Something Fishy
Vegan & Sexy fish
Prep time 50 mins * Cooking time 30 mins * Serves 4
Fish marinade
Ingredients
(To achieve the best flavour, make 24 hours in advance)
25g dried wakame seaweed
1 cup (240ml) Tamari
½ cup (120ml) Flaxseed oil
1 ½ tsp capers (crushed)
1 tsp caper juice (optional)
Method
Take a medium-size glass jar with a good sealing lid. Place in your tamari, flaxseed oil, wakame seaweed, crushed capers and add to your jar along with the caper juice. Seal and give it a good shake and leave it in a cool place on the kitchen benchtop for 24 hours. Then store in your fridge until ready to use. If you don’t wish to wait, let the marinade sit for at least two hours before use.
Notes
The longer you leave your fishy marinade to ferment, the stronger the ‘fishy’ taste. You can keep topping up this mixture with tamari and flaxseed oil and keep it in the fridge for a year or more!
You can find wakame sea vegetables in your local Asian supermarket.
Some people like to add garlic cloves and Japanese shiitake mushrooms for added flavour.
Flax Egg
Ingredients
5 tbsp ground flaxseed
16 tbsp of water (1 cup)
I flax egg =1 tbs of flaxseed and 3 tablespoons water.
Method
Combine the 5 tbsp ground flaxseed and water in a small bowl and stir with a spoon until the mixture is thoroughly blended.
Let the mixture rest for at least 10 to 15 minutes. Stir again, and you will notice it has become more ‘gluey’ in texture. Perfect. Your egg is ready! Pour into a deep-sided tray cover and set it aside.
Tarragon mango coconut shot (Dressing)
Ingredients
1 medium fresh mango chopped and peeled (tin mangos are fine too) (160g)
¾ cup coconut cream (180ml)
¾ cup water (180ml)
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil (60ml)
2 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice (1 small lime)
½ Cup of fresh orange juice squeezed (2 medium oranges) (120 ml)
2 tbsp Coconut nectar (10 ml)
1 ½ tbsp finely chopped fresh tarragon (or dried)
1 small glove garlic (optional to taste)
Method
Add all ingredients to your food processor until it becomes a creamy soft blend, chill in the fridge until ready to serve.
Vegan Fish
Ingredients
2 medium Lebanese eggplant (cut into 1cm slices)
6 slices gluten-free sough dough bread. (300g)
1 cup of shredded coconut (150g) (coarsely blended down if needed)
2 ½ tsp dried thyme
½ cup wakame (75g) (roughly grounded)
120 ml sunflower oil for cooking
Sea salt and ground black pepper to season
Fish Bread Crumb Coating
Something Fishy!
Method
Lightly toast the bread, keep it soft in the middle, and set aside to cool for 2-3 minutes. Once cooled, using your hands, break into smaller pieces, add to a blender and pulse for 10 seconds at a time until you reach a medium coarse texture and pour this into a mixing bowl. Separately do the same with the wakame seaweed and the shredded coconut and add this to the mixing bowl with the thyme and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Mix ingredients together with a large wooden spoon, place the blended ingredients into a deep-sided baking tray cover and set aside.
Note
Be careful not to blend the breadcrumbs too fine; otherwise, the breadcrumbs may disintegrate during the frying. We want a nice crispy outer crumb to our fish dish. Try to have all the breadcrumb ingredients the same texture. (Wakame and shredded coconut).
Preparing and cooking the ‘Fish.’
Wash and dry your eggplants. On a clean chopping board, using a large knife, slice a small section lengthways out of each eggplant, then place the cut portion of the eggplant down onto the chopping board. This helps create a stable base to cut the remaining eggplants into sections without rolling around on the board. Cut the root section of the eggplant off, leaving on the skin. Slicing lengthways, cut the eggplant into 1cm thick slices. When all the portions are done, softly score both sides with the tip of your knife. Lay them flat on a baking tray. Pour the fish marinade into a small bowl, and with a pastry brush, generously brush both sides of the eggplant with the fish marinade and place the tray into the fridge for 30 mins.
Place the flaxseed egg mixture and the breadcrumb coating mixture into deep-sided trays, place them next to each other.
Remove the eggplants from the fridge. Take one portion at a time, dipping it into the flaxseed egg mixture, making sure both sides are well-covered. Then one at a time, lay them into your breadcrumb mixture, covering the top of the eggplant in breadcrumbs, turning it over and press down firmly and gently, so the eggplant is completely covered.
Slide your finger around the edges of the skin of the eggplant and remove excess breadcrumbs. Place them on a clean tray, ready for frying.
Heat the sunflower oil in a large frying pan, and over low to medium heat, gently lay in the eggplant, two at a time, and continue to fry them using your spatula to gently press down a few times during the frying. Cook for approximately 4-5 mins each side until golden brown.
While frying, try not to slide the spatula under the eggplant as you may remove the crumb; instead, ‘flip’ them over with a fork, being careful not to let any hot cooking fat splash out of the pan onto you. Once cooked, using a fork, lift the cooked eggplant up and slide your spatula underneath, lift onto the spatula, and remove from the pan.
Place the cooked eggplant on some absorbent paper for a few minutes, then transfer them onto a clean oven tray and keep warm or serve them straight to an eating plate.
Final note
To create that extra fish taste… drizzle a small amount of your fishy marinade over your fried fish on serving.
