Spiced whitebait
These spicy, deep-fried whitebait make a great snack on a summer's day, especially with a cold beer.
Ingredients
400g/14oz whitebait
1-2 tbsp rock salt
1 lime, juice only
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1cm/½in piece fresh root ginger, peeled and chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
50g/1¾oz plain flour
50g/1¾oz gram flour (chickpea flour)
2 tsp rice flour
fine salt, to taste
4 tbsp vegetable oil
Preparation method
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Rub the whitebait with the rock salt to remove the scales. Wash and drain the fish, then rub it all over with the lime juice and ground spices.
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Grind the root ginger and chopped garlic to a paste using a mortar and pestle.
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In a bowl, mix the plain flour, gram flour, rice flour and ginger and garlic paste together until well combined. Season, to taste, with fine salt. Dredge the whitebait in the flour mixture until it is completely coated.
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Heat the oil in a frying pan or heavy wok over a medium heat, until smoking. Add the fish in batches and fry for 4-5 minutes on each side, or until crisp and golden-brown on all sides. Set each batch aside to drain on kitchen paper. Serve immediately.
