Fish Shammi Kebab

[citymonk]

I am in Delhi. The online store delivers to a few Metros
https://www.freshtohome.com/
so check if there is delivery to your city

Tuna I brought from Fish market was not so fresh, plus the red color discouraged children to even taste it.

This site has given good advertisement this winter in newspapers.

Will try from them soon, My only worry was do they deliver fresh as name suggests.

 

[aroy]

Tuna I brought from Fish market was not so fresh, plus the red color discouraged children to even taste it.

This site has given good advertisement this winter in newspapers.

Will try from them soon, My only worry was do they deliver fresh as name suggests.

That is the problem with inland fish market. The fish takes two to five days to arrive in Delhi from coast. Add to that a day in coastal market and a few days in the boat, and you have an idea of how old the deep sea fish is.

In order to maintain fresh look, some chemicals are used. Fresh to Home site claims that
. No chemicals are used
. Fish are mostly from coastal waters, hence are brought the same day as caught
. Fish is dispatched the same day it is bought in the fish market

In my experience most of the time the marine fish is much fresher than that found in Delhi's INA market. There are some exceptions. For high value fish - Large Prawns, Lobsters and Snappers that are prized by high end Hotels, catch comes by Air, so that is super fresh. You can ask the major fish dealers to give you a ring advising on what is coming the next day, and order accordingly.

 

[aroy]

After getting pretty fed up with deboning fish for Kebabs, I thought that this time I will use boneless fillets. I used a mixture of
. Indian Basa - 1 kg
. Tilapia - 1/2kg

Unlike the frozen Vietnamese Basa, Indian variety has a firmer and redder texture. Front - Tilapia, Rear Basa.

The spices are same as for the previous post (using Rohu).

Fillets

Chopped condiments

Mashed Fish (front) and dal (rear).

Mix thoroughly.

We had a couple who are allergic to eggs, so a batch of 12 had no eggs, but Besan as binder

Rest of the mix had eggs for binding.

Start frying

Flip over

Done.
White Box = kebabs with egg
Black Box = eggless kebabs
Steel plate = for dinner

NOTES
I was a bit apprehensive of using Tilapia and Basa, as normally when these are served in restaurants they are tasteless with a pasty feel, and fish fillets are quite expensive.

As far as expenses go The Basa at around 525 per kilo, beat Rohu as well as Tuna. Though these fish are much cheaper, the yeald of boneless fish (< 40%) makes them at least one and a half times as expensive.

Well these kebabs tasted as good as the Rohu ones. The fact that we started with boneless fillets ensured that not a single bone was there in the kebabs. Plus the fillets cooked much faster. On the whole Unless I get Tuna/Rohu dirt cheap (say at 100/kg or less), Indian Basa is what I will use now on.

 

[citymonk]

ensured that not a single bone was there in the kebabs. Plus the fillets cooked much faster. On the whole Unless I get Tuna/Rohu dirt cheap (say at 100/kg or less), Indian Basa is what I will use now on.

I too tried Indian Basa this season.
No issues for fish fingers.

But if I compare this with 'Sole' or some others, found it much oily in curry preparations.
I mostly use non fried fish in fish curry preparations.

 

[aroy]

I too tried Indian Basa this season.
No issues for fish fingers.

But if I compare this with 'Sole' or some others, found it much oily in curry preparations.
I mostly use non fried fish in fish curry preparations.

Sole is way too expensive, unless you want a fat free experience. For Kebabs and fry, fish with fat is my preference.

One thing to note is that Basa is from Catfish family, and the Indian variety is much different from the imported ones sold frozen (they are even cheaper to the importer, who make a packet selling fillets). While the frozen imported Basa has practically no flakes the fresh Indian one does, hence the difference in taste.

 

[citymonk]

Sole is way too expensive, unless you want a fat free experience. For Kebabs and fry, fish with fat is my preference.

One thing to note is that Basa is from Catfish family, and the Indian variety is much different from the imported ones sold frozen (they are even cheaper to the importer, who make a packet selling fillets). While the frozen imported Basa has practically no flakes the fresh Indian one does, hence the difference in taste.

Oh! Basa is catfish.
Then positively it is much much cheaper then other Indian catfish known for it's flakes but astronomically priced 'Surmai' or 'Seer' as called in south.

I too found imported frozen packets from Vietnam lacking taste. People avoid them in spite of being cheap, with mrp Rs. 200 for one Kg
frozen fillets.

Hoping Indian Basa is available around the year.

 

[aroy]

Oh! Basa is catfish.
Then positively it is much much cheaper then other Indian catfish known for it's flakes but astronomically priced 'Surmai' or 'Seer' as called in south.

I too found imported frozen packets from Vietnam lacking taste. People avoid them in spite of being cheap, with mrp Rs. 200 for one Kg
frozen fillets.

Hoping Indian Basa is available around the year.

Spoke to a few friends who are familiar with North East. Indian Basa or Pangusius is found in Assam all year round. Well I got my fillets on-line, and extremely satisfied with them.

By the way, Surmai is not cat fish, it is a sea fish, with taste more like Tuna than Catfish (Boal, Singhara, Magur etc)

 

[citymonk]

By the way, Surmai is not cat fish, it is a sea fish, with taste more like Tuna than Catfish (Boal, Singhara, Magur etc)

O. K.
Just discovred it is King Mackerel.
Surmai is a type of mackerel and is called “King Mackerel” or “Indo-Pacific Mackerel”.

Tried your recipe with two 250 gm mackerel. And results were awesome. Forgot to click Photos. We did not used Channa dal and yellow part of egg. Still binding was perfect.

Have also discovered mackerel tastes quite similar to Tuna.

Fish this time was sourced from C. R. Park, number 1 market.