Pickled fish
Pickled fish is such a uniquely South African dish, if any of you are having friends or family out for the world cup, you want to make a batch of this pickled fish recipe. It keeps in the fridge for ages ready for a quick meal, is simple to make and will be a hit with your visitors. Sorry about the pic!
What you need
2kg Yellowtail or kingklip fillets
Vegetable oil
Sauce
750ml white wine vinegar
250ml water
150g sugar
2 teaspoons turmeric
2 teaspoons mild curry powder
1 heaped teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns
3 teaspoons coriander seeds
½ teaspoon ginger powder
4 large onions sliced
6 bay leaves
2 tablespoons Maizedna (cornflour) mixed with 125ml water
The process
Cut the fish into nice size pieces that will make 2 pieces per portion.
Heat some oil in a pan and fry the fish fillets until cooked through, remove, set aside and when cool enough to handle remove the skin.
To make the pickling sauce put a pot on the stove on a medium to high heat and add the vinegar, water, sugar, turmeric, curry powder, salt, peppercorns, ginger and coriander. Bring it to the boil while you stir. It is important to stir while the sugar dissolves.
Now add the bay leaves and the onions, reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes to soften the onions, you don’t want them completely soft but softened with a firm center.
Now add the maizena and water mixture and stir until the sauce thickens. This should take no more than 2 mintues.
In a large glass or ceramic dish, layer the fish with onions from the sauce between each layer and a few on the top. The pour over the sauce, cover with cling wrap and pop in the fridge.
If you can resist it, leave it to pickle for a few days before you try it, but it can be eaten the next day.
It will last for a few months in the fridge as long as it is covered with the sauce.
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I made this a few minutes ago. I was not in S.A during Easter and missed out so I just celebrated mine now I guess!
Well then, Happy times Sima, have a fabulous time. Cheers for now G
Thanks for the recipe. Made it today and the sauce is lovely. I’ll wait a few days for it to pickle.
mmm Pamela, one of my favourites, enjoy it G
Wow! An easy straight forward recipe. Double thumbs up. Going to make this on Friday
Enjoy it Chris, it’s a great one. Happy days G
Hi i live in the Scotland is thear any ather fish that is available in the UK that i can use to make some pickled fish
your sincerely
miles
Hi Miles, great to have you visit us from Scotland. You can use any firm white fish, I am not familiar with the fish varieties in Scotland but something like monkfish would do very well. Happy days G
Hi Miles,
I live in Norfolk so in the UK, i use Vietnamese cobbler. It’s perfect for this dish.
Hi
Is it possible to scale down, ussually I have disasters when I scale down the recipes.
Hi Nkele, This should not be a problem to halve, baking is usually the issue with scaling but on this one you will be fine. Happy days G
hi there, I am looking for a recipe for pickle fish to be canned in bottels. Can you help me, the recipe must be for sea fish. Thanx
Elmarie
Hi elmarie, I havn’t made it for bottling before but you may want to look at this recipe.
http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6336
Cheers G
Hi,
My Mother in Law grew up in SA, been looking for a pickled fish recipe for ages, thank you..
Fantastic Mary, glad you found us. Have a lekker day G