Salty Toddler Tears and Fish-fingers

There are a lot of things from home I miss here in Beijing, decent skincare, “normal” toilets, and of course my friends and family. But MOST of all, I miss my home cuisine, and the ingredients that are easy to buy in Western supermarkets. I want to recreate some food that my family miss, share my recipes, and know where to get the ingredients. If you see a blonde lady on a bike with a toddler and bags of groceries, that’s me, on the hunt for little pieces of home.

Fish fingers are one of my daughter’s most missed culinary delights from England. Two chef parents and she still misses the good ol’ orange fish fingers from the frozen section of the supermarket. I got ecstatic when I found a box at Jenny Lou’s but when I learned it was RMB 60 for 10 fish fingers, I had to put it back. My daughter had a major supermarket meltdown, and felt like I had broken my child’s heart.

Fish fingers always come to my rescue when I’m too tired to make “real” dinner in England. The promise of some Omega-3 always made it a bit less cheeky. In Beijing I will be the domestic goddess mother I always wanted to be, and make them myself. The fish fingers will not look exactly like the orange ones from the freezer isle, but that might be a good thing. The best fish to make fish fingers with is cod (just like the image below) that you can get from Sanyuanli market.

Ingredients
2 eggs, beaten
200 grams panco breadcrumbs
100 grams flour
500 grams cod, cut into finger size pieces
Salt and pepper
Steps
1. Put all the flour, the panco breadcrumbs, and beaten eggs in 3 separate bowls.
2. Season all the ingredients in the bowls with salt and pepper.
3. Dip the cod strips in the flour.
4. Then dip the fish in the eggs mixture.
5. End with dipping the fish in the panco breadcrumbs.
6. Bake on a 180 degree preheated oven on a baking paper for around 15 minutes.

Pauline van Hasselt has been working for beijingkids since October 2016. Born in Wassenaar, The Netherlands, she moved with her husband and her 3 year-old daughter to Beijing in June of this year. Prior she lived in the Netherlands, Belgium, Paraguay, Texas, and London, studying and working as a chef. Pauline enjoys biking around Beijing, finding markets and new restaurants, reading crime and fantasy books in bed, and most importantly, turning her house into a home for her family.