You would go bananas tasting this healthy, delicious, crispy, and spicy red snapper fish fry as an appetizer or side dish to your meal. The fish can be skinned, deboned, and then sliced into long strips before cooking, or you can cook the whole fish. We prepared it as a whole fish recipe.
We often fish all day with friends in our childhood and then cook the fish afterward in the pan or oven. We followed the same and prepared this fish fry recipe by cooking it in a pan.
Don’t forget the sides!
Fried fish can’t stand alone.
You can serve this recipe with french fries, mashed peas, coleslaw, cheese and bacon potato rounds, succotash, etc. In Indian terms, this recipe can also be served well with any variety of rice like ghee rice, veg fried rice. Also, it works well with rasam.
If you want the whole fish, keep a close eye on the skillet when frying them. To pan-fry, you can add more oil as you need after bring it up to the perfect temperature.
Fish is typically low in fat and high in Omega-3 fatty acids, which helps in maintaining a healthy heart by lowering blood pressure. Researchers have also discovered that eating fish regularly may reduce the risk of cancer and other health complications.
How to marinate fish Indian style
You need to pick fresh and healthy fish for consumption. Usually, the fresh fish has clean, bright eyes, and fish with dull eyes may be safe to consume but not fresh. A fish should smell like clean water and not have any foul odor and should have no milky liquid on the flesh as that’s the first sign of becoming stale.
Firstly, the fish needs to be cleaned and washed thoroughly, at least twice or thrice. You can also do it more than thrice as you wish.
In the next step, you can mix all the ingredients: turmeric powder, chili powder, tamarind, salt, shallot paste, and fennel powder, and make a paste to apply well to the cleaned fish.
Now, you can smear the fish with the paste and let them marinate for 30 to 1 hour so that the meat absorbs the taste.
How do you fry fish?
It’s a bit easier, less messy, and more healthful than deep-frying. You can use this pan-fried fish with just a thin layer of hot oil and the mixture we made for the preparation. It means double marination!
The second marination is just to give a crust to the fish.
If you want to add cornflour to the fish, it can also add its texture and taste. But, I only prepared this recipe without the flour. It’s the best way to prepare the recipe, so try this one today if you have had a lot on your plate from work to kids this week.
Can you fry fish without flour?
You don’t need to bother purchasing expensive flour alternatives with which to powder fish before frying. To avoid celiac disease, you have the other option too. You can season-marinate the fish and cook it just as is!
You can also cook the fish in the other most popular kitchen items. You can use various equipment, such as a cast-iron skillet, non-stick pan, and stainless-steel frying pan.
Before proceeding, make sure that the pan with the oil is hot or smoking hot to add the fish or pieces of fish because the temperature will drop after you add the fish to the frying pan. So, it’s a better idea to check that!
You can add the oil as little as you can to coat the top and bottom. Also, cooking at medium temperature helps to create the crust and cook the fish with ease.
Of note, when cooking this fish, turn the fish only when it’s ready to be turned. When you can easily move fish, it’s ready for turning. Now you can flip and cook to brown the other side. Also, cooking time will depend on the size of the fish or the pieces in which they have been cut.
Which is the best fish for fry?
When it comes to buying fish, you can always pick fish with white flesh as a good rule of thumb. This type of fish is always preferred for good taste and super easy cooking.
You can also pick either one from both of these categories: Freshwater fish and Saltwater fish.
The following are the best freshwater fish for pan frying:
- Crappie
- Catfish
- Red pomfret
- Trout
- Bass
The best saltwater fish for pan frying are:
- Tilapia
- Snapper
- Pompano
- Catfish
- Halibut
- Striped Bass
Avoid picking fatty fishes like salmon; otherwise, the meat looks dense and oily, making it challenging to consume.
Indian Fish Fry Recipe
Equipment
- Pan/Skillet
Ingredients
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 2 tsp tamarind water
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp fennel powder
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1/2 tbsp shallot paste
Instructions
- Mix the ingredients well to make a paste.
- Fill the fish with the paste and marinate it well for 20 to 30 mins.
- Heat the pan/skillet to a high temperature.
- Fry the fish until it turns brown.
- Flip and fry it in oil until it creates the crust.
- Get the fish out of the pan and enjoy the food.
If you like this fish fry recipe, then provide your comments below in the comment section.
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