Pan-fried Carp is a traditional Montenegrin recipe for a classic dish of whole crucian carp that's fried and then finished by baking with a sauce made from plums, apples, quince and tomato juice flavoured with chilli powder. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Montenegrin version of: Pan-fried Carp.
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Ingredients:
1 carp (about 2.5kg), cleaned, gutted and scaled
2kg onions
250g dried, pitted, plums (soaked in hot water for 30 minutes)
1 cooking apple, peeled, cored and chopped
1 quince, peeled cored and chopped
1 tbsp chilli powder
150g passata (tomato juice)
1 tbsp brown sugar
4 tbsp white wine vinegar
3 tbsp plain flour
500ml water
500ml oil
salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
Method:
Salt the cleaned carp liberally then cut a few slashes in the thickest part of the flesh to ensure even cooking. Add most of the oil to a very large pan or wok and used to fry the carp. As the fish is cooing add a little oil to another pan and use to fry the onions until beginning to soften (about 6 minutes).
Scatter the flour and chilli powder over the onions and stir to combine. Cook for 2 minutes then mix together the passata and water and stir into the onion and flour mix. Stir thoroughly, until smooth, then add the plums, apple and quince. Season with brown sugar and the white wine vinegar then bring to a simmer and cook until thickened.
Once the carp is cooked through transfer to a baking dish and pour the fruit sauce over the top. Transfer to an oven pre-heated to 180°C and bake for about 30 minutes. Transfer the fish to a warmed serving plate, spoon the sauce over the top and serve immediately.
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