There’s something about when you crumb and fry something, it gets eaten and loved. Given that most crumbed and fried things are loaded with trans fats, uber refined flour, cage eggs and refined bread crumbs packed with ‘numbers’, I naturally had to create a better option! Have a look at this ingredient list for comparison:
Supermarket Fish Finger Ingredient List: Hake or hoki fish fillets (56%), water, wheat flour, maize flour, canola oil, wheat starch, maize starch, salt, yeast, wheat gluten. Translation? lots of highly refined starches and flours that our bodies process the same way they do sugar, high heat treated vegetable oil therefore transfats, processed salt… we can do much better!
Alexx’s Fish fingers – Unrefined flour (GF or grain free possible too), organic / free range eggs, sourdough or rice crumbs, celtic sea salt, superfoods, high quality, sturdy oils that don’t degenerate at high heat, so transfat-free! Yay… Enjoy!
They’re delicious and simple once you’ve done it once. Serve with steamed multicoloured veg, tossed in butter or coconut oil and wedges of lemon to squeeze over your fish for some zing! Can’t wait to hear if you liked them as much as we do! If you’ve come through twitter or search, have a look at this 80s fish finger flash back you’ll be saving yourself from here.
Real Food. Happy Bodies.
Real Fish Fingers Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 large flathead fillets, about 800g altogether, cut into even-as-you-can 2-3cm wide, 10cm long ‘fingers’
- 2 eggs, , cracked and roughly whisked
- 1 cup tapioca OR coconut flour for grain free you could also use amaranth, rice or quinoa flour. Delicious.
- 1 cup bread crumbs – rice / gluten free crumbs are great too. Maza Harina works brilliantly instead of bread crumbs. You could even add desiccated coconut into the crumb mix for extra nourishment and less starches.
- 1/2 tsp celtic sea salt
- 1 tsp dulse flakes (optional. sea superfood and a fab secret nutrient booster in kiddy meals. we call them ‘purple sprinkles’ at home)
- 1 tbsp chia seeds (optional. another fab superfood booster though and I find make for a great little added crunch texture)
- 1/3 cup macadamia oil, ghee or coconut oil for frying (butter will burn, best not to use it for this recipe if you can’t get / make ghee)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 160 c Celsius
- Cut your fish into the desired fingers.
- Get 3 bowls ready for your dipping. Crack your eggs into one bowl and whisk to combine the white and yolk, roughly.
- Pop your flour and salt into the next bowl with chia seeds & dulse flakes if you’re using them.
- Pop your crumbs of choice in the next bowl.
- Now, flour your fish, then egg, then crumb. Do it to all of them and build them up, ready for frying, in a bowl.
- Then, put 1/2 your oil of choice into the pan and heat up to medium- high. Test a little corner for sizzle-factor before you put a whole one in the pan.
- Fry the fillets 2 minutes a side – not MORE! Blackness = carcinogens and they stop you from being ridiculously good looking!
- Once browned, pop them on the tray and finish the batch in the oven for 3 minutes while the next batch is frying. This is what will stop you burning the crumb & give you perfect fish in the middle.
Fish note: Any firm white fish will work for this recipe. One that flakes well is best such as flathead, ling or travalla – ask your fishmonger to guide you!
Efficiency note: Double the recipe, and freeze half of them, uncooked: Genius! Defrost over night when next you need them. If you have a family and are striving for real food living, cooking only enough for one meal is a sure fire way to digging your early fast food grave. Batch and save for a busy day!
Comments 7
delicious. i happened to look at the ingredients of crumbed chicken tenderloins on sunday in my usual 6pm end of weekend panic. gross. I was nearly passing out on the floor.
J Oliver used to inspire me with fish fingers but these look equally amazing. thank you.
Author
It’s unbelievable indeed what manufacturers try to sneak in there to cut their costs! Let me know when you make them: send me a lil’ pic! 🙂
Any tip on an alternative to the eggs? My son had an allergy. Recipe looks great.
Author
Hi Sally – you can make a gel like water by mixing water with ground flax into a pasty consistency and use that instead of egg. Should work a treat! xx
We tried this tonight – so so delicious. Mine didn’t have the lovely golden hue that yours did (I used tapioca and masa harina) but the crumb was just perfect. We had ours Mexican style with some fermented cabbage, avocado and lime crema and I imagine they’d be perfect for fish tacos! Thanks so much for another perfect recipe.
Author
So glad you loved them <3
Hi,
Thanks so much for this receipe. My girls and I really enjoyed them! Do you have any suggestions of other seasonings (e.g. Garlic, paprika, onion….) that might go well with these? My husband tends to be the fussy eater in our household….especially when I’m trying to cook healthy! Lol! So am thinking I might need to “spice” things up to help him along. 🙂