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Coconut-coated haddock cakes with mango and aubergine chutney
Serves 4-6 Starters and mains
Ingredients
- 600g haddock fillet, skinned and roughly cut into pieces
- 4 spring onions, thinly sliced, then chopped
- 1 egg, plus 1 egg white
- 75g plain flour
- 200g desiccated coconut (unsweetened)
- 200ml sunflower oil
For the mango and aubergine chutney
- 250g aubergine, trimmed and chopped into 1cm cubes
- 1⁄2tsp sea salt flakes
- 3 large passionfruit
- 3tbsp sunflower oil
- 1cm piece ginger, finely grated
- 2 garlic cloves, finely grated
- 2tsp pul biber (Turkish red pepper flakes)
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 2tbsp white balsamic vinegar
- 1tbsp honey
- 425g ripe mango flesh
- 10g chives, snipped
Method
Scatter the haddock with salt, put in the bowl of a processor and whizz to a rough paste. Add the spring onions and egg white and whizz for a second or two to bring it all together. With damp hands, form the mixture into 24 balls, put on a tray and press down to flatten a little, then chill. (Rinse the equipment that you have used for the fish in cold water first, before washing in hot soapy water, otherwise the fish protein will stick to everything like glue.)
While the cakes are firming up, make the chutney. Put the aubergine into a colander, scatter over the salt and set aside for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, cut the passionfruit in half and scoop the flesh into a mini processor. Whizz for a few seconds to loosen the flesh from the seeds, but not enough to crush the seeds. Pass the lot through a sieve set over a bowl, pushing all the juice through with the back of a ladle.
Pat the salt off the aubergine
and heat the oil in a wok. Tip in
the aubergine, spreading it out so
the underside becomes seared
and golden. (Don’t be tempted to
add more oil at any stage.) Stir-fry
until the aubergine starts to look
softer and the pieces glossier.
Add the ginger and garlic and stir-
fry for another minute, then add
the pul biber. Tip into a bowl and
set aside. Put the onion into the
passionfruit juice with the vinegar
and honey. Heat gently for
2 minutes, then leave to cool.
Add the mango, onion mixture and chives to the aubergine.
Sift the flour onto a tray, then
crack the egg into a bowl and
whisk. Put the coconut onto
a separate tray. Dip the haddock
cakes in the flour, then the egg,
then the coconut, to coat evenly.
Heat the oil in a deep pan or wok to 150C-170C/300F-325F/ Gas 2-3 – you'll need to fluctuate between the two so the haddock cakes don’t brown too quickly before they cook all the way through – around 2 minutes per side. Fry a few at a time until the cakes are cooked.
Serve the chutney in small bowls with the haddock cakes.
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