Indian Style Fried Fish

My Grandma made some the best seafood dishes in Malaysia. Believe me, I’m not the only one who loved them, everyone who had the opportunity to taste her cooking raved about it. She was a civilian chef with the Malaysian army for 19 years. Her dishes tasted exceptional because of her training as well as because of her passion for food.

This recipe is inspired by my Grandma’s recipe, but this is a healthier version. Grandma used to deep fry the fish, but I’ve modified the recipe for pan frying/baking, to limit the amount of oil used. The marinade is made using a small of amount of oil, eliminating the need to deep fry the fish, while still retaining the Indian flavour.

My recipe works well with thin fish, particularly, fish fillets that are less than 1 cm in thickness. Fillets that are thicker may not cook well or completely due to the limited use of oil. I’ve only tried this recipe with Basa fish fillet. You can experiment with any thin fish.

Ingredients
(Four Hour Body, Slow Carb Diet, Gluten Free)

200 - 300g Basa fish fillet
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon cumin powder
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
¼ teaspoon chili powder (for less heat, try Kashmiri chili powder)
¼ teaspoon salt


Preparation

1. Basa fillet: Clean and cut the fillet into small pieces about 2-3 cm in length.
2. Oil, cumin, turmeric and chili powder, and salt: In a bowl, mix all the ingredients well. Once the spices are mixed well, add the fish, coat well and marinate for about 10 minutes. 

Cooking

The fish may be either fried or baked. Both methods work well and produce similar results.

To fry: Heat a non-stick frying pan on a low to medium flame. Once the pan is hot, add the marinated fish and cook for 4 minutes on each side.

Or

To bake: Heat oven to 200C. Place the fish pieces on a lined baking tray and bake for 20 minutes. Flip the fish over and bake for another 15 minutes.