So, its Wednesday night. I’ve been trying to make Wednesday nights our regular seafood / fish night and for two weeks running, I’ve succeeded! Last weekend, I watched the Master Chef DVD for the Master Classes. I have to say, I got a lot of inspiration out of the video. This dish is inspired from that video.
Ingredients
1 cup hickory chips
1 cup rice
½ cup sugar
½ cup salt
½ cup loose leaf tea
firm fish fillets or whole fish
Method
- Soak the hickory chips in water sufficient to cover them for at least 2 hours prior to using. The longer you soak them, the better the smoke! Drain the chips and discard the liquid.
- Mix the rice, sugar, salt and tea in a large bowl. Add in the chips, and toss through. Line a large wok with aluminium foil before pouring the chip mixture evenly into the wok bottom. Place a wire wrack in the wok so it sits above (not touching!) the chip mixture. With the lid on, place on a very high heat and allow to get very hot – about 20 – 30 minutes on the highest heat setting (bottom left picture above).
- Place the fish on a small amount of aluminium foil and place straight on to the wire wrack. Steam (lid on) for about six minutes or until the fish is cooked and flaky (bottom right picture above).
Observations
- I over cooked our fish. It was only on for 10 minutes so please, watch your fish! Also, make sure it is a fair amount above the chips so it smokes rather than is cooked by the heat in the chips.
- Ensure the aluminium foil that the fish is on is only just large enough to support the fish or it will hinder the movement of the smoke.
- I got my hickory chips from BBQ Galore. Any BBQ shop or good food agent should stock them.
- Add whatever flavour tea you want. I used a combination of green tea, vanilla flavoured green tea and peppermint tea. I could definitely taste the green tea flavour in the fish! The hickory flavour is subtle and comes on late, but is so smooth and more’ish.
- The chip mixture melted into a solid mess on the foil so to save yourself a lot of clean up later, ensure there is plenty of aluminium foil beneath the chip mixture and the wok.
- The favours of this dish were amazing, and on the verge of overpowering. I suspect that is because I overcooked it. I have plans to smoke some chicken next week using the same method but substituting rosemary and thyme for the tea. Watch this space!
- As always, this fish is the skinless hoki fish from Aldi. The manufacturers claims that their produce to be caught within the boundaries and guidelines of the NZ government sustainably quota. Please, if you use fish, chose fish that you know are fished within quotas using sustainable fishing practices. Mother earth will thank you for it.
- Diabetic Note: There are no real carbohydrates really in this dish when served with a salad. The fish and salad combined may attribute to 3g carbohydrates, so this is a meal you will definitely be careful with. Some chips, a slice of bread or a little dessert would make up for that in the yummiest way possible!
- Joe had originally asked me to cook chunky oven baked sweet potato chips to accompany this meal, but I forgot. It would have worked a treat! Next time…
