My grocery store doesn't have a very good selection of fish, it's mostly pickled herring, cured salmon, and frozen fish fingers, so when I saw in their weekly ad that they offered frozen tilapia filets at a good price, I went to buy some. Turned out the ad was wrong, or the delivery was wrong - the person I spoke to wasn't sure. What they had were tiny whole tilapias and pangasius filets, both frozen. I bought the latter since I wasn't in the mood for spending an extra hour cleaning and gutting.
Ingredients:
800g white fish filets
1 tbsp ground sumac
3-4 eggs
250 ml corn flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 pinch turmeric
1 tsp crushed black pepper
250 ml bread crumbs or panko
6-8 tbsp oil for frying
I don't add salt to any of this, because frozen fish has usually been covered in a generous spray of salty water, and the baking soda adds a salty flavour, but fresh fish may need an extra pinch or two in the eggs or corn flour mix.
After defrosting the fish in a colander, letting any extra water can drain off, pat the fish dry with a paper towel, and cut it across in strips about 1" wide. Sprinkle the sumac over the fish and toss gently so they get evenly covered. Set aside for a few minutes.
In the meantime whisk the eggs lightly in one bowl, mix the cornflour and baking soda with turmeric and black pepper in a second bowl, and fill a third with the breadcrumbs. Double dipping is allowed when frying fish!
Coat the fish with egg -> corn flour -> egg -> breadcrumbs and then drop a few pieces at a time into a frying pan with plenty of oil until golden and crispy. The fish cooks quickly, so keep the heat up to make sure it doesn't go dry while you wait for the coating to gain colour.
If the rest of the meal isn't ready yet, just set the fish aside on a pre-heated plate to keep warm, but don't cover it - the steam makes the crispy coating go all mushy.
We ate some of the fish with spinach rice and a tomato salad, and some roast onion and sri racha on top.
And there was plenty of leftovers for an afternoon snack the next day! Roast cauliflower, rice balls, pickles, breaded fish, avocado and some napa cabbage, with chili-mayo and garlic-chili-soy-vinegar for dipping sauces.
(All images my own, almost all the food eaten by me!)
