We love crunchy little whitebait , especially like this with the delicate anissed flavour of Anisata and the crunchy , almost tempura style coating! The secret is to fry the fish in small batches so the temperature of the oil doesn’t drop causing the whitebait to absorb too much oil.
Serves 4
500g whitebait
2 teaspoons sea salt
2 tablespoons plain four
1 ½ teaspoons cornflour
2 teaspoons ground aniseed myrtle
1 teaspoon mountain pepper
Vegetable oil for deep frying
Lemon wedges for serving
Lemon Aspen Mayonnaise at the side – make or buy your favourite mayonnaise and simply add 2 ½ teaspoons (10g) of Lemon Aspen superfruit Powder and mix well. Leave for at least 30 minutes before serving to allow he flavour to meld into the mayo. You certainly can make it a few hours in advance.
Combine the whitebait and the sea salt in a bowl and toss to coat fish.
Sift the flours into a bowl and season with the aniseed myrtle and the mountain pepper.
Pour enough oil into a deep frying pan or wok until third full and heat until hot.
Toss the whitebait in the seasoned flour, doing this in batches.
Shake off any excess flour and deep fry, again in batches so the oil temperature does not drop, until light golden and crisp.
Drain well. Repeat until all whitebait has been quickly fried.
Serve with the lemon wedges and Lemon Aspen Mayonnaise at the side.