Spelt-battered pollock, satay sauce, pickled cucumber

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This incredibly crispy battered pollock from Richard Bainbridge is served with a quick and rich satay sauce and a fresh and light cucumber salad to balance everything out. Richard sourced his pollock, wine vinegar, pickled mushrooms and spring onions from Wylde Market, the online farmers' market.

First published in 2024

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Satay sauce

Cucumber salad

Batter

Pollock

To serve

Method

1

To make the satay sauce, place a small saucepan over a medium heat. Add the oil, shallot, lemongrass, ginger, coriander stalks, red chilli and garlic. Sweat for a few minutes, until softened but not coloured

2

Add the soy sauce and bring to the boil. Add the coconut milk and brown sugar and bring to a gentle simmer. Remove from the heat and pour into a blender with the peanut butter

3

Blend until smooth, adding 50–100ml of water if needed to form a smooth sauce. Set aside until needed, placing cling film over the top to prevent a skin forming

4

To make the cucumber salad, place the sugar and vinegar into a saucepan and bring to the boil

  • 100g of caster sugar
  • 100ml of white wine vinegar
5

Remove from the heat and leave to cool

6

Once cooled, add the cucumber and chilli flakes and pickle for 10 minutes

7

Remove the cucumber from the vinegar and leave to drain slightly. Place in a bowl with the sesame seeds and season with sea salt and white pepper. Add the lime juice, chilli flakes and stir lightly

8

To make the batter, place the flour and baking powder in a large bowl, season with salt and pepper and mix well. Set aside until needed

9

To make the pollock, pre-heat the oil in a deep-fat fryer to 185°C. Hot oil can be dangerous so do not leave unattended

10

Slowly add the sparkling water to the batter mixture using a fork to combine, until you have a pancake batter-like consistency (some lumps are ok at this point)

  • 100ml of sparkling water
11

Season the spelt flour with salt and pepper. Lightly dust the fish with the flour and pat with your hands to remove any excess

12

Place the fish in the batter until completely covered. Remove from the batter and carefully place into the fryer. Fry for approximately 3–4 minutes, or until the fish is golden and crisp

  • 2 pollock fillets, pin-boned and skin removed
  • vegetable oil, for deep-frying
13

Remove from the fryer and carefully transfer to kitchen paper to drain. Season with a little sea salt and the lime zest whilst it is still hot. Leave to rest for 3–5 minutes before serving

14

To serve, add the satay sauce to the middle of each plate and spoon on the cucumber salad. Top with a portion of fish and garnish with a few pickled mushroom, sliced chilli and spring onion, and coriander cress

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With a background in classical cooking in Michelin-starred kitchens, Richard Bainbridge returned to his home city of Norwich to open Benedicts, a renowned restaurant which serves Norfolk produce cooked with passion, playfulness and creativity.

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