Dogfish (huss) is a good meat for this dish. It is firm and holds its shape well, and can take a strong seasoning. Some would say it needs strong seasoning – I’m not going to argue with that. Nor am I going to argue about freezing dogfish. I always freeze dogfish for at least a week before cooking and have never experienced an ammonia taste. Let others argue for or against!
Quite simply, these are marinated, spicy, flash-fried fish strips served on a flour tortilla with all the trimmings. One small dogfish makes a generous meal for one. Simply scale up for more people. Here goes.
First prepare your fish strips: take your skinned dogfish and cut two fillets from either side of the central bone. Then cut prawn-sized strips from the fillets. Now make your marinade:
- 1 tbs tomato puree
- 1 tbs honey
- 1 tbs cider vinegar
- 0.5 tsp paprika
- 0.5 tsp cayenne pepper
- pinch salt
- pinch garlic powder
- pinch dried oregano
Mix well and toss your fish strips in the marinade. Leave to infuse while you prepare the rest of the meal. Make some garlic sauce:
- 3 tbs mayo
- 1 tbs cold water
- 1 tsp garlic puree or 1 clove of garlic, grated
- pinch salt.
Mix well and set aside. Now shred a few lettuce leaves, slice half an avacado, slice a small tomato, chop some fresh coriander, slice some red onion and find a quarter of a lime. Now warm two or three small tortillas or one big one ready for the final cook-off.
Heat 1tbs oil in a frying pan. When smoking hot, tip your marinated fish strips in the pan and spread out. After about a minute flip the strips over, they should be nice and charred. The honey in the marinade will help. As soon as the strips are cooked – literally a minute or two – you can assemble your fish tacos as pictured above.