Why is it tradition to eat fish on a Friday? 

It actually stems from the Christian faith to abstain from meat on Good Friday. As Jesus was executed on Good Friday and sacrificed himself for us, we are encouraged to avoid eating warm-blooded animals on this day. And so, we turned to fish which was considered to be a cold-blooded animal source.

Now I’m not particularly religious but as I love fish, I am wholly on board with Fish Friday and last night, I cooked one of my favourite fish dishes. It was originally made for me by Ollie when he was still trying to woo me over 3 years ago.

It’s completely scrummy, quick and healthy and I am going to share the recipe with you.

Ingredients:

2 Basa fish fillets

Stir fry pack from Tesco (contains tenderstem broccoli, baby corn, mange tout, spring onions and a red chilli)

1 Pak Choi

1 stick of lemongrass

2 cloves of garlic

A dash of dark soy sauce

A handful of coriander

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 microwave packet of coconut rice

Serves 2

Method:

Chop all your stir fry pack vegetables into small thin strips along with your garlic and chilli

Chop your pak choi and lemongrass and place alongside your coriander

Heat your olive oil in a frying pan and add the chilli and garlic – stir until the garlic is starting to turn a golden caramel colour.

Add your baby corn, broccoli, mange tout and spring onion to the pan and fry for around 5 minutes before removing all the ingredients from the pan and placing on a plate.

 

Turn the heat down and add your basa fillets to the pan and fry gently one one side for a couple of minutes before flipping over to allow the other side to cook.

Put all your cooked vegetables back in the pan with the fish to keep warm and add your soy sauce.

 

Add the lemongrass and pak choi and let the pak choi leaves wilt down. You can add a bit more soy sauce if you like.

Put the microwave rice in the microwave (read the packet instructions) and heat on high for around 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, remove the pak choi from the pan and divide evenly onto 2 plates.

Take the remaining vegetables out of the pan and arrange over the pac choi.

Take the fish out and put a fillet on the vegetables.

Add the coconut rice to the side.

And voila – dinner is served! Enjoy with a glass of chilled Sauvignon Blanc.

Happy Friday!