Haddock and chips with curry sauce
- Prepare
- overnight
- Cook
- 1 to 2 hours
- Serve
- Serves 2
Sometimes all you want after a hectic week is a deep-fried British classic – fish, chips and chip-shop curry sauce.
By Matt Tebbutt
From Saturday Kitchen
Ingredients
For the chips
- 6–8 potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
- 6 tbsp duck fat
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme leaves
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- vegetable oil, for deep-frying
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- malt vinegar, to serve
For the chip-shop curry sauce
- 25g/1oz butter
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 celery stick, finely chopped
- 1 green apple, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 tbsp medium curry powder
- 350ml/12fl oz vegetable stock
For the haddock
- 150g/5½oz plain flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- pinch salt
- 100ml/3½fl oz lager
- 100–150ml/3½–5fl oz sparkling water
- vegetable oil, for deep-frying
- 2 small haddock fillets
- lemon wedges, to serve
- flatleaf parsley leaves, deep fried, to serve
Method
To make the chips, preheat the oven to 170C/150C Fan/Gas 3. Line a 450g/1lb loaf tin with baking paper.
Toss the potatoes in the duck fat, thyme and garlic in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
Layer the potatoes into the tin. Press down and add another baking tin on top to weigh the potatoes down.
Cook for 1 hour until the potatoes are cooked through. Leave to cool and set overnight.
To make the chip-shop curry sauce, heat the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat and fry the onion, garlic, celery, apple and carrot together until soft.
Add the curry powder and cook for a further minute before adding the stock. Simmer for 10 minutes and then blend to a smooth sauce in a food processor or blender. Keep warm.
To make the haddock, mix the flour, baking powder, salt and lager together in a large bowl. Pour in enough sparkling water to make a loose batter.
Preheat the oil to 170C in a deep fat fryer. (CAUTION: hot oil can be dangerous. Do not leave unattended.) Dip the fish in the batter and deep-fry until crisp. Transfer to kitchen paper to drain.
To cook the chips, preheat the oil to 180C in the deep fat fryer. (CAUTION: hot oil can be dangerous. Do not leave unattended.) Cut the potatoes into 3–4cm/1¼–1½in squares and deep-fry until very crisp. Transfer to kitchen paper to drain, then season with salt and malt vinegar.
Serve the fish with the chips, curry sauce, lemon wedges and parsley leaves.
