Fish finger sandwiches will be tastier with recipe Nigella Lawson calls 'love of her life'

Fish fingers are a fantastic creation, but their versatility might surprise you. Even Nigella Lawson, who thought the best use for this freezer staple was a fish finger sandwich, had her eyes opened to new possibilities, reports the Liverpool Echo.

Her culinary revelation came courtesy of Novara Media's senior editor Ash Sarkar, whose social media feed introduced her to the Bird's Eye Bhorta. If you're not familiar with bhorta, it's a dish from the Indian subcontinent that involves a lightly fried mash of vegetables. Nigella shared her recipe for the fish finger bhorta on the BBC Food website, saying: "I am so grateful to the political journalist Ash Sarkar for this new love in my life.

"Up until now, I had thought the fish finger found its greatest expression in a fish finger sandwich, which for all my expounding on the subject, I don't consider the stuff of recipes; the fish finger bhorta is a different matter entirely."

A bhorta is a staple Bangladeshi mashed side dish made from various vegetables, fish, or lentils, combined with a base of mustard oil, raw shallots, garlic, and chilies. The main component is usually vegetables typically roasted, steamed, or boiled before being mashed with the other ingredients.

It's then served with a flatbread on the side, or with rice.

Ingredients

For the pink-pickled onions

• ½ red onion, thinly sliced
• red wine vinegar or lime juice, to cover

For the bhorta

• 12 fish fingers
• 3 tbsp cold-pressed rapeseed or vegetable oil
• 2 onions (approximately 300g/10½oz), thinly sliced
• 2 red chillies, seeds removed, if preferred, and thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp finely grated fresh root ginger
• 2 large garlic cloves, crushed or grated
• 2 tbsp English mustard
• 2 tsp sea salt flakes (or 1 tsp fine sea salt)
• 125g/4½oz young spinach
• 1 lime, juice only
• 3 tbsp roughly chopped fresh coriander, plus more to garnish (optional)

Method

To start, prepare some pink-pickled onions as far ahead as possible - up to 24 hours but at least two hours. Place half a thinly sliced red onion in a jar with a lid, or simply into a bowl that you can cover.

Pour over red wine vinegar (or lime juice), pressing down on the onions until they are all just covered. Secure the lid on the jar or cover your bowl, and leave the onions to steep.

When you're prepared to whip up the bhorta, preheat your oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7. Arrange 12 fish fingers on a baking tray and bake for roughly 20-25 minutes, which might be a tad longer than the packet suggests, but it guarantees a truly crisp breadcrumb coating.

In the meantime, warm three tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large frying pan and saute two thinly sliced onions over a medium-low heat for 20 minutes, stirring frequently, until they turn a pale gold and soften.

Toss in two thinly sliced red chillies and cook for three minutes, constantly stirring. Mix in one tablespoon of freshly grated ginger and two large cloves of grated garlic and continue cooking, still stirring, for another two minutes.

Stir in two tablespoons of English mustard and two teaspoons of sea salt flakes, ensuring everything is well combined. Add 125g of young spinach and let it wilt in the pan for two to three minutes, stirring regularly, then squeeze in the juice of one lime.

Remove the pan from the heat while you fetch the fish fingers. Break them up slightly with a spatula before adding them to the pan.

Toss everything together, breaking the fish fingers up further and mashing them into the pan, then sprinkle over some roughly chopped fresh coriander. Serve topped with pink-pickled onions and extra coriander, if desired.