Newsletter # 29 – Sweet potato crusted barramundi

Photo courtesy of Matt Shearer

There are a number of ways to coat fish fillets – batter or crumb or perhaps the parmigiana coating from newsletter # 20. This recipe coats the fish fillet with a sweet potato mix that is prepared in a similar way to a hash brown potato. From a dietary point of view the sweet potato is an alternative to serving chips with the fish. A smaller version would make a good entree. A side salad or steamed mixed vegetables would be good accompaniments or you could attempt the noodle recipe shown in the picture.

Sweet Potato crusted Barramundi

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Servings: 2 serves

Course: Main Course

Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients

  

Ingredients for two servings:

• 2 130g barramundi fillet skinned
• 350 g orange sweet potato peeled and grated
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 30 g plain flour
• vegetable oil
• lemon wedges

Equipment

• A lidded frypan capable of going in the oven, or a lidded frypan and a baking dish

Method

 

1. Assemble ingredients
   
2. Preheat your oven to 170c
3. With your hand mix the sweet potato with the salt and let it stands for two minutes
   
4. Rinse the sweet potato with cold water
   
5. Drain and squeeze the moisture out of the sweet potato
   
6. Add the egg and flour to the sweet potato
   
7. Mix well
   
8. Heat your frypan with a little oil.
9. Lightly dust both sides of the barramundi fillet with flour and place it on the sweet potato
   
10. When the oil is hot place one quarter of the sweet potato mix in the frypan. Flatten it out so that it is large enough to still see the sweet potato mix after the barramundi fillet goes on top of it.
    
11. Take another quarter of the sweet potato and cover the fish. The sweet potato should completely envelope the barramundi
12. Repeat this process with the second barramundi fillet
    
13. Adjust the frypan heat to prevent the sweet potato from scorching. Lid the frypan
    
14. After 5 minutes turn the sweet potato over. Golden brown is good
    
15. If the fish is staying in this frypan, cook for 2 minutes before placing it in the oven and baking for a further 10 minutes.
16. If you are transferring the fish to a baking dish colour the underside in the frypan before transferring to a baking dish. Place in the oven and bake for a further 10 minutes.
17. Serve with lemon wedge and garnish with parsley sprig
    

Notes

A little salt residue may stay in the sweet potato, even after squeezing out the moisture, so I avoided any extra seasoning.
Consider finishing the fish in your air-fryer

Making do

When I was going to East Sydney Tafe studying commercial cookery, in the later years, occasionally you were faced with a mystery box of ingredients. From these ingredients you had to produce a two or three course meal. Naturally while you had access to the basics such as seasonings, herbs, flour etc, some ingredients such as eggs may have been restricted. Cooking shows on television have also embraced this concept as a challenge for their contestants.

For your own kitchen at home you would be surprised with the number of dishes you could prepare using the ingredients you have on hand. Two of my go-to “never the same recipe” meal accompaniments are fried rice and stir-fried noodles. With your basic shelf stable ingredients covered, it then remains sorting through the fresh vegetables.

The following recipe used some of the scant offerings, the day before our weekly shop. A general rule when cooking the vegetables is to start with the ones that will take more time to cook and add “greens” toward end of the cooking process. Alternatively, you could extend a similar recipe with diced ham or bacon, green prawns or diced chicken.

Stir-fried Noodles

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Course: Main Course

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 120 g fresh Singapore noodles
• oil for frying
• coconut milk
• 1 tbsp green curry paste
• sesame oil olive oil
• 2 shallots picked, washed and thinly sliced
• 100 g mushrooms washed and thinly sliced
• 100 g zucchini washed and thinly sliced
• 75 g red capsicum washed, deseeded and thinly trimmed
• sweet chilli sauce
• kewpie Japanese mayonnaise
• parsley or coriander picked and washed

Method

 

1. Meanwhile soak/separate the noodles as per the instructions on the packet
2. Mix the curry paste and the coconut milk together
3. Heat your frypan with the sesame oil and sauté the mushrooms and capsicum for 4 minutes
4. Add the zucchini
5. Drain and add the noodles. Gently toss or stir the noodles
6. Add the curry and mix in
7. Finally add the shallots and mix those in.

Assembly:

1. Portion the noodles onto two pre-warmed plates
2. Using a spatula, place the barramundi on top of the noodles
3. Drizzle the fish with sweet chilli sauce and Kewpie mayonnaise
4. Garnish with lemon and coriander.

Notes

Change the vegetables in the noodles to suit your tastes