Recipes for catfish, flattie and stingrays!

[viperon1982]

hey guys! I'm pretty much new here but thought I'd share some recipes. I've been studying in Brissy (I'm from Singapore btw) for 2yrs and love it to bits here! However, most people I've had a chat with typically dislike catfish and stingrays. Catfish because some think they're poisonous, slimy, dirty.. etc, and stingrays because they are slimy, and their texture's very rubbery or chewy.

On the contrary, we singaporeans, me especially, LOVE our stingrays. We even consider it a delicacy, sort of. Perhaps if the more adventurous of you would give the recipes below a try, you might change your mind about releasing cats or stingrays and thinking of them as \"unpalatable\".

Stingrays

As usual, chop off the wings, chuck the middle portion (or use them as burley) and give the wings a good wash under running water. Just rubbing them gently with your fingers will rid the slime easily. You do not have to skin them. Next up, put the wings on a suitable piece of foil, pour a generous amount of olive oil over the wings, spread Sambal chilli paste (get this in a bottle either Coles or Woollys. Preferably from Asian grocers coz they just taste better) til the wings are covered in a layer of it, sprinkle a teaspoon or 2 of sugar, and squeeze sime lime juice. Wrap it up with the foil so fish retains the juices, pop it in the oven at 150 degrees either at Grill or Bake settings. Wait about 15-20mins, take it out, serve with plain white rice, and ENJOY! Mite be a tad spicy, but really, it's worth it!

Oh to eat it properly, gently scrape the \"meat\" off the cartilage or \"soft bones\" as they call it with a fork. Go along the direction of the cartilage so you don't break the bones. You'll understand what the heck I'm saying when you're doing it.

Catfishes

Personally, the only prep I do is gut it, snap off the spikes (with a cutter coz they're REAL hard), same as the stingray, wash and rub them under running water to rid the slime. I don't really fillet them as most of you guys know doing so will only give you a pathetically-sized fillet as the cat's head makes up almost a third of its size. So to save any piece of meat, I leave the head intact. Like the stinger, I wrap them in foil to preserve the juices. But this time, I season the cat with olive oil, garlic, lemon, butter. Slice up some tomatoes and ginger, and stick them into the fish by making incisions at the sides of the fish, kinda like givin the fish zebra stripes.

Wrap the fish up, pop into the oven as before and BAKE for 15-20mins, and ENJOY! And to REALLY be adventurous, give the eyes and tongues a go. They are quite tasty and tender. It's prob like Fear Factor for you guys, but hey, we asians just eat anything! Try it, you mite just LOVE it!

Flatties

Well this is just an additional recipe I thought you guys mite try. Flatties are probably better off pan-fried or beer-battered. But for the more health-conscious of you, this mite be ideal.

Same as before, gut, scale, de-spike if you must. I leave the head on as well. No filleting too. The only difference between this and catfish recipe is that I use different seasoning. Completely smother the fish with Thai seasoning, cajun, dill, some olive oil, and go easy on the salt. Bake it as before and serve!

Well that's all I have. Let me know what you guys think of the recipes ya? Tell me even if you HATE it! Feedback's great! Perhaps you can even help improve them!

Post edited by: viperon1982, at: 2007/05/22 00:03

[kiara_poltegerist]

hey there Viper. welcome to the forum . Are you a FK member too? . hehe.

I concur with your recipes and tastes . Fish taste better with the head on and still attatched to the bones . . hehe.

One word of caution tho - select the catfish you want to eat carefully. I've noticed alot of the catfish in the river have skin disease or a parasite that causes a whole load of red dots or rashes along the underbelly. So far I've only taken 2 catfish for curry, and I have to say, they tasted quite ok.

as for the flatties, i prefer to cut some ginger into thin strips and fry em till their crispy before removing them from the oil. Then gut the flattie and scale it, but get rid of the head- hardly any meat there, waste of oil to cook it. Then fry it till it's just cooked. remove the fish from the oil and place on a plate. Then get a bowl, pour 4 spoons of soy sauce into it, 1 spoon of sugar, mix it well, and then pour into the oil still in the frying pan and stirring it and adding the ginger before pouring liberally over the fish. This recipe works well with all White-fleshed fish!

Stingrays- you got it right man . nothing like bbq sambal pari eh . hehe.. a twist of lime juice for good measure? ;P. i've yet to catch one here yet, but will try when i've landed one

[Feral]

Dunno about that mate, your putting enough spice on them to cover any of the fish flavour! I'd reckon I'd eat my workboots if you cooked em up like that!

We had catfish (from the Brissy river) fish cakes a few times when I was a kid, but when you consider I grew up on whiting, tailor and bream pretty much as a staple in my diet, it did not stay on the menu to long!

[rayke1938]

Thanks guys a couple of interesting recipes will have to give them a go. May have to try the stingray or catfish whilst the missus is out. I dont think she would be too keen having them in her oven.

