Nourishing Fish Fingers

Why buy fish fingers? It takes 15 minutes to make your own, and you will know what you’ve put in them. Even organic fish fingers are made with pangasius that comes from as far as Vietnam.

Here are the ingredients of the top of the range fish fingers from Findus:

Alaska-Seelachs Filet 57% , Panade (Weizenmehl, Weizenfasern, Stärke, Kochsalz, Glucose, Senfpulver, Hühnereiweisspulver, Pfefferextrakt), Pflanzenöl.
So they have added Glucose, Table Salt (how much?), Starch (not stated what kind) and Vegetable oil, (not stated which one).

The problem with vegetable oils:

Like all modern vegetable oils, Canola oil goes through the process of caustic refining, bleaching and degumming–all of which involve high temperatures or chemicals of questionable safety. And because canola oil is high in omega-3 fatty acids, which easily become rancid and foul-smelling when subjected to oxygen and high temperatures, it must be deodorized. The standard deodorization process removes a large portion of the omega-3 fatty acids by turning them into trans fatty acids.
Weston Price Foundation 

The problem with Salt:

Regular table salt, conversely, is heavily processed, generally devoid of trace minerals, and commonly contains undesirable additives such as anti-caking agents like sodium silicoaluminate or sodium ferrocyanide. Shaking Up The Salt Myth: Healthy Salt Recommendations

How about organic salmon, arrowroot flour, egg from a local farm and some either home-made or organic shop bought breadcrumbs or crushed hazelnuts for a gluten-free version; and then some coconut oil for frying and Himalayan salt to season? And only 15 minutes of your time. I think it takes longer to fry the shop bought ones as they are frozen solid.

I once had girlfriends over with kids and I made these while we were all chatting in the kitchen. My girlfriends didn’t notice that I had *made* them 🙂 so yes, that’s how easy it is!

Ingredients:

salmon fillet (also cod or any more or less firm fish)
arrowroot flour
bread crumbs (or crushed haselnuts for a flute-free option)
1 egg
salt
coconut oil (or clarified butter)

Method:

Start by cutting your salmon fillet into fish finger like slices. Organic Salmon is always sold with skin here, so knife down and then scrape the “finger of the skin”. I aim to buy mid sections of the salmon fillets (not tail), so its rectangular, evenly thick and thus easily cut into fingers.

Then take your starchy flour, arrowroot or tapioca or rice, but white wheat flour works as well and shake it on your fingers with a tea strainer. You can also roll them in it, but it less hassle to sprinkle.

The easiest method for me is to put the flour into a plastic bag, drop the fingers in and give them a good shake, this coats the fingers evenly and isn’t so messy!

Turn and pat the fingers until they are more or less evenly coated.

Set up your fish finger production station in order to make this a breeze:
1. floured fingers
2. beaten egg in a bowl
3. breadcrumbs on a flat plate
4. frying pan with coconut oil melting (clarified butter works well too! but coconut oil ones are tastier).

When you take a spoon of the coconut oil to put in the pan, take a second one and eat it. Coconut oil is a superfood, helps to lose weight, cleans your teeth and Lauric acid in it fights viruses and bacteria. Read more about coconut oil. 

The rest you know: one by one dip finger in the egg, shake off the excess, roll in crumbs, pop into the frying pan.

Once golden brown on all sides, I put one into my boyfriends mouth and the rest into an oven proof dish into an oven preheated to 50 C. They stay warm but not too hot, which is handy if you need to be flexible with dinner time and your child is so busy drawing princesses that she does not respond to any questions about dinner and simply ignores you until the princess is just right. Some days I have to make them before school pick up, because my munchkin comes home sooo hungry that she needs to eat immediately, and that is when they come out of the oven. Taaa-Daa! home made and at perfect temperature.

Oh, and I almost always have some beaten egg left. Don’t want to waste it, it comes from very happy chickens from a very local farm, so pour it into the pan, make a mini omelette for yourself! So what if its slightly fishy, coconutty and has some brown breadcrumbs in it ? I like it and the pan is much cleaner afterwards! (and I am less grumpy as I am not so hungry :))

On the recent play-date I made these for Kat and her friend and they ate the whole lot (was about a 300 g of salmon) with a side of fermented gherkins and a drink of water-kefir based fizzy drink.

The girls were very happy with the meal. Too bad I didn’t record the sound. The angelic blond friend was doing an old pirate impression, roaring “Deeelicious!!!!” Makes me so happy 🙂