic ‘fish and chips.’ It has flagged the title of ‘UK’s most popular takeaway’ and is said to be the ‘national dish’ of Great Britain. Like in India, biryani is the most ordered dish with about 10 crore biryanis enjoyed in a year, similarly, fish and chips is the most loved dish in UK with over 382 million portions enjoyed yearly. Even though it has extreme popularity amongst the British, it has a very interesting origin history which you might not know of. Let’s go back in time and learn more!

Hop on the time machine…

In the 17^th century, fried fish was brought to London by the Jewish immigrants who fled from Portugal and Spain and took refuge here. According to Jewish traditions, fish is a paerve which means it cannot be mixed with other meat or dairy products. So, they started enjoying fried fish on Fridays and also saved some leftovers for Saturday so that they don’t have to cook on shabbat. There have been many stories around the love affair of battered fish among the Jews but there has been no proper evidence as to who matched the jodi of fish and chips together. Later, the love for this dish led to the opening of the first ‘fish and chip’ shop in 1860s by another Jewish immigrant and it gained so much fame that people visited it for more than a century. And till today, it’s pretty difficult to keep your hands off this beauty, once you’ve tasted it.

Now, what exactly is the dish about?

Fresh fishes like cod, haddock and flounder are used in UK but we can use any fish we like. Fish fillets are then dipped into a batter prepared by mixing eggs, flour, milk and then deep fried. Potatoes are cut into slices or fingers and are fried till crisp. There are a few accompaniments served alongside like mushy peas, ketchup, sea salt, malt vinegar, curry and brown sauce, etc. The most traditional way to serve it is to wrap it inside a newspaper cone with an inner layer of white paper for hygiene purposes.

Already drooling? Let’s get to the recipe part then! This one’s with a slight twist but you’re surely gonna love it.

Ingredients

• 2 rawas fish fillets, cut into 4 inch pieces 
• 1 lemon 
• Salt to taste
• Crushed black peppercorns to taste
• 1 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 
• 2 teaspoons English mustard paste 
• 2 cups cornflakes 
• ½ cup dried brown breadcrumbs  
• 2 eggs 
• Oil spray for greasing
• Olive oil for drizzling
• Mixed micro greens-cherry tomato salad for serving
• Lemon wedges for serving

Chips

• 2-3 medium potatoes, cut into fingers 
• Salt to taste
• 2-3 fresh thyme sprigs + for garnishing
• 2-3 garlic cloves 
• 1 tablespoon olive oil 

Green pea pesto

• ½ cup green peas 
• 8-10 almonds 
• 8-10 fresh mint leaves 
• Salt to taste
• Crushed black peppercorns to taste
• 1 tablespoon olive oil 
• ½ lemon 

Method

1. Take fish pieces on a plate. Add lemon juice, salt, crushed peppercorns, Worcestershire sauce and English mustard paste and rub well. Set aside to marinate.
2. To make chips, heat some water in a deep non-stick pan and bring to boil. Add potato fingers and salt, cover and cook till ¾ done. Strain the mixture in a colander.
3. Preheat oven to 180° C and air fryer at 180° C.
4. Coarsely grind cornflakes in a food processor and transfer on another plate.
5. Add breadcrumbs, salt and crushed peppercorns to ground cornflakes and mix well.
6. Coat marinated fish fillet pieces with cornflakes mixture.
7. Break eggs in a bowl. Add 2-3 tablespoons water and mix well.
8. Dip each coated fish fillet piece in beaten eggs and again coat with cornflakes mixture.
9. Take parboiled potato fingers in another bowl. Add salt, crushed peppercorns and 2-3 fresh thyme sprigs.
10. Crush garlic cloves and add to potato fingers along with olive oil and toss well. Spread them on a baking tray.
11. Place the tray in the preheated oven and bake for 10-15 minutes or till potato fingers turn crisp.
12. Line the air fryer basket with butter paper and grease with some oil spray. Place the marinated fish fillet pieces and drizzle some olive oil on top.
13. Put the basket into the preheated air fryer and air fry for 12-15 minutes or till fish is done.
14. To prepare green pea pesto, grind together green peas, almonds, mint leaves, salt, crushed peppercorns, olive oil, lemon juice and 2-3 tablespoons water to make a smooth paste.
15. Place air fried fish fillet pieces on one side of a serving platter. Place some micro greens-cherry tomato salad and potato chips garnished with fresh thyme sprig on other side.
16. Serve hot with lemon wedges and green pea pesto.

We’ve got an Indo-Brit version too, Curried Fish and Chips:

https://www.sanjeevkapoor.com/Recipe/Curried-Fish-and-Chips.html

Check it out!