Orange Chili Beer Battered Fish Fingers

November.

How fast has this year flown by??? Where did all the time go? But I am not complaining, this is one of my favorite months of the year. I just find it so beautiful. The bewitchingly hypnotic hum of rain falling outside is beautiful. Warm socks, cosy nights in, indulgent food at hand is a beautiful experience on its own. Gun-metal grey of pregnant rain clouds is beautiful. The last of jacaranda blossoms and carpets of purple once they fall off is beautiful. Thigh-high boot friendly weather is beautiful. Cool, crisp, humid air is beautiful. Everything about November is absolutely beautiful!

And for the first recipe for this amazing month is one I really really enjoyed. Not only it it easy to make, but the flavors will make you scream out of sheer ecstasy. My orange chili beer battered fish fingers will become your new favorite if not you ultimate addiction! <3

PREP TIME: 1 HR        COOK TIME:  15 MIN       SERVES: 2

Beer Battered Fish Fingers Ingredients

To marinate

1 tilapia fish fillet, 400g

1 orange, zest and juice

1 tablespoon of soy sauce

1 tablespoon of thyme

½ a tablespoon of dried rosemary

For the batter

¾ cup of all-purpose flour

½ a teaspoon of chili flakes

6 cloves of garlic, minced

1 cup of beer

½ a tablespoon of black pepper

Salt to taste

Vegetable oil for frying

Method
In a bowl, place your fish together with the chili flakes, soy sauce, orange zest, thyme and orange juice and then let this marinate for 30 min to an hour. I usually use lemon for my fish marination but using a sweeter citrus fruit, with sufficient acidity still brought the flavor through and softened the flesh a great deal. Remember, when using citrus fruit (or vinegar) to marinate fish, especially lemon, do not marinate it for longer than 2 hours as it will break down the flesh making your fish stringy. We definitely don’t want that!

Once done, slice them up into your fingers. You can also cut your fish into fingers then marinate them that way for deeper flavor penetration and also to shorten marination time.

The fingers look a bit browned because of the soy sauce, not because they are pre-cooked. I enjoyed the color contrast!

For the batter, add the dry ingredients first (flour, thyme, orange zest, minced garlic, pepper, salt) mix it all until completely combined then add your beer bit by bit until you attain the consistency of crepe batter. Do not make the batter too light as it will slide right off once the fish hits the oil, and also not too dense as it will not cook all the way through.

I used Guinness stout and as a result, the batter inherited the dark color the beer itself has too. You can use any other beer you – prefarably a Lager like Whitecup- I just went with what I had in the house left over from past content campaigns. Check out my other A.M.A.Z.I.N.G beer recipes here, here, here and here.

The lighter the color of your beer (as seen in Lagers), the lighter the color of your batter and the milder the beer taste.

Add the fish fingers and gently mix them in until completely coated.

Proceed to fry in some hot oil (idealy around 160C) for 5-8 minutes until the coating turns crispy brown and it cooks through. Yes, that is enough time to get the fish cooked. Trust me my (Kenyan) darlings! Do not pre-cook/boil your fish before coating since it will just come apart.

Be careful not to overcook them since the fish will become really dry and tough. Add a couple at a time into the hot oil so that they cook evenly, do not overcrowd, and to ensures the oil temperature remains stable. Lastly, make sure your oil is not too hot since the outside will cook too fast with the inside staying raw. Likewise,  make sure the oil is not tepid as well as your fingers will become soggy.

I also made tartar sauce to accompany my spectacular fish fingers. It follows the EXACT concept as the one I made last year for this post ( check out that post for ingredient portions), only difference being I added orange zest for more symphony and cohesion with the flavor notes of the fish fingers. Both this tartar sauce and the fish fingers have orange notes so everything came together so so soooooo well! <3

Once the beer batter fish fingers are done, remove from the heat and serve.

How easy was that?? *waves pompoms in the air*

The heat of the fish as a result of the chili flakes used in the marination was perfectly tempered by the creaminess of the tartar sauce. The crust was mildly crusty and the super-tender, moist fish made every bite an experience. The beer flavor was present but mild and complimented all the other flavors instead of overpowering them. The thyme and rosemary also really came through and the crown jewel, the orange notes, present in both the fish and the tartar sauce tied it all together.

You have to try this out guys! You just have to!!!!

XX

-Kaluhi

Get your downloadable recipe here :))

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