Deep fried white baby pomfret

This is one dish I seldom prepare as I am not very keen on the cleaning up after deep frying. Besides, I use grapeseed oil whenever I deep fry and that can be pretty costly. These are seasonal fish and my daughter simply loves eating them. That’s the only reason I make this dish.

She devours them one by one crunching them from head to the tail. Deep frying these fish looks easy but needs a little bit of technique, really. Just cannot dunk them in hot boiling oil and expect them to turn out this way. Has a lot to do with controlling the heat and knowing when to turn the fish and continue to fry. One thing for sure, must use a non-stick frying pan.

Whenever I come across these baby pomfret, I am sure to buy one kilogram full, clean and gutted from my favourite fishmonger. Here’s how I prepare them :-

Ingredients

1 kg fresh white baby pomfret
grapeseed oil
sea salt

Method

1. Wash and pat dry all the pomfret using disposable paper towels.
2. Heat up a non-stick pan and drizzle a generous amount of grapeseed oil. Sprinkle a pinch of salt into the heated oil to test if the oil is hot enough for frying. The oil will sizzle when ready.
3. Slowly lower in a few pomfret at a time. Leave it to fry on one side for about 1 minute on high heat then turn the heat down low and leave to fry for another 3 – 4 minutes. Sprinkle some sea salt onto the fish while frying.
4. Using a pair of thongs, turn the fish to the other side and continue to fry on low heat until the fish is golden brown and crispy. Take them them out and leave them on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb the excess oil.
5. Repeat the same process with the rest of the pomfrets. Devour immediately.