Mackerel/Bangda Fry Recipe & Guide To Choose A Fresh Fish!
Bangda fry is crispy fish fry made from marinating Mackerel fish with indian spices, kokam and curd. I love this fish fry since childhood as it was my only hope when mom made just varan bhat for dinner. It goes best with fish curry and rice or plain dal rice.
To get the best flavor of this fish, marinate it for whole night and fry it the next evening. Just a warning this fish has a strong fishy smell not the bad one but a true seafood lover knows what I am talking about 🙂 So here is the recipe
Ingredients
1 Whole Mackerel
2-3 kokam (Garcinia Indica) soaked in water
1 tbsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp coriander cumin powder
3 tbsp red chilli powder
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
3 tbsp curd
Salt as per taste
Oil for frying
Method
Slit the mackerel on the skin
Remove the kokam from the water. Make sure to squeeze all the juice from the kokam
Add the masalas mentioned in a bowl and mix well.
Apply on the mackerel evenly. Marinate for 2-3 hours or refrigerate overnight after marination
Shallow fry in oil on both sides till crispy
Serve it hot
Guide To Choose A Fresh Fish!
Getting fresh fish is a very important important part of buying a fish. It’s an art to buy the freshest fish of the lot. Back in Mumbai I used to visit the Mahim Fish Market with my Baba twice a week i.e Mondays and Wednesday to buy fresh fish.
You can see all pics from this fish market on below post
More on Mumbai Fish Market. Click here
I observed my dad making sure that the follow things are taken care of while buying fish to make sure that we don’t get decayed fish at home. The difficult part is that the fresh and stale fish both look same thus you have to make them pass ur tests.
Knowing how to choose fresh fish or seafood is a vital skill for a seafood cook. Unless you caught the fish yourself, you really have no way of knowing exactly how fresh it is. But buying fresh fish is easy if you know what to look for.
Look for bright, clear eyes. The eyes are the window to a truly fresh fish, for they fade quickly into gray dullness. Dull-eyed fish may be safe to eat, but they are past their prime.
The eyes should be bright, clear, and convex, never cloudy or sunken.
Smell it. A fresh fish should smell like clean water, or a touch briny or even like cucumbers. Under no circumstances should you buy a nasty smelling fish. Cooking won’t improve it.
If the fish has any noticeable odor, it should be briny and of the sea, like seaweed. Anything noticeably pungent, “fishy,” or similar to the scent of a beach at low tide should be avoided, as this indicates decay, and the off-putting aroma will only be intensified by cooking.
Look at the gills. They should be a rich red. If the fish is old, they will turn the color of faded brick.
One of the best indicators of freshness are the gills: they should be bright red.
Next look at the fish. Does it shine? Does it look metallic and clean? Or has it dulled or has discolored patches on it? If so, it is marginal.
Skin ought to be taut, clean, and glistening, almost as if the fish were still alive. Skin color is not necessarily indicative of the fish’s state of decay, as with many varieties the color will fade almost immediately after death.
The belly should be taut, not swollen or sunken. A distended or shriveled belly indicates that the digestive enzymes from the fish’s gut have broken down and essentially digested some of the flesh.
Adapted from Popsugar & FishCooking
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