[WATCH] Deep-fried fish bites with a homemade sweet chilli dipping sauce

Watch Sean Gravina make some deep-fried fish bites served with a homemade sweet chilli sauce

Deep-fried fish bites with a homemade sweet chilli dipping sauce

Ingredients

• 200g neonati
• 600g sea bass
• 2 eggs
• ½ onion
• 60g cornflour
• ½ fennel
• ½ red pepper
• 10g fresh ginger
• 2 cloves garlic  
• 2g fresh chilli  
• 15g caster sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• A few drops Tabasco
• 18g white wine vinegar
• 250g spinach

Sweet chilli sauce

• 170g white wine vinegar
• 50ml water
• 350g caster sugar
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 red chillies
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 tsp ginger
• 2 pinches salt
• 2 pinches of cornflour, mixed with a little cold water to dilute

Method

1. Add the sea bass to a blender and blitz. You can use any fish for this recipe including trimmings.
2. Add the eggs, mix until just combined then add the Tabasco, sugar, salt, vinegar and cornflour. Mix again until smooth.
3. Scrape out into a mixing bowl and clean the blender.
4. Add the pepper, fennel and onion to the clean blender and blitz into a pulpy liquid.
5. Chop the chillies, ginger and garlic, then add to the jug and blitz again. Transfer the mix to a bowl and set aside.
6. Blanch half the spinach by placing in a bowl and covering in boiling water for 30 seconds. Strain and set aside ice-cold water to cool. Once completely cool, strain again and squeeze out as much liquid from the spinach as possible.
7. Roughly chop the cooked spinach along with the remaining raw spinach and add to the mix.
8. Add the fish and the neonati.
9. Meanwhile, cook the fish bites. Shape the mix into walnut-sized pieces and deep-fry in hot oil at 180°C for 2-3 mins until golden. Set aside to drain and cool a little, then serve with the sweet chilli sauce.
10. For the sweet chilli sauce, remove the seeds and stalks from each chilli and chop finely.
11. Finely chop the garlic and ginger, then add all of the ingredients to a saucepan (apart from the diluted cornflour) and bring to the boil.
12. Once boiling, whisk in the cornflour solution and boil for a further 1-2 mins, then set aside to cool.

This recipe first appeared on Gourmet Today TV, aired on TVM on 20 February, 2015.

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