"Psaria" - a Greek-style Fried Fish with Vinegar Sauce

I recently discovered a series of cookbooks written by an Englishwoman named Sally Butcher.   She married an Iranian, taught herself to speak Farsi, and together they established what appears to be a very successful business importing and selling foodstuffs from Iran and surrounding countries in a shop in Peckham – a very multicultural suburb in south east London.

The shop is called Persepolis ... which is Persian for “Jamshid’s Throne” .... Jamshid also being the name of her husband.   And along the way Sally Butcher has written three amazingly knowledgable and informative cookbooks on vegetarian and non-vegetarian food from that region.  

                  

The books are "Persia in Peckham", "Veggiestan" and "Snackistan"; I have slowly begun cooking my way through these three books ... a quest that will easily take me through to the end of the year at least.  And whilst I intend to come back to the first two publications on this blog, the third book is called “Snackistan” ... an imaginary country which she refers to as “a borderless confederation of the Middle East’s favourite foodstuffs”.  And it is from this book that I found a delightful and unusual recipe for fried fish.

Fish pieces after frying in seasoned flour.

The fish is first coated in seasoned flour and then simply fried; as Sally Butcher notes “this serves the dual purpose of locking the flavour and aroma in” ... thus reducing those lingering fish smells in the kitchen.  The fillets are then allowed to cool and a rich and puckery vinegar sauce is prepared using white wine vinegar, fresh parsley and the leftover flour used to coat the fillets.



Preparing the vinegar sauce.

The end result is quite a dramatic presentation for such a fairly simple recipe and it would make a great party stand-by as the fish and the sauce can be prepared separately in advance and then brought together just before serving plus it can also be served at room temperature.

PSARIA  or   GREEK-STYLE FRIED FISH WITH VINEGAR SAUCE

Ingredients:

800g fish fillets    salt   150g plain flour   1 t paprika   1 tsp turmeric   sunflower or olive oil   3 garlic cloves   1 t fresh or dried rosemary   100ml or 1/2 C white wine vinegar   bunch of fresh parsley, chopped   black pepper

Method:

Wash & dry fish and sprinkle with salt.   Mix 3 T flour with some salt, the paprika & turmeric.   Coat each piece of fish with the flour mixture, shake off excess and reserve rest of the flour.

Heat 1.5cm of oil in a pan and fry fish on each side for about 2-3 minutes, until they are golden brown.   Remove, drain and place on platter.

Strain 3 T of the cooking oil into a saucepan, heat and then add garlic and rosemary.   Add 2T flour from saved mixture, heat and stir until it starts to form a roux.   Add vinegar slowly along with a little water if it appears too thick; the mixture will begin to thicken when the vinegar is added so resist the temptation to add more flour ... as I did the first time!   Add parsley to the roux and season with salt & pepper.

Pour sauce over the fish on the platter and serve hot as is ... or let cool to room temperature for an hour before serving ... this is the traditional way it is served.    

I served this with brown rice and an Indian bhindi (okra) dish ...

Tony saab/Hyderabad   March 2014