Yeah, you heard right: Tempura-Style Fish & Chips.

Chris and Elle decided that this edition of #GoJunkFood should showcase Fish and Chips. Um, okay. You guys know that I don’t like fish, right? Tuna from a can and the occasional Mrs. Paul’s fish stick, notwithstanding. But I have eaten the odd Arthur Treacher’s Fish & Chips meal once in a great while, and admit that I enjoyed them.

So, what am I doing here? I can cook fish like nobody’s business. Just ask my husband. M can’t figure it out: “I don’t get it – this is so good and you won’t even taste it!” In fact, I made him buy the fish. And I thought I’d do something a little different than the heavily battered English-style and – to paraphrase The Vapors – I thought I’d turn it Japanese.

With a rice flour batter and sliced sweet potatoes, I made a not-so-traditional Asian-ish version of Fish and Chips, suitable even for those with gluten-free diet requirements:

Tempura-Style Fish & Chips
(serves 2 – can be doubled)

Ingredients:

2 medium sweet potatoes (about 1 lb. total)
1-1/2 cups rice flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. wasabi powder
1-1/4 cups seltzer or “fizzy” mineral water
2 5 oz. cod or other firm white fish fillets
enough peanut or canola oil to deep-fry preferably in a wok or (wok-shaped pan)

Peel the sweet potatoes and slice them into rounds about 1/4″ thick. Put the slices in a pot of boiling salted water and cook for 2 minutes. Drain immediately and run cold water over them to stop the cooking, and allow to drain again.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients to combine thoroughly. Slowly whisk in the seltzer (it should foam up a bit, briefly) till the batter comes together. It should be a bit thinner than pancake batter.

Heat the oil in the wok or deep pan, until a drop of batter sizzles when it hits the oil. Slide several of the sweet potato slices into the batter to coat well and slip gently into the hot oil. You can cook about 6 or 7 slices at a time. Fry for about 2 minutes and turn them over with a slotted spoon or spider (you know, that long-handled thing with the wire basket end? that you didn’t know what to do with? yeah, that thing.). Drain on paper towels and remove to a rack and place in the oven, set to warm, while cooking the fish.

When all of the sweet potato slices have been fried, repeat the batter and fry procedure with your fish fillets. They should cook for about 6-7 minutes or till golden brown, turning them over about half-way through.

Mix up a quick little dipping sauce with 1/2 cup soy sauce (or shoyu), 1/4 tsp. minced ginger, 1/4 tsp. wasabi powder, and 1/4 cup honey, all whisked together in a small bowl (or even the measuring cup!).

And speaking of Asian-style, wait till you see what’s in store next month for #GoJunkFood!

Chris at Blog Well Done inspired (instigated? dared?) me and Elle of Elle’s New England Kitchen (one of my regular co-conspirators in gastronomic excess) to concoct Loaded Fries for a first-ever #GoJunkFood extravaganza in hedonism.

For my first offering, I enlisted (however unwittingly) a group of my friends who came over Saturday night to playtest MJ’s new boardgame (shhhhh!). I wasn’t quick enough – or sneaky enough – to get photos of what they put together, but it was a great excuse to do the deed, right?
Really? You want a recipe?

Chili Loaded Fries

Mixed white potato and sweet potato fries

1 recipe of your favorite chili

Your favorite chunky salsa

White cheddar cheese sauce

Sour cream

Shredded sharp cheddar cheese

For a crowd, I recommend you get frozen fries. They bake up in about 15 minutes in the oven, and no grease mess.

Here’s the chili recipe I used… Shhhh! Don’t tell anyone they weren’t eating meat! Heehee!

For the White Cheddar Cheese Sauce:

1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 stick butter
Approx. 3 cups milk (your choice)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. white pepper
Approx. 3 cups shredded white cheddar cheese

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter and whisk in the flour till smooth and just starting to bubble. Add the milk and whisk until thoroughly combined and bubbling.

Add the salt and pepper. Begin whisking in the cheese, a handful at a time, continuing to whisk until melted and completely blended.

Taste your sauce. Not cheesy enough? Add more. Too thick? Add more milk. Whisk completely after each addition and make sure it’s bubbling before making any further adjustments. You want a super-cheesy, pourable consistency. The whole process shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes.