Friday, August 31, 2007

Basa Fish Fillets

First food related blog post for this blog! :D
Today's recipes are:
BASA FISH HERBACIOUS PAN-FRIED FILLETS
AND
BASA FISH DEEP-FRIED PIECES
First up, just a reminder:

Got it? Greaaat. :)
General Notes:Basa fish fillets
Basa fish fillets taste vaguely like barramundi(?) but the meat is less dense
In Australia, they should be able to be purchased at Coles in a pack for roughly $8 maybe less, or perhaps check any other places which may sell Basa fish fillets.
If they are thawed, cook them on the same day, but if they are frozen they can wait until the next day too.

First step:
Wash the fishy fillets
Scrub them with your fingers and run them under water.

Second step:
Slap 'em on a plate and pat them as dry as you can with paper towels

Directions to make Pan Fried Herbacious Fish
ingredients
Basa fish fillets
Olive Oil
Mixed Herbs
Cracked pepper
For this dish, cracked black pepper and MasterFoods brand Mixed Herbs were used.

Step One:
Pour olive oil into a non-stick pan, and let it heat up on a medium flame.

Step Two:
Sprinkle the mixed herbs and crack the pepper all over the surface of the fish fillets, then turn them over and repeat the same thing until there is a layer of herbs covering the fish.
Step Three:
Place fish fillets into pan once oil is hot, and press continually on the fish while frying.
Note* You may need to add a little more olive oil when the pan is hotter
Step Four:
The fish should be turning golden, so flip it over to cook properly on the other side, and continue to press down on it.
Press down on the fish for it to cook evenly on the inside.
It should be golden, a little less golden than this (it's only this yellow because of the lighting!)
Step Five:
Remove fish from frying pan, and serve hot with brocolli for a nice healthy meal :D
Mmm look at that fish :D

MMMMMMMMMMM.... Deliciouso:D
This fish also goes well with a glass of chilled water with some lemon juice in it :)
If you don't like to drink water because it tastes strange, add some lemon juice and you'll be refreshed in no time :D And cold water always tastes better :D

Directions to make BASA DEEP FRIED FISH PIECES
Ingredients
Basa fish fillets (cut)
Approx. 3 tablespoons of Cornflour
White pepper
Canola Oil
Light Soya Sauce
This fish goes well with rice, and is usually accompanied by a sweet and sour sauce, but is good by itself too. A nice treat for kids, it is generally well-received by those who have eaten it ! :D

Step One:
Cut the fish fillets into smallish pieces to ensure thorough cooking.

Step Two:
Pour light soya sauce and some white pepper into a bowl containing the cut pieces of fish, just enough to cover every bit of the fish, and stir it around. Then leave the pieces in there for about 10-30 minutes, depending on how salty you want the pieces to be.
Step Three:
While the pieces are marinating, pour some canola oil into a deep pan, and place it on a high flame to heat the oil. The oil must be hot in order for the fish pieces to cook properly.
About this much oil should suffice. Note the non-stick deep frying pan too!
Flame should be about this high.
Step Four:
Next, we set up a system, the three-stations system.
Fish, Flour, Fire (Which really isn't fire, but more oil. but hey, otherwise it wouldn't be the three Fs!)
Step Five:
Remove the fish fillets from the sauce, and then put them into the cornflour which is the second station. Thoroughly rub the flour into and onto the fish piece, making sure that the entire piece is covered. This step should only be done just before the pieces go into the hot oil.
Step Six:
Now, slowly drop the flour-covered fish pieces into the hot oil.
NOTE: The oil MUST be hot, or the fish pieces will not be cooked right.
Move the pieces around to allow them to fit with the other pieces better.
At this stage, it is advisable to be using wooden chopsticks to cook.

Step Seven:
Once the fish start to turn golden, use the wooden chopsticks to flip the fish pieces around to the other side, so that they don't get burnt on one side, and undercooked on the other!

Step Eight
:
Shake off the excess oil once the fish pieces are completely golden, and place them onto paper towels laid on plates to absorb the oil.
FINITO!
Serve it up immediately, or you can reheat these in the over at 230C for about 6 minutes depending on your oven strength!:D They're a perfectly delicious snack that can be eaten by themselves without any sauce!
Ta-DAH
And so here ends the first food-related entry :)
For those who really didn't quite understand the directions, here is a special video I made which will help to enlighten you, hopefully.
Excuse the post for any bad grammar/spelling as it is 12:48am and I am quite tired :)


The song playing in the background of the video (there is no dialogue) is Speeding Cars by Imogen Heap.

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