Battered cod with chips and homemade tomato ketchup
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 30 mins to 1 hour
- Serve
- Serves 4
- Dietary
- Pregnancy-friendly
Cod in beer batter with chips and one-pan homemade ketchup.
Ingredients
For the tomato ketchup
- red wine vinegar: 250ml/9floz red wine vinegar
- bay leaf: 1 bay leaf
- coriander: ½ tsp ground coriander
- cinnamon: ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- brown sugar: 75g/3oz light soft brown sugar
- tomatoes: 4 x 400g/14oz tinned tomatoes
- salt: 1 tsp salt
- English mustard: 1 tbsp English mustard powder
- garlic: 1 garlic clove, crushed
- Tabasco: Tabasco sauce, to taste
- tomato purée: 2 tbsp tomato purée
- cornflour: 1-2 tbsp cornflour
For the fish and chips
- potatoes: 400g/14oz floury potatoes, peeled and cut into thick batons 6cm/2½in long and dried on kitchen paper
- yeast: 15g/2/3oz fresh yeast
- sugar: pinch sugar
- beer: 200ml/7floz beer
- vinegar: 1 tsp cider vinegar
- plain flour: 200g/7oz plain flour
- salt: pinch salt
- cod: 4 x 175g/6oz cod fillet, skinned and pin bones removed
Method
For the tomato ketchup, place the vinegar, bay leaf, spices and sugar in a heavy-based pan and bring to a simmer.
Add the remaining ingredients and bring to the boil, stirring to prevent any sticking.
Reduce the temperature and simmer, stirring frequently for 30 minutes - be careful the mix doesn’t catch and burn.
Blend in a food processor or liquidizer and strain the sauce through a sieve.
If you find the sauce too thin once cold, then simply re-boil and thicken with a little cornflour mixed to a paste with water, being careful not to make it to starchy and too thick. This will prevent the tomato water separating from the sauce.
Heat a deep fat fryer to 170C/350F (CAUTION: hot oil can be dangerous. Do not leave unattended).
Place the potatoes into the fat fryer in batches and cook for 2-3 minutes until just tender but not coloured.
Drain onto kitchen paper and turn up the fat fryer to 190C/375F.
Sprinkle the yeast and sugar into a mixing bowl.
Pour over the beer and vinegar and whisk in the flour.and salt
Leave to ferment – it is ready to use when the mixture starts to bubble.
Dip the cod fillets into the batter and fry until golden-brown and cooked through – about 3-4 minutes.
Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.
Keep warm on a tray in the oven if necessary.
Place the semi cooked chips back into the fat fryer in batches and cook for another 2-3 minutes until golden-brown and crisp.
To serve, pile the chips onto the plate and place the cod alongside. Serve with a dollop of tomato ketchup.
