Fish n'Chips Moroccan Style

As I continue along on my quest to make my favorite take out and comfort food the low fat way, here is my low fat take on fish and chips, with plenty of kick and none of the guilt. I actually just stumbled along this recipe, having just a few vegetables and the freshly bought fillet of hake. What started out as just deciding to have some roast vegetables and fish for a low fat supper, turned into me getting very carried away with myself in the kitchen thinking about fish and chips as the oven preheated.

So there I was thinking.... the ultimate fish and chip dinner has to have really fresh fish, deep fried in a light batter, twice cooked chips in dripping, sweet mushy peas, and creamy homemade tartar sauce. AMAZ!!! But definitely not allowed!

 I tried to think of tasty substitutes for each element. Fish, check! Deep fried, negative!! But oven baked fish? tasty!.. with a Moroccan spice rub?! Now we're onto something!!!!!!

The substitute for those gorgeous chips?? How can you make anything that would compare to those??? Well, cumin spices oven baked sweet potato wedges might do it!!!

Now for the mushy peas.......full of sugar and a no no!!! Disguised as the healthy part of the dish, but really full of sugar! In keeping with the Moroccan theme, I decided chickPEAS, would work perfectly. Jazz them up with some roast Mediterranean veggies and spinach, and we're not onto a winner.

Finally, alas we are banned from creamy tartar sauce, but you cannot have fish, chips, and peas, without something to dip them into. Again complimenting my Moroccan theme, what's a better substitute for tartar sauce, than a harrisa spiced roast red pepper hummous. (I know thats a mouth full........and eating it, I definitely had more than a mouth full, let me tell you!!!!)

Okay so that's the WHY? covered, now on with the HOW?

Serves 2

Ingredients

Fish

• 2 fillets of hake
• 2 tbsp of Ras El Hanout (Shop bought Moroccan spice rub)

Chips

• 2 Sweet potatoes
• Spray can of olive oil
• 1 tbsp of ground cumin

Warm Chickpeas Salad 

• 50g of tinned chickpeas
• 1/2 tbsp of ground cumin
• Spray of olive oil
• Half a red pepper, chopped into bite-size
• 4 Mushrooms, halved
• 1/2 courgette, chopped into bite-size

Spicy Red Pepper Hummus

• 200g of chickpeas
• 50g of roast red pepper from a jar
• 2 tbsp of oil from the red pepper jar
•  1 tbsp of ground cumin
• Juice of a lemon
• 1 tsp of salt
• 2 tbsp of chopped mint and parsley
• 1 grate clove of garlic
• 1/2 tsp harrisa paste

Method

1. Rub the fish with the spice rub and leave to infuse.
2. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
3. Cut your sweet potato into wedges and sprinkle with the cumin and oil. Mix them to ensure they are evenly coated.
4. Place the wedges into an oven dish lined with baking paper and bake for 30 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, in another baking dish, add you red pepper, mushrooms, and courgette. Lightly coat them with the oil and cumin and place in the oven for 20-25 minutes.
6. For the hummus, in a mini blender add all the ingredients and simply blend until smooth.
7. Add the fish to the oven for 15 minutes, but ensure its fully cooked through before serving.
8. When the roast vegetables are cooked, remove from the oven and add them to a pan, with the spinach and the chickpeas. Cook on a medium heat until the spinach has wilted and the chickpeas have warmed through.
9. To plate up, place a line of the chickpea and vegetable mixture down the centre of your plate. Place the fish on top of the vegetables, and add a few potato wedges to one side and a dollop of the spicy hummus along the other side.