Battered Blue Hake or Whitefish Pan Fried

Montana Heart Song's Note:

Blue Hake is from New Zealand. I cut the loins in chunks and batter. Pan fried is quick, easy and does not require a lot of oil. I love to use paprika in my batter. Everything is a golden brown to deep brown and very light tasting.

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 1 ½-2 lbs thick bluehake fillets or 1 ½-2 lbs white fish fillets
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 ½ teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon salt or 1 teaspoon salt substitute
• 1 ½ cups flour
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 tablespoons milk

Directions:

1. I use 3 long thick pieces of fish. I cut it in 3 inch chunks. Dry the chunks of fish with paper towels. Set Aside.
2. In a small mixing bowl, beat eggs, water, salt and paprika.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, add flour, cornstarch and baking powder. Mix well.
4. Add egg mixture and beat in, if too thick, add milk 1 tablspoon at a time. The batter should be thick to hold on to the fish, not runny.
5. Preheat frying pan to medium high heat with 1/4 cup vegetable oil.
6. Use tongs to dip the fish chunks into batter. Use a spoon to place batter on the top of the chunk after it is in the pan.
7. After bottom is golden brown, turn once, press down on top slightly with spatula to insure heat distribution.
8. Fry fish in two separate batches using the balance of vegetable oil for the second batch.
9. Keep warm in the oven until all fish is cooked.
10. The batter is very light tasting, not soaked with oil.
11. Use a dipping sauce of your choice.
12. If you use this batter on thin fillets, use a slotted spoon to dip the fish into batter.

Reviews

[warrencooker]

Maybe I missed something here. The batter was way too gluey. Had to add a lot of water to thin it out to the point where it was usable. Dish looked pretty, but was bland as could be. Tasted like a piece of fish wrapped in a pancake, which is basically what it is. This is my first time working with hake. I think next time I'll use one of my tried-and-true tilapia recipes substituting hake.

[Feather10]

It was light and flaky and browned nicely. My girls loved it. But it lacked seasoning. Maybe next time I would salt and pepper the fish before hand. A good recipe for the batter though. Thank you

[Seedbeads]

This was really good - both of my kids ate it (the 2-year old ate it FIRST) and my husband raved about it! I used red snapper fillets but we'll be picking up whatever good fish is on sale next time to make this again! I only had about 1/2 lb of fish so I halved the batter recipe... and made a few "pancakes" with some of the rest!