New Zealander recipe
How to make Whitebait fritters
The West Coast and rivers all over New Zealand
Tiny, almost see-through young fish bound with beaten egg and fried in butter into a thin golden pancake. They are often eaten between two slices of buttered white bread, with a squeeze of lemon.
Ingredients
- 250 g whitebait (fresh, or frozen and thawed)
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon plain flour
- Salt and pepper
- Butter for frying
- Lemon wedges and buttered white bread, to serve
Method
- Beat the eggs in a bowl with the flour, a pinch of salt and some pepper until smooth.
- Gently stir in the whitebait so that every fish is coated.
- Heat a little butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Spoon in small rounds of the mixture and flatten them slightly.
- Cook for 1 to 2 minutes on each side, until golden and the egg is completely set.
- Serve at once with lemon wedges, on their own or between slices of buttered bread.
Made it at home? Tick it off and it goes into your kitchen passport.
New Zealand whitebait are the young of five kinds of small native freshwater fish. They may only be caught with small nets that the fisher must stay with, during a short legal season in spring, so they are a pricey treat.
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