This came from a thought where I remembered how much I loved to eat fish finger and tomato sauce sandwiches when I was a kid. ”Now”, I said to myself. “A fish finger and tomato sauce (ketchup) sandwich is probably not really worth writing a recipe for. Not to mention it is possibly not even really worth eating after all of these years”. So, I set about tarting this little sandwich up a bit. Not too much – it’s not trying to get laid on a Friday night – just enough tarting up so that it can feel a bit more confident with itself and hang out with the cool kids at the disco.

This is where that process ended up.

You might want to make double the amount of kimchi mayonnaise because it really is some tasty shit.

FISH SANDWICH WITH KIMCHI MAYONNAISE

Makes 4 really decent sized sandwiches

500 g fish fillets. Something small is good for the crunch factor. Also, the smaller stuff is often better for sustainability.
2 eggs beaten with ½ cup of milk or water (egg wash)
1 heaped cup plain flour
2 heaped cups panko bread crumbs
Vinegar seasoning (or salt and a little spritz of white vinegar if you can’t find some)
Oil for frying
Sliced white bread, shredded iceberg lettuce, sliced onion and kimchi mayonnaise (recipe follows), to serve

First to crumb the fish dredge fillets through flour, followed by a dip in the egg wash, followed by a toss in the bread crumbs.
Repeat this process until all of the fish is crumbed.
Heat oil in a deep fryer or cast iron pot to approximately 180 C (360 F). You will need enough oil to submerge your fish.
Fry fish for 1 minute each side or a little longer for larger fillets of fish.
Drain fish on a wire rack or absorbent towel and then season with vinegar seasoning.
To put the sandwich together spread mayo on both slices of bread, followed by a pile of fish on the bottom, a few slices of onion and then shredded lettuce, and then the other slice of bread on top.
(it is totally feasible to omit mayonnaise, lettuce and onion and go with tomato ketchup if you want to try a decent version of my childhood nostalgia)

KIMCHI MAYONNAISE

2 – 3 tablespoons kimchi, chopped
1 cup kewpie mayonnaise (insert your favourite mayonnaise here)

Combine both ingredients in a bowl and mix until kimchi is thoroughly incorporated.
Now you are done.