Softened sweet onion and crisp fried fish
Nadiya says that fish is the star of Bangladeshi cooking. You can use any white fish for this recipe, in which it is coated in gentle spices and quickly fried. It's important to be patient with the onions to ensure they caramelise without burning.
Ingredients
- 3 tilapia fillets, sliced lengthways (alternatively, you could use cod, haddock or any white fish fillets)
- 7 tbsp vegetable oil, for frying
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp paprika
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
For the onions
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 2 medium onions, sliced
- 3 chillies, split lengthways and deseeded
- ½ tsp salt
- large handful coriander, finely chopped
Method
Pat your fish dry as much as possible using kitchen paper – this will stop the fish spitting when you fry it. Put the fish in a bowl and add about 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, all the spices, salt and pepper. Give everything a good mix so that the fish is coated in the spice mix.
Heat 5 tablespoons vegetable oil in a large non-stick frying pan until it is smoking hot then add the marinated fish. Don’t move it around in the pan, just let it fry for 3 minutes on each side. Once cooked, remove the fish from the pan and place on kitchen paper to drain.
Add the mustard seeds to the same pan set over a medium heat. The seeds will start to pop – at this point add the onions and chillies. Turn down the heat and cook them gently until they are soft and starting to caramelise, then add the salt and coriander.
Spread the onions out on a serving platter and top with the fried fish. Serve immediately.
