Name: Sfineġ tal-Bakkaljaw (Maltese Salt-Cod Fritters)
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 50 min
Yield: 4 people
Cuisine: Maltese
Ingredients: 600g boneless salted cod, before soaking; 200g self-raising flour; 220-260ml cold water, added as needed; 1 garlic clove, very finely grated, for the batter; 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley; 1 tbsp olive oil, for the batter; Black pepper, to taste; Sunflower oil, enough for 4cm depth in a deep heavy pan; 1 tbsp olive oil, for the sauce; 1 onion, finely chopped; 1 garlic clove, finely chopped, for the sauce; 400g canned chopped tomatoes; 60g pitted black olives, halved; 1 tbsp capers, rinsed; 1 tbsp chopped fresh basil; 1 tsp chopped fresh mint; Lemon wedges, to serve

Sfineġ tal-Bakkaljaw (Maltese Salt-Cod Fritters)

Desalted cod in a light garlic-and-parsley batter, fried golden and served with a Maltese tomato, olive and caper sauce.

Prep: 30 minutes (plus 24-48 hours desalting) Cook: 50 minutes Servings: 4 people

Instructions

Desalt: Rinse the cod and cover generously with cold water in a non-reactive container. Refrigerate for 24-48 hours, changing the water three or four times a day; thick, heavily salted pieces may take longer. Follow the packet guidance where given. Before cooking the batch, poach a small piece in fresh water and taste it. If still too salty, continue soaking the uncooked fish with fresh water changes.
Poach the cod: Drain, cover with fresh water and bring just to a simmer. Poach gently for 8-12 minutes, depending on thickness, until the fish is opaque and flakes. Drain, cool enough to handle, remove any skin or remaining bones and divide into roughly 12 pieces. Pat dry.
Make the sauce alongside the fish: While the cod poaches, soften the onion in the sauce oil in a separate pan for 8 minutes. Add the sauce garlic for 1 minute, then tomatoes, olives and capers. Simmer for 15-20 minutes until thickened. Stir in basil and mint. Keep warm while frying.
Mix the batter: Stir flour, batter garlic, parsley and pepper together. Whisk in 220ml cold water and the batter oil, adding more water a little at a time until it coats a spoon but still flows. Do not add salt before tasting the cooked cod.
Fry in batches: Heat the frying oil to 175°C, with the pan no more than half full. Dip dry cod pieces into the batter, let the excess drip off and lower carefully into the oil. Fry a few at a time for 3-5 minutes, turning, until golden and hot through. Allow about 15-20 minutes for all batches, letting the oil recover between them. Drain on a rack.
Serve: Serve immediately with the warm sauce in a separate bowl and lemon wedges alongside.

Begin with Salted Cod

Look for bakkaljaw or salt cod, and allow time to remove its preserving salt. Fresh cod does not need desalting but gives a different starting flavour and texture. Soaking time depends on the cure and the thickness of the fish; a fixed overnight soak is not enough for every product.

Keep the fish cold throughout soaking. Test a small cooked piece before proceeding: the fish should be pleasantly seasoned, not aggressively salty. Check carefully for bones even when the packet says boneless.

Keep the Coating Light

Dry the poached pieces before dipping them. A thin coating of flowing batter fries more cleanly than a thick lump around wet fish. Keep the sauce separate until eating so the surface stays crisp.

Use the seafood collection for other Maltese fish preparations. Leftovers can be refrigerated promptly for up to two days and reheated until piping hot, although the batter is best freshly fried.

Bakkaljaw in Maltese cooking

Preserved salt cod has a place in Maltese cooking alongside fresh fish. Sfineġ tal-bakkaljaw can be made by coating pieces of desalted cod in a savoury batter. This version pairs them with tomato sauce, olives, capers, basil and mint. It uses a quick batter rather than the yeast dough in our anchovy sfineġ.