From the sea into the pan

After getting some good catch yesterday, it’s time for some fish cleaning sessions. I leave this task to hubby as it is often very messy. I normally take over when the fish has been cleaned…that’s the cooking part. Hubby was very cooperative when I told him I wanted to shoot his fish cleaning for my blog. So, he started telling me the processes like chef wan telling the audience about his cooking.

Well, we don’t have fancy fish cleaning tools, so we made do with the tools we have at home.

The first step in cleaning fish is to clear the cleaning area. Now, I’m eyeing for a good fish cleaning table to bring it back to our Malaysian home.

The next step is to make sure you sharpen your knife, to make the cleaning work easier. Hubby likes his knife sharp and comfortable in his hands.

Once you are ready, you can scale the fish. Do this until the fish is thoroughly clean. This reminds me that I have to mop the kitchen floor once all this work is done. As I am writing, hubby is still in the kitchen, cleaning his catch. Kudos to you, love!!

Then cut off all the fins. If the fish is too big, like the kahawai hubby caught last night, cut off its head.

And next, it’s time to cut off its tail.

The next step is to remove the gut. Don’t insert the knife too deeply in the flesh of the fish. Then, remove the parts that contaminate the flesh.

Hubby found some roes. Let’s look at the roes and compare the roes produced by a female fish and a male one. The one in Zul’s hands are the ones produced by a male kahawai.

Because much of our cooking use the fish head like asam pedas kepala ikan, or fish head curry, give it a good clean. Then, soak the head and the fish in tamarind water or salt water to remove the fishy odour.

Once ready, it’s time to let your fish swim in your pan….My asam pedas snapper is waiting for the snappers to be cleaned. The asam pedas is almost ready now. All smiles!

p/s: It took hubby an hour to clean the kahawais