Recipe: Beer-battered Celeriac "Fish" for Fish & Chips

Lately, I've been enjoying Julien Solomita's Aries Kitchen, where he attempts trending recipes or makes vegan versions of dishes. The celery root fish and chips caught my attention, so here's my take on the "Fish" part of the fish and chips.

This recipe is combined between recipes from Julien Solomita and Sauce Stache. I found it annoying that they didn't have a recipe written out to refer back to, so I made a document combining both recipes to my taste and substituting one ingredient: kelp granules.

As a meat-eater, I thought this recipe was fun to try but real fish still wins. Just duck into your local fish and chip shop to takeaway and you don't even have to clean up the grease on your stove top.

Beer-battered Celeriac "Fish"

Cooking the celeriac

I chose to omit putting any other seasoning at this step because I thought it was a bit redundant putting nori, and I didn't have kelp granules. You may add it to the seasoning if you wish.

1 celeriac/celery root, peeled and sliced ~2 cm - 2.5 cm/~1 inch thick

1 Tbsp olive oil

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F. Have a tray lined with baking paper (parchment paper) ready.

2. Drizzle olive oil onto the celeriac in a medium-sized bowl. Season with salt and paper to taste. Gently toss with hands to coat the celeriac in seasoned olive oil. 

3. Lay out slices evenly spaced onto paper-lined tray. You may pour leftover olive oil over the celeriac slices. 

4. Bake slices in oven for ~25min or until softened. Texture resembles cooked parsnip or carrot.

5. Pierce slices with fork. This will allow better infusion of marinate. Allow to cool.

Marinade

This part of the recipe is estimated. Sauce stache used kelp granules, which I did not have on hand. I always have dried konbu on hand though, to make konbu dashi. It is commonly used in Japanese and Korean cooking, so you could easily find it in your local Asian grocer. If you don't cook those cuisines often, I'd highly recommend just using the kelp granules to reduce waste.

I chose to keep the rehydrated kelp in the marinade so it could have a deeper seafood flavour. 

2 pieces of dried kelp/konbu (cut to 1 inch pieces)

3-4 c water

1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used mild flavoured olive oil, but any other mild flavoured vegetable oil will do)

Juice of 1 lemon (~ 1/4 c)

Zest of 1 lemon (~ 1 Tbsp)

Caper brine (I had ~1/4 c but it's whatever you've got in the jar)

~1.5-2 Tbsp minced capers (you may adjust this to your taste or omit it)

1 Tbsp sugar

1 c shredded nori

1. Boil 3-4 c water in a saucepan until bubbling on high heat. Drop dried kelp pieces in. Lower to medium heat and simmer for 20min. 

2. Turn off heat and put 1c shredded nori (roasted seaweed laver) to allow to steep. You may choose to mix the shredded nori with the marinade at a later step if you forget. 

2. Whisk all other elements of the marinade to combine (vegetable oil, lemon juice and zest, minced capers and brine, sugar).

3. In a large bowl, or zip-lock bag, put your celeriac root pieces together. Drizzle lemon/caper/oil mixture and pour konbu stock with shredded nori and konbu pieces. 

4. Leave to cool before putting it in the fridge to marinate for at least 6 hours. Recommended 12+ hours/overnight. 

Frying

This part is also estimated. Julien used lager, but I had pale ale on hand.

Please note that plain flour is "all-purpose flour" and cornflour is "cornstarch".

The following has been estimated. You may need more or less of the ingredients.

vegetable oil
1/2 c cornflour
100mL pale ale
1/3 c plain flour

1. Heat vegetable oil over medium-high heat either in a deep fryer or pot. I don't have exact temperatures and used a frozen chip to gauge if oil is hot enough to bubble and fry. You may use a drop of the batter to test.
2. Combine plain flour with pale ale to create a thin batter (like pancakes)
3. Coat celeriac pieces first in cornflour, then into the thin batter. Carefully lower battered pieces into the hot oil.
4. Fry until golden brown (~5-8 min)
5. You may fry the frozen chips for your chips as per instructions on packet.
5. Serve seasoned with salt or tartare sauce on the side.

My "fish" and chips was vegetarian but not vegan as I used egg mayo in the tartare sauce. It can be made with vegan mayo, and that wouldn't make much of a difference. I seasoned the chips with chicken salt, which is vegan because most don't contain animal products (popular seasoning in Australia, originally made to season chicken but is used to season chips).

Traditional British seasonings would just be malt vinegar and salt. 

The actual "fish" part won't resemble real fish in texture (it's more like cooked parsnip or carrot) but parts of the celeriac will flake out (like young jackfruit). It's more for the look of the fish, rather than the taste and texture. It won't have the umami of real fish, but it'll be a mild celery with lemon taste.