With the rays do you scrape the skin away when its cooked or eat it too.

Had a few great curries in Thailand made on dried catfish even ate the heads. They were nice and crunchy, missus wouldnt be in it reckoned I was sick in the head.

Ray

Post edited by: rayke1938, at: 2007/05/22 06:15

[Angus]

Cheers for those and welcome to the site.

I have tried catty from the river once just fried up normal fish style and i can honestly i was surprised at how nice it was due to the stigma attached.

Im pretty sure most people here have tried stingray as well without knowing. Scallops anyone

My only beef with catties is that for the size of the fish you get dismally small fillets. But i guess cooking it your way whole, this is a moot point.

Angus

[Aaron H]

Stingrays substituted as scallops:blink: , it is hard to know what you are eating, I used to like Pacific dory, and cod until I was informed they were Mekong delta catfish.

[viperon1982]

<-- kiara_poltegerist -->

Erm what's FK? Oh yes, catfishes from Brissy rivers are full of those red dots, but I still eat them anyway. Are they really diseases? Do you also notice that the insides of the bellies are full of small white lumps? Are those parasites as well? My mate whose a bio grad says it's fine once we cook it though.. hehe..

I can't seem to find a good sambal paste though... but thanks fer your recipes, will try them next!

<-- rayke1938 -->

Yeap you eat the skin with it. It's tastless so the only thing u'll taste is sambal! You wouldn't even tell its skin!

<-- Feral -->

Haha, no mate, spices are supposed to enhance the taste, not \"annihilate\" it! Trust me, they'll taste better than workboots anytime! But on a truthful note, the flesh of the fish will not be affected much by the spice, only the skin! Unless u decide to spice up the insides as well! :laugh:

[Do$tylz]

I still think you are crazy for eating catfish....

but hey...at least there is no minimum size

But the recipes do sound ok...may have to sink some booze first though to make myself eat one.

[rayke1938]

The dried ones I ate in Bankok were only about 6inches long.

They also had dried catfish head soup but I wasnt allowed to have any.

I have been told that a DYI thai fish farm is fully self contained.

1 Dig hole in ground and fill with water and small catfish

2 Build chookshed over hole in ground with wire mesh as floor.

3. have reasonably flat roof on chookshed.

The fish eat the chicken manure and dead birds etc and you dry the fish on the flat roof after you harvest them.

The chooks eat the fish guts etc.

Self sustaining.

In bankok it is common to see fish drying on tin roofs they dont seem to worry about flies or taking the fish in at night or out of the rain.

Missus wont leave me try it out at home. Shame because the small catfish from Kookaburra park would be ideal.

Ray

[ellicat]

PMSL Ray. Your smoked chooks looked and sounded so much more appetising....

Post edited by: ellicat, at: 2007/05/22 13:30

[wokket]

I've been meaning to try Catties since I discovered that Grant's describes them as \"very palatible\"... reckons you should skin 'em though...

[James W]

viperron-im keen to try it!..but not keen to cook the rays myself...nxt meet and greet ya should have a cook up for us and show us what we are all missing out on!

[Liquor Box]

Is it true that Cat Fish is Bassa (get it at woolies)?

[Angus]

Liquor Box wrote:

Is it true that Cat Fish is Bassa (get it at woolies)?

Yes thats true.

I also would not buy from a super market:

Basa

Pacific Dory

Dory

Cobbler

Silver Cobbler

and sometimes even Cod.

And they are not even Brisbane River Catties they are bred in putrid fish farms in Vientnam (mostly of course there is likely to exceptions).

Angus

[Brian D]

:sick: :sick: :sick: :sick: :sick: :pinch: :S :sick:

What's wrong with Maccas

[johnsonMAN]

LOL Brian can i just say viperon. The flathead tasted moderately alright but its just that my bro had food poising for then next day and a half.

Well tis not the best flathead and not far off the worst.

I think the main spices clash. i wont be trying this again

[viperon1982]

johnsonMAN wrote:

LOL Brian can i just say viperon. The flathead tasted moderately alright but its just that my bro had food poising for then next day and a half.

Well tis not the best flathead and not far off the worst.

I think the main spices clash. i wont be trying this again

Sorry to hear that dude. What a pity thou. The spices aren't \"hot\" or \"strong\" to say the least. Good thing you guys did not try the Sambal stingray. You might not have survived then!

[kriso]

mate thanks for your recipes! while they dont apeal to me except the flat head recipe its a great read and insight to your culture

thank you for sharing.

[johnsonMAN]

Yeh well luckily i was away at the time i think the toilet stunk a bit for a day or two.

[johnsonMAN]

Yeh well luckily i was away at the time i think the toilet stunk a bit for a day or two.

[Mack_attack]

viperon you know how you said they are considered a delicacy in sinapore if you could get a license anyone could make millions by selling brissy catties to asia as they are in plague