I think fish fingers have to be most kiddies favorite meal. Kids just love bits of food that they can pick up with their hands and dip. My children were no different. Fish fingers, chicken nuggets, chicken wings . . . kids just love to eat with their hands!
The long and short of it is . . . fish fingers are very budget and family friendly. Today I wanted to show you how you can create something delicious with them you probably would have never thought of. Polynesian Fish Fingers.
Maybe calling them Polynesian is a bit of a stretch, but it does encompass some tropical flavours . . . such as soy and pineapple . . . and rice. I can see you rolling your eyes, but hear me out. This is not so strange a mix as one might think. Mild flavoured fish actually goes very well with fruity flavours . . . and sweet and sour is also a great flavor to add.
Add to that the convenience of using already cooked basamati rice and frozen peas, mixed together in a pineapple sweet and sour sauce, and sweet pineapple chunks and you have a winning combination all round. It's really quick to make as well, which makes it the perfect meal for a week night supper when everybody has plans and not a lot of time to throw a meal together or sit and eat it. A salad on the side goes very well.
This is a great store cupboard meal that you can have on the table in not much more than half an hour. I always have packets of cooked basamati rice in my cupboard, pineapple chunks in the larder and frozen fish fingers in the freezer, not to mention frozen peas. I think you will find that this meal is not only very tasty and pretty to look at, but very economical, quick to make and deliciously different to boot! I hope you will give it the old college try!
*Polynesian Fish Fingers*
Serves 4Printable Recipe
This is a deliciously economical meal which makes great use of store cupboard ingredients! Your kids will love this! (The Big ones and the Small ones!)
65g of granulated sugar (1/3 cup)2 TBS corn flour (cornstarch)1 large tin of pineapple tidbits (565g or 14 ounces)2 tsp dark soy sauce1 tsp vegetable bouillon powder1/4 tsp salt2 TBS rice wine vinegar (you can use plain white vinegar if that is all you have)1 pouch of cooked basamati rice (about 1 1/2 cups)(You can also use leftover cooked rice)1 mug of frozen peas, thawed (about 1 cup)1 package of frozen breaded fish fingers (8 fingers)
Combine the sugar and corn flour in a medium saucepan. Drain the pineapple tidbits, reserving the juice. Measure out 80ml (2/3 cup) of the reserved juice. Slowly whisk it into the sugar and cornflour in the saucepan. Whisk in the soy sauce, bouillon and salt. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat, until the mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat and whisk in the vinegar. Combine the cooked rice, thawed peas and pineapple tidbits in a bowl. Add the sauce and toss to coat. Spread the mixture in a buttered 1 liter casserole dish. Arrange the frozen fish fingers, spoke-style, atop the rice mixture.Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Bake the casserole for 25 to 30 minutes until heated through and the fish fingers are cooked. Serve hot. I like to serve a salad on the side.NOTE: I reserved some of the thawed frozen peas to garnish the casserole for photography purposes. Normally they will be kind of blah looking, but it still tastes gorgeous even with blah looking peas. I like to use Frozen Petit Pois. They are the only kind I like. Yes, I am spoiled and a bit picky sometimes, although you wouldn't think it if I'm eating fish fingers would you? I guess I'm one big enigma!
