Sunday, September 23, 2012

Deep-Fried Turmeric Smelts


We all loved this little fish called Smelt.  I bought it at WalMart where they sell frozen fish.  Turmeric has curcumin which have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.  And the best way for me to cook this fish is marinating it with turmeric powder and then deep-fry so that we can eat the whole thing including the fish bones.  So, flouring the fish is important here for it to get crispy and delicious.

Have you eaten Smelt before?  If yes, how else would you cook it?



Ingredients:

8 oz. wild caught lake fish Smelts
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. turmeric powder
1/2 tsp. cumin powder

Rice flour to coat the fish

Method:

Marinate the Smelts with salt, turmeric and cumin powder for at least an hour in the refrigerator.

Heat up your wok with cooking oil, medium heat, and enough to cover the fish.  Dip each Smelt into rice flour to coat evenly and slowly drop into the hot oil.  Deep-fry until crispy and cooked (in batches).  You can drain on paper towel or serve directly.

13 comments:

  1. How I wish I could do this at home but you know the deep-frying really deters me! :O

    I did not know Walmart sells frozen smelt.

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  2. What a simple way to add some flavor into these simple and delicious fish!

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  3. I like mixing tumeric and flour then using it to coat fish before frying. Never heard of 'smelts'! Such a funny name :-) Looks very more-ish.

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  4. I wonder if tempura flour can be used? Looks yummy and since we don't deep fry very much this is one we can try and I know Lynn will enjoy it as he is such a picky eater.

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  5. Oh yeah Tigerfish, I know. But this fish only good when deep-fried. :P

    Thanks Belinda. :)

    What a name right wokandspoon! :D

    Meaderiote, yeah sure you can use tempura flour too if you don't have rice flour. This fish is soooo good when deep-fried!! Try it!

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  6. yes, I agree that deep-fried is the best way to enjoy this fish. I have a bit phobia of working with tumeric in the kitchen keke

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  7. I like to deep fry fish with turmeric powder too.

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  8. These sound great! I bet they'd work with most any small-ish fish, too.

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  9. I didnt know the name of this fish although I think I may have come across it occassionally at Malay rice stalls when I was still in Singapore. It seems that the chinese dun eat them so much, but its very crispy when eaten. Do you know what is the name in chinese?

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  10. Sorry Miss B, I have no idea what this fish called in Chinese. I don't think I had this fish while in Malaysia.

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  11. my late mum told me that this is my dad's favourite fish and sadly was difficult to come by. I found some in the supermarket today and bought them... then googled to check how to cook them.

    Thank you so much for sharing!

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  12. You're so welcome cookie. I hope your dad likes it. :)

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