Sunday, August 28, 2011

Recipe - Roasted Black Pomfret.. a new experiment

So, I braved the rains and went to the fish stall to get prawns. But, they were not fresh. Eventually I got a couple of Black Pomfrets. Decided to make roasted fish instead of one with curry. I don't like the curried fish much. Now, this is the first time I made this fish. So wasn't sure how it's gonna taste. Just smelled it a little and decided on a few things that would be best for marination. I am not going to put any numbers here as I usually cook by instinct. Any and all of these ingredients can be and should be put as per taste.

Ingredients - 
  • Tamarind
  • Schezwan paste
  • Salt
  • Rice flour
  • ... Fish :)
Method -
1. Clean the fish thoroughly with water and take all the innards out. We don't want to taste them. The best way to take them out is cutting the front underbelly of the fish and scooping them out. Cut the fins off and also the tail.

2. Cut the fish into manageable pieces. I like roasting the whole fish as well. In this case, make diagonal cuts on the body of the fish so the spices are absorbed better. Today I wanted to make smaller pieces.
3. Heat a a small amount of water (say about half a cup) and put the tamarind in it. Mix well and take the tamarind pieces out. Put this tamarind water in a bowl and marinate the fish pieces in it for 10 minutes in the refrigerator. This is not needed for all fish, but I find Black pomfret a little pungent. This helps remove that smell.
4. After 10 minutes, take the bowl out and throw the excess tamarind water away. Today, I decided to use Schezwan sauce which I had in the fridge. It tastes good. But instead of that, a lot of spices can be put. Red chilli powder, a little turmeric, Garam masala, Cumin powder, Amchur. This is what I normally put. And of course salt. Apply it well to all the pieces. Toss them around in the bowl and then put in it in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

5. After the fish pieces are marinated for an hour, heat oil in a frying pan. Just about half a centimeter depth should be enough. Even less.

6. In a flat container, take out the rice flour.
7. Put the pieces one by one in it and coat it thoroughly with the flour from all sides. A little cornflour and bread crumbs is also good. But rice flour has a different taste.
8. Put the pieces in the heater oil carefully. Shallow fry the pieces on all sides till they are brown. After a few tries you will know how much you want to fry them. I like them well done (I like my steak VERY well done :) ).

9. Take the pieces out and put on a kitchen towel to remove excess oil. And serve with thinly sliced onions and lemon.

I gotto say, it looks amazing! I have stored some marinated pieces in the fridge and I am gonna probably bake them tomorrow. That's gonna be another experiment! Right now, I am gonna eat! Hungry!!!
-----
30 min later.
Ok. The marination was amazing. The crust was good. BUT. I messed up on one most important thing due to my inexperience. I didn't buy good fish :(

2 comments:

  1. way to go ...N
    Der aye par durust aye...

    ReplyDelete
  2. OOps ! Fish !! I don't eat any seafood so I'll give it a pass ! But it does look interesting :) Pangasius n Egli fillets is all that I can manage ...

    ReplyDelete