Vegetarian Fish and Chips

The Warwick branch of the Grant clan has been known to frequent a pub called the Red Lion near to the family home (check out their website: http://redlionhunningham.co.uk/). It's built on the banks of a river, next to a 15th century stone bridge. The decor is rather unusual as the walls are covered in framed comic books.

Once, when perusing the menu, I discovered a dish called "Vegetarian Fish and Chips." Naturally, I was rather intrigued by this concept and opted for this meal. The "vegetarian fish" proved to be chunks of haloumi cheese. If you've never had haloumi, I would recommend you try it. It's not the most pleasant cheese when eaten cold, as it has a squeaky rubber like texture. When cooked, however, it doesn't melt, but rather becomes soft like a lump of fresh mozzarella. It's great cut into slices and grilled on the barbeque with sliced nectarines, or on kebabs sticks.

I've tried to recreate the dish as best as I could, although I've lightened the batter by adding sparkling water, rather than still water.

This is a good recipe to practice your micro-management of the kitchen area (this is especially important in my kitchen due to the lack of space!!).

Vegetarian Fish & Chips
Serves 2-3
Preparation time: 15mins
Cooking time: 30mins

Ingredients:
For the Fish:
2 oz (55 g) self-raising flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1.5 fl oz (75 ml) sparkling water
225g Haloumi, chopped into large chunks or wedges

For the Mushy Peas:
A small knob of butter
4 handfuls of fresh podded peas (although frozen will do)
A handful of fresh mint leaves.
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp of creme fraiche
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Chips:
500g Baking potatoes

Method:
I've listed the methods separately, but if you are cooking them together, I'd consider a spot of simultaneous cooking, making the batter as you par-boil the potatoes etc.

Fish method:
1. Sift the self raising flour into a mixing bowl along with the salt.
2. Gradually add the water, whisking until the batter is smooth and not lumpy.
3. Put enough oil to nearly cover your haloumi lumps in a frying pan, or use a deep fryer.
4. Heat up the oil- A suitable temperature should quickly brown a lump of bread.
5. Dip the haloumi into the batter and plunge into the hot oil, cooking until crispy.
6. Place on a piece of dry paper towel to soak off any excess oil.
7. Place on a baking tray in a preheated oven (190oC) to keep warm while you cook the other pieces.

Mushy Pea method:
1. Finely chop the mint leaves.
2. Boil the peas quickly.
3. Drain the peas and place them in a bowl.
4. Add the lemon juice, butter, creme fraiche and chopped mint.
5. Mash them by hand until the mixture is thick and still a bit lumpy. (You could always puree them in a food processor if the texture is not to your liking).
6. Keep the mixture warm while you cook the chips.

Chip method:
1. Cut the baking potatoes into chunky chips.
2. Parboil your chips in boiling water for about 4 or 5 minutes. Don't cook them too much- you want them to keep their shape.
3. Drain them in a colander and to dry off.
4. Fry the chips in the oil that you used to cook the haloumi.
5. Like the haloumi, dry the chips on some kitchen towel before serving.

Notes:
It's super crucial to make sure that the chips have dried very well after par boiling or they won't crisp properly in the oil.

To make an even heavier batter with a more unique flavour, I would suggest you use a brown ale instead of water (although a stronger flavoured lager will do).

The batter is also great for making tempura vegetables. (I'll do a recipe for this at some point).