Masala crusted whitebait with raitha recipe
Crunchy whitebait in a slightly spicy coating, served with a side of seasoned raitha (a yoghurt-based dip).
Ingredients
To make the raitha- 300 ml natural plain yoghurt
- 3 plump tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 0.5 cucumber, diced
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 tsp toasted cumin seeds
- 1 sprinkle paprika, for dusting
- 500 g whitebait
- 8 tbsp plain white flour
- 3 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 3 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 splash vegetable oil, for frying
- 2 red onions, finely sliced
- 1 lime, juice only
- 1 green chilli, chopped (deseed this if you want a less hot dish)
Details
- Cuisine: Indian
- Recipe Type: Starter
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 15 mins
- Cooking Time: 5 mins
- Serves: 10
Step-by-step
- Fork whip the yoghurt add the chopped cucumber and tomatoes and a pinch of salt. Just before serving, sprinkle the freshly toasted cumin seeds (heat in a pan until just brown…not smoking) on top and dust with a little paprika for flourish.
- In a large bowl mix the flour, garam masala, chilli powder, cumin seeds, salt and pepper.
- Coat the silvery whitebait in a glug of oil, take small handfuls of the miniature fish and coat them in the flour mix, until all of them are completely dusted and the cumin seeds stick to the skin.
- In a large frying pan, heat the oil achieving lava status and starting to smoke a little, test the heat by dropping a couple of cumin seeds in and let it sizzle until it fizzes.
- Now add the whitebait in batches and cook for a couple of minutes until the skin is golden brown and crispy.
- Slice the red onion, add the chopped chilli and the freshly squeezed lime and mix together. Arrange the brittle whitebait on top of the red onion and serve with the dipping raitha.
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