Fried Cod with Vegetable Ankake (Elementary School Portion)
【小学校】タラの野菜あんかけ【オカフーズ版】 · Tara no Yasai Ankake
By Aoi, licensed nutritionist · From a Japanese elementary school lunch menu
Ankake means a dish finished with a glossy, thickened sauce, and here that sauce is a gentle sweet-and-sour mix of carrot, onion and green bell pepper simmered with soy sauce, vinegar and a little ketchup. The cod is dusted in potato starch and fried until the outside is crisp, so the fillet stays moist and the vegetable sauce clings to every bite. This is the elementary school version, written for frozen cod fillets the way we handle them in the school kitchen: half-thawing the fish first keeps it from shrinking and losing its flavor in the hot oil. The mild, ketchup-tinged sauce is a big reason children who are usually wary of fish clean their plates.
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Ingredients
Amounts for 1 child (1 serving). An adult counts as 2 servings.
One serving here is 1.5× the portion served to a child in a Japanese elementary school, sized for Western appetites. An adult counts as two servings. Tap an ingredient to check it off.
Ingredients
- 67.2 gfrozen cod
- 11 gcarrot
- 11 ggreen bell pepper
- 16.8 gonion
Seasonings
- to tastepepper
- 8.9 gpotato starch (katakuriko)Japanese potato starch used for thickening sauces and coating fried foods. Substitute: Cornstarch: start with the same amount and add a little more if it is still thin. It thickens a little less than potato starch and needs a couple of minutes at a gentle bubble to reach full thickness.
- 7.8 gvegetable oil
- 1 gvegetable oil
- 89.1 gwater
- 2 gsugar
- 2.6 gsoy sauce
- 2.7 gvinegar
- 1.7 gketchup
- 0.9 gpotato starch (katakuriko)Japanese potato starch used for thickening sauces and coating fried foods. Substitute: Cornstarch: start with the same amount and add a little more if it is still thin. It thickens a little less than potato starch and needs a couple of minutes at a gentle bubble to reach full thickness.
- 2.3 gwater
About the Japanese ingredients in this recipe
- potato starch (katakuriko) (かたくり粉)
- Japanese potato starch used for thickening sauces and coating fried foods. Substitute: Cornstarch: start with the same amount and add a little more if it is still thin. It thickens a little less than potato starch and needs a couple of minutes at a gentle bubble to reach full thickness. Read the guide: Katakuriko (Japanese Potato Starch) and What to Use Instead → Guide: japanese-school-lunch.com/articles/katakuriko-potato-starch/
Directions
- 1
Cut the carrot and green bell pepper into thin matchsticks and thinly slice the onion.
- 2
Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan, add the carrot, onion and green bell pepper and stir-fry over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Add the water (just enough to cover the vegetables) and the sugar, then simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes. Add the soy sauce, vinegar and ketchup and simmer over low heat for about 3 more minutes. Stir in the potato starch dissolved in water and heat briefly over low heat until the sauce thickens.
- 3
Place the frozen cod, still in its bag, in a large bowl and run cold water over it for about 10 to 15 minutes to half-thaw it. If you are not thawing it in the bag, leave it in the refrigerator for about 4 to 5 hours to half-thaw instead (half-thawed means the surface is soft while the center is still slightly firm).
- 4
Pat the surface of the cod thoroughly dry with paper towels and sprinkle both sides with pepper. Coat both sides well with potato starch. Note: If you are using fresh cod, also sprinkle on a pinch of salt.
- 5
Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan to 180°C (350°F), add the cod and fry for about 5 minutes, turning it over as it cooks.
* The amount of water for the vegetable sauce will vary with the size of your pan, so keep an eye on it and adjust as you go.
* Frying half-thawed cod quickly at a high temperature keeps it from shrinking and helps it hold on to its flavor and moisture.
* When half-thawed cod goes into the oil, the temperature drops sharply and the fish takes longer to cook through. For that reason, fry no more than about 5 pieces at a time.
Nutrition
| Per | 1 serving | 1 adult serving | Your total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | 183 kcal | 366 kcal | 183 kcal |
| Protein | 12.5 g | 24.9 g | 12.5 g |
| Fat | 9 g | 18 g | 9 g |
| Carbohydrates | 14.3 g | 28.5 g | 14.3 g |
| Salt equivalent | 0.6 g | 1.2 g | 0.6 g |
| Calcium | 30 mg | 60 mg | 30 mg |
| Iron | 0.3 mg | 0.6 mg | 0.3 mg |
| Energy | Protein | Fat | Carbs | Salt equiv. | Calcium | Iron | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 serving | 183 kcal | 12.5 g | 9 g | 14.3 g | 0.6 g | 30 mg | 0.3 mg |
| 1 adult serving | 366 kcal | 24.9 g | 18 g | 28.5 g | 1.2 g | 60 mg | 0.6 mg |
Values are per serving (1.5× the Japanese elementary-school portion); an adult serving is double. They were calculated by a licensed Japanese nutritionist using the Standard Tables of Food Composition in Japan. "Salt equivalent" is sodium × 2.54, the standard Japanese measure. Allergen flags cover egg, milk and wheat only and come from the nutritionist's records. Soy sauce and miso are made with wheat but are usually allowed on Japanese wheat-free school menus, so check with your doctor.
This is the elementary-school portion of Fried Cod with Vegetable Ankake (larger quantities, same method).
