Eddy's Pickled Fish Recipe

Pickled fish at Easter is a typical South African tradition in the Western Cape where I live.

The recipe was posted on Facebook by a friend and very distant relation through marriage, Eddy Odden who now lives in Australia but holds dear his South African roots and visits here from time to time. I think he got it from the Lekker Braai Facebook page.

CAPE PICKLED FISH

INGREDIENTS
 
500 gram firm, white fish fillets (see notes below)
1 large onion (or 2 small onions), sliced
1 teaspoon mild curry powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
2 bay or lemon leaves
2/3 cup wine vinegar
2/3 cup water
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons corn flour
Salt and black pepper to season

METHOD

Cut the fish fillets into smaller portions.
Lightly season the fish with salt and dust with flour before gently frying in a bit of oil and butter until cooked through, about 5 minutes tops.
Heat a little oil in a pan or saucepan, add onion and fry until they start to soften.
Add curry powder, turmeric, ginger and coriander and stir through.
Add vinegar and water and bring to a simmer. Add sugar and stir until dissolved
Season with ground pepper and salt to taste.
Combine the cornflour with a little water into a paste and stir into sauce. Allow the sauce to simmer gently, while stirring, until it has thickened.
Let the sauce cool down.
Pack the fish fillets in layers in an airtight container, covering each layer with sauce.
Cover and allow to marinade in the fridge for at least 4 days before eating.
Serve with freshly baked wholemeal bread and green salad.
Notes:
What fish to use: it should be firm and white. In South Africa that would be geelbek (Cape Salmon), kabeljou or yellow tail (geelstert), hake is also commonly used as it is easily obtainable , or in New Zealand, tarakihi or hoki.


Lekker Braai

Wholewheat Seed Loaf Bread

I had this recipe saved on my Pinterest account and have made it many times. I found the original recipe on another blog and when I went to have a look at it a few days ago to refresh my memory about ingredients and quantities etc found that the original blog had been removed. I therefore decided to post the recipe here for the sake of reference.

Ingredients.

3 cups of whole wheat flour - Eureka Mills stone ground is best but Nutty Wheat will do.
1/2 cup bran
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup mixed seeds - I use a mixture of  sunflower, pumpkin, linseed and sesame. Dischem sell ready made up packets of mixed seeds.
1 slightly heaped teaspoon salt.
2 Tablespoons castor sugar - optional if you like a slightly sweetish bread.
1 packet dried yeast.
1 Tablespoon Golden syrup or honey.
1 Tablespoon olive oil.
125ml warm water to activate the yeast. (Less than 50 degrees C or it might kill the yeast).
About 350ml water. This depends on the moisture content of the flour. I add a bit less initially and then more if the mixture is too dry.

Method.

Empty the sachet of yeast into a jug and mix with the 125ml warm water and Golden syrup and let stand until the yeast reacts and the mixture becomes foamy. About 10 minutes.

Put all the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon.

Add the yeast mixture, the olive oil and the water.

Mix with the wooden spoon until all the flour is absorbed and no dry bits left, adding more water if necessary. This is the only difficult part. You tend to think it is too dry but persevere with stirring and combining and you will find that all the dry bits of flour get absorbed. Do not let it get too wet and if you do add a touch more flour.

Spoon the mixture into a well oiled or buttered bread tin, smoothing out with the wooden spoon to get it evenly distributed.

Place the bread tin in a warm place covered with a kitchen cloth to rise. This usually takes 30 minutes to 1 & 1/2 hours, depending on the outside temperature.

Bake the bread in a 190 degree Celsius oven for 70 min.

Turn out on to a wire rack to cool before enjoying with lashings of farm butter. I find that if it is too hot it tends to break up a bit when slicing.