Vegan Fish and Chips made with Banana Blossom
Ingredients:
Serves 2:3
1 x 500g can Nature's Charm Banana Blossom
Frozen chips
Oil for frying
For the marinade:
470ml water
1 tbsp kelp powder
1 tsp chopped dill
For the batter:
120g flour (chilled)
1 tsp celery salt
1 tsp paprika
3/4 tsp pepper
pinch garlic powder
236ml ice-cold beer
For the vegan tartare sauce:
58g vegan mayo
1 tbsp minced cornichons (smalll pickles)
2 tsp capers, roughly chopped
1 tsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp fresh dill, chopped
Pinch salt & pepper
Method
Drain banana blossoms and mould them into fillet shapes. Wrap in clean kitchen towels and squeeze out all the brine.
Whisk together the marinade ingredients in a bowl. Submerge banana blossoms in marinade then cover and place in freezer for 1 hour
Wait 40 minutes then put beer and flour in freezer for 10 minutes to chill. This helps make the fillets extra-crispy. Once chilled, mix the flour with the rest of batter ingredients except the beer. Slowly add the beer to the flour mixture while stirring. Cover and place the batter in the freezer for 10 minutes so it is extra cold.
Bake the chips according to package instructions. Make the tartare sauce by mixing all sauce ingredients together then cover and place in the fridge.
Heat the oil in a large, deep skillet to 365F. Take the banana blossoms out the freezer and drain. Gently wrap in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze all the water out. Press the leaves tightly together to form a fillet shape then coat in flour making sure to get into all the crevices.
Dunk them to give them a thick coating of batter then fry them in the hot oil until crisp and golden brown - this should take around 4 minutes. Flip over halfway through cooking time.
It's best to fry banana blossoms in two batches to avoid overcrowding the pan. If the temperature of the oil drops, the fillets will become greasy. It might be better to heat the oil back up between batches so that the second batch is perfectly crisp.
Recipe by Megan Sadd of Carrots & Flowers