Rick Stein’s Battered Mackerel with Mayo, Chilli Sauce and Lime (Pescado con Mayonesa, Limón y Salsa Picante)
Rick Stein's sensational battered mackerel is served with a chilli sauce and mayo, and is inspired by his travels to Mexico City.
From the book
Rick Stein: The Road to Mexico
Classic dishes you'll fall in love with
All the recipes from Rick's TV series
Learn to make authentic Mexican food
Introduction
In the Nueva Viga fish market in Mexico City, the second-largest fish market in the world after Tsukiji in Tokyo, the most popular street food enjoyed by stallholders and shoppers alike is fillets of sierra, a type of mackerel. The fillets are deep-fried in beer batter, split open and slathered in mayonnaise, lime, salt and chilli sauce. It’s right up there with the grilled mackerel in a baguette with chilli and sumac they serve on the Bosphorus in Istanbul.
Ingredients
| 4 | very fresh mackerel fillets, all bones removed |
| 1 ltr | corn oil |
| For the batter: | |
| 200g | plain flour |
| ½ tsp | salt |
| 1½ tsp | baking powder |
| 275ml | ice-cold beer |
| To serve: | |
| fine salt | |
| 2 | limes, cut into wedges |
| 150ml | mayonnaise, preferably Kewpie in a squeezy bottle |
| hot chilli sauce, such as Cholula or Salsa Huichol or even Tabasco |
Method
Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a roomy bowl, then whisk in the ice-cold beer to make a thick and smooth batter.
Put your oven on at a low setting, about 120°C. Add the oil to a pan wide enough to accommodate the mackerel fillets and heat to 185°C. Dip a mackerel fillet into the batter, lower it into the hot oil and fry for 4–5 minutes until golden and crisp. Drain the fillet on kitchen paper and keep it warm in the oven while cooking the rest.
When all the fillets are ready, slit them along their length. Sprinkle them with salt, squeeze the lime wedges over them and then squirt with mayonnaise and chilli sauce.
