BAKING BACKWARDS: fish

Baked Fish N Chips (Vegan, GF, Soy-free)

1:16 PM

I recently discovered a fantastic youtuber named Edgy Veg. I'm not sure exactly if it was her idea to substitute eggplant for fish in her recipe for vegan fish n chips (she mentions it in her video in a way that suggests she didn't come up with the idea) or if she picked up the idea from other vegans. I'm guessing that this is a well known idea that I just stumbled on -- like seeing a recipe for vegan "tuna" featuring chickpeas for the first time -- its definitely new to you, but its been done. Either way I'm grateful to have stumbled on it and happy to report that I gave it a go and it was amazing. PLEASE NOTE: I DID NOT FOLLOW HER RECIPE, THE RECIPE BELOW IS MY OWN. After watching Edgy Veg's video for veganized deep fried fish n chips I merely took away the idea to use eggplant as a fish substitute, created my own new cooking method and changed the batter ingredients dramatically to make this recipe gluten free and pretty healthy -- oh and baked not fried. That's right, I bring you BAKED, healthy vegan fish n chips! This recipe can also easily be made oil free.

I grew up loving fish n' chips and I have eaten it all over the world. My dad has always been a big fan of it too so I have a lot of nice family memories tied to it. The best I have had was in London England and Santa Monica California. My dad took me and my sister to Santa Monica Pier for lunch when we were in LA visiting friends. We ate really delicious beer battered fish n chips with the most gorgeous view on the pier. I even somehow snagged a Sam Adams for the first time (it wasn't commonly found in Canada back then) which was the perfect accompaniment. The fish was light and delicious and almost sweet (not fishy tasting), and the batter was crisp and delicate like tempura.

The first person I thought of when making this recipe was my dad. I am always trying to make him try vegan recipes of mine. He loves vegetarian food and his influence is probably the reason I went vegetarian in the first place. Now to turn him vegan! Muahaha...

For a vegan and baked variation on the classic fried fish recipe, this 'fish n chips' looks and tastes almost exactly like the fish and chips I remember. My husband still eats fish and chips once in a blue moon and was thoroughly impressed by this recipe (woohoo!). We both couldn't believe how much it LOOKED like real fish and chips. The texture was pretty spot on too. Win win.

Give this vegan baked fish n chips recipe a try. If you aren't health conscious this would of course also taste fantastic deep fried, but its still pretty amazing either way -- still crispy and light. I love it this way because after eating a ton of it I still felt like I could eat more with no deep-fried-food-coma at all. This is one awesome and kind recipe. In other word -- woohoo!

VEGAN FISH N CHIPS

* PLEASE NOTE THAT THE EGGPLANT "FISH" NEEDS TO MARINATE FOR 3-5 HOURS BEFORE BAKING.*

Vegan Fish:

1 eggplant (stem removed, peeled, sliced into 1" thick slices lengthwise)

Marinade:

Water
1 tbsp kelp flakes
1 tbsp dulse flakes
1 tsp garlic powder
Pinch of salt
1 tsp maple syrup

Place the eggplant slices in a mixing bowl. Fill the bowl to the top with water and the seasonings. Stir everything, cover the bowl securely and store in fridge for 3-5 hours. After the time has passed prep everything in the order specified below.

Oil-free Fries:

2 large potatoes, washed and sliced into wedges
1 sweet potato, washed and sliced into wedges
Dash of garlic powder and salt (optional)

Preheat oven to 420F before prepping your potatoes. Wash and cut the potatoes and add your potato and sweet potato wedges to a steamer pot and steam for 5 minutes. Spread out the steamed wedges evenly on a nonstick baking sheet. Place in the oven while you prepare your vegan fish. Carefully flip the wedges after 10 minutes in the oven, sprinkle on the spices and return to the oven until crispy and ready to eat.

Vegan Fish Batter:

1 cup brown rice flour (Plus extra brown rice flour (optional, for dredging)
1 cup sparkling water or beer
SPICES: 1 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp each (cayenne, paprika, black pepper), dash of salt, 1 tsp kelp or dulse flakes
1 tsp neutral flavored oil
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
Squeeze of lemon

After marinating the eggplant slices, remove the eggplant slices from the marinade. Pat each slice dry with a clean towel or with clean hands gently squeeze out a little of the excess water into a bowl (discard the liquid), set the squeezed slices aside as you prep the batter. Whisk batter ingredients together until there are no lumps. Dip the eggplant slices to coat one at a time on both sides. Then dip in a shallow bowl of extra brown rice flour if desired for crispy edges. Place all the coated slices spread out on either a non stick baking sheet or a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Drizzle each with leftover wet batter (dilute the leftover batter if it has gotten too thick). Bake in 420F oven for 15 minutes, carefully loosen and flip each slice over and return tray to oven to bake another 10-15 minutes until the edges are golden and crispy. Prepare the accompaniments below while the fish bakes. Serve with fries which can be baked at the same time.

Once everything is ready, serve with lemon wedges, pepper, vinegar and a few dadhes of kelp or dulse and a dash of salt to get the fishy flavours going.

VEGAN ACCOMPANIMENTS:

Coleslaw: