Charred mackerel, chia seeds, dill, wakame and cucumber
- Preparation and cooking time
- Total time
- A little effort
- Serves 4 as a starter
Skip to ingredients
- 4 mackerel filletspin boned
- 3 small sheets nori
- 50g sea salt flakes
- 25g caster sugar
- 20g chia seeds
- 200ml apple juice
- ½ tsp spirulina
- 50ml lemon juiceplus a little for seasoning
- 10g white or regular soy sauce or wakame seaweed
- for deep frying oil
- sprigs to serve dill
PICKLED CUCUMBERS
- 2 small cucumbers
- 50ml white vinegar
- 30g caster sugar
- 10g salt
Nutrition: per serving
- kcal302
- fat20.1g
- saturates3.7g
- carbs7.9g
- fibre3.7g
- protein20.7g
- salt4.1g
Method
step 1
Cut the mackerel fillets, lengthways, from the head end to the tail so you’re left with 1 silver belly fillet and 1 striped topside fillet from each. Put the nori in a food processor and blend until you have a fine powder, then add the sea salt and sugar and blend again. Lay the fish flesh-side up on a tray and sprinkle over the nori salt. Leave it for 7 minutes and then rinse the fillets, drain and chill skin-side up on a lightly oiled baking tray.
step 2
Mix the chia seeds with 100ml apple juice and stir in the spirulina. Leave until the liquid is absorbed and then stir in more juice, a little at a time, letting each amount be absorbed and making sure there are no lumps. Once the seeds have swollen and are soft, season the mixture with lemon juice and soy.
step 3
Peel the cucumbers and cut one into ½ cm thick slices, and the other into long thin batons. Put the remaining ingredients in a pan with 400ml water and bring to the boil. Add the cucumbers and cool.
step 4
Heat a pan with some oil in it (no more than 1/3 full) until it is 170C. Fry the wakame until it starts to pop and expand, about 10-20 seconds, then scoop it out and drain it on kitchen paper.
step 5
Blowtorch the fillets all over using a fierce flame, till they start to bubble and get black spots on the skin, or use a very hot grill to blister the skins. The fish should be just cooked. Mix the soy and lemon juice and sprinkle it over. Blowtorch the cucumber strips.
step 6
To serve, spoon the chia seeds into 4 shallow bowls, add 2 discs and a strip of cucumber to each and add some dill. Add a belly and top fillet to each dish and sprinkle over the fried wakame.
