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Mackerel bhajis with tomato, mint and tamarind chutney
Serves 6-8 Starters and mains
Ingredients
- 500g of mackerel, skinned and pinboned, then cut into bitesize strips
- groundnut oil, for deep-frying
- lime wedges, to serve
For the marinade
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 inches ginger, grated
- 1 red chilli, chopped
- juice of 1 lemon or lime
For the batter
- 150g gram flour
- 6tbsp cornflour
- ½tsp baking powder
- 2tsp mango powder
- 1tsp chilli powder
- ½tsp turmeric
- 1tbsp freshly chopped coriander leaves
- 1tsp ajowan (carom) seeds
- 300ml ice-cold soda water
For the chutney
- 4 tomatoes, skinned
- 4tbsp tamarind paste
- handful of fresh mint leaves, picked
- 1tsp caster sugar
Method
To make the chutney, combine all the ingredients with salt and pepper to taste in a blender and whiz till smooth.
Combine all the ingredients for the marinade with 1tsp sea salt in a bowl or ziplock bag, then throw in the fish – stirring it around to make sure it gets well coated. Leave to soak up the flavours for at least 1 hour.
For the batter, sift the gram flour, cornflour, baking powder and mango powder into a large mixing bowl. Add ½tsp salt, chilli powder, turmeric, coriander leaves and ajowan seeds. Whisk in the water a little at a time until you have a smooth batter with the consistency of runny yoghurt.
Heat your oil for deep-frying over a high heat – once sizzling, turn down the heat to medium. Dip the fish in the batter and deep fry for about 3-4 minutes until the batter is crisp and golden. Serve with wedges of lime and chutney
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