Fish in Chips

Yep, you read that right - we've decided enough is enough and it's high time that fish and chips stopped mucking about and get together. And by get together we mean literally get together.

20 minutes prep

30 minutes cook

Serves 2

Hugh Woodward

Ingredients

For the curry sauce:

2 tbspvegetable oil

1 , choppedonion

3 cloves, choppedgarlic

1 thumb, choppedginger

2 tspcurry powder

1 tspcoriander

1 tspcumin

1/4 tspsmoked paprika

1 tspchilli flakes

2 tbsptomato puree

500 mlchicken stock

to taste sugar

The batter:

100 gplain flour

50 gcorn flour

1 tspbaking powder

a large pinch salt

1 egg yolk

150 mlcold water

To dredge:

4 cod fillets

2 tspflaked sea salt

100 gplain flour

1 kg(ish)french fries, diced

2 litressunflower oil

to garnish chives

Because chips and crunchy and the batter of fish is crunchy so why on earth shouldn't the two work together? It's perfect. We're pairing ours with a deeply slutty amped up curry sauce but you can do mushy peas or tartar if you wish.

Method

Heat the oil in a frying pan and gently cook off the onion, garlic and ginger.

After around 5 mins, add the spices and stir through. Add the tomato puree and cook this out for around a minute before pouring over the stock. Scrape any bits off the bottom of the pan.

Add the rest of the stock, stirring constantly, then the sugar. Bring to a simmer then leave to cool before blending to a smooth sauce.

Now, make the batter: whisk the dry ingredients together then whisk the egg yolk and water in. Don't over whisk, or your batter will be chewy rather than crisp.

Season the fish with the sea salt then dredge it in the flour, followed by the batter and finally the chopped up fries. Use your fingers to stick the fries to any bits of batter that you can still see.

Heat the oil to 170°C. Place the fish on a piece of greaseproof paper so you can slide it in without dislodging the chips and place it carefully into the oil. Fry, flipping halfway, for around 10 minutes or until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the fish registers 63°C.

Serve on a bed of curry sauce with some chives as a garnish.