My local Indian grocery store has a freezer full of fish these days. And DH thinks they should be on our menu. Is it safe to buy frozen Indian fish in the US? If yes, which fish to buy and how to cook them? Can the fish go straight from the freezer to the pot? or do I have to thaw them first? Do they have to be cleaned? How? I'm a total novice at this. All advice is welcome. Thank you in advance. .
For this question, you should always thaw before cooking , otherwise it wont get cooked inside, and outside it will be overcooked. And thawing in the refrigerator (instead of counter top as it spoils fast) is good, take it from the freezer and put it in the refrigerator before night to cook. answer to Your other questions, I never tried, let us see if anybody tried fish from Indian stores.
My husband is the fish-eater, but I have never tried frozen fish from the Indian store. We buy from Trader Joe's: salmon, mahi mahi, wild cod, swordfish, Dover sole and tuna. He always thaws the fish in warm water before cooking, it only takes a few minutes. Then he either grills or pan-fries them and makes a butter sauce to put on top. Tuna works nicely on skewers for kebabs. However the fish freezer in the desi store gets regularly restocked so people are buying. The fish curry at our favorite Indian place is made with tilapia. If you buy filets they should be pre-cleaned and ready to use. I have never tried cleaning a whole fish.
If you buy the frozen whole fish, most likely you will have to clean it unless it says so. My favourite are pomfret, red snapper, and bullet tuna for frying as whole. For fish fillet- basa, pollock, or sole. Don't try tilapia, it always taste muddy. For frying, you need to thaw the fish first but for soup or casserole, I prefer the fish frozen.
Thanks for the tips, @MalStrom. We were at the Indian store last week. I stood near the fish freezer hoping to interrogate the next person who reached in, but there were no customers for a good long time. We returned home fishless again. .
@momsky, thanks for the info. Do they freeze the whole fish, guts and all? Sorry for the stupid question — total novice here. They have whole frozen pomfrets. Would you mind sharing a simple recipe? I've never done this before. .
Many Indian recipes tell us to apply turmeric and salt to the fish and set it aside for 15 minutes before cooking. Why is this done? And is it necessary? .
Amica, check out ecurry.com blog. The author is Bengali and she isn't updating right now but she has a fabulous collection of recipes with lots of fish.
@Amica, I'm not much of a cook but here is a simple hot and sour sauce I make to pour over a whole fried fish. You can simmer fried fish fillet here as well but I like my fish crunchy hence i separate them 'til serving time. >> Sautee chopped garlic, onion rings, grated ginger, crushed chili pepper, sliced red and yellow bell pepper then add water, vinegar, ketchup or tomato paste to color, and a small amount of soy sauce. Simmer for a few minutes, then adjust according to your taste. You can add sugar to sweeten it a bit or more vinegar/chili to make it more sour/hot. Once you like the taste, thicken the sauce with premixed cornstarch/water. If you don't like it chunky, you can blend it afterwards.
