The case of the posh fish finger and the Wasabi crust

Like Kate Atkinson´s character, former police detective Jackson Brodie, I found myself recently drawn into the vortex of a culinary mystery.How do you coat almonds in wasabi and keep them spicy and crunchy? I cracked it (no pun intended) very quickly. Life´s too short - just buy a packet of wasabi peanuts.Having always been mad about wasabi, imagine my excitement at having stumbled across wasabi peanuts right here in the Algarve.Knowing myself too well I had to quickly find a recipe before I crammed face and they were all gone.Fish seemed to me the obvious choice, and I settled for salmon.Don't feel guilty at the extravagance, as just two pieces of salmon can be stretched to feed six guests a sensational starter, served with a crunchy, Algarvian style coleslaw on the side.
Wasabi peanut crusted salmon  
400 g salmon fillet
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
150 ml soda water
115 g flour (190 ml)
80 ml corn flour
A good pinch of Flor de sal
150 g pkt wasabi-coated peanuts, finely crushed
Sunflower oil for frying

For the Algarvian coleslaw

Shredded chinese leaf and little gem lettuce hearts

Cucumber, matchstick strips

Carrot, matchstick strips

1 small red pepper, matchstick strips

1 small green pepper,matchstick strips

Spring onions

For the wasabi mayonnaise

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

Wasabi paste or creamed horseradish to taste

teaspoon grated lime zest

Mix all three ingredients well and serve in asmall bowl or ramekin

Prepare the coleslaw ingredients, combine and chill in a covered bowl.

Combine egg, soda water, flour, corn flour and salt in a mixing bowl.

Carefully pull off the skin from the salmon. Slice the fish into 36 neat, short fingers, while heating a pan of  sunflower oil,1cm deep.

Dip each fish slice into the batter to immerse completely, then lift out and drag across into the crushed peanuts to coat it well. Transfer them directly and individually into the heated oil, frying for no more than 30 seconds, turning once during this time until browned attractively.

Lift each one out with a slotted spoon, onto kitchen paper towel to drain. Serve warm or at room temperature with a small portion of coleslaw and a tiny dipping bowl of garlic  or wasabi mayonnaise.

Hints and Tips:
The peanuts can lose a little of their hot tang when they are deep fried so for a strong wasabi taste I smeared some wasabi paste on the salmon pieces bfore dipping them in the batter.
 

A food processor running on it's fastest speed setting,

handles the crushing of the peanuts perfectly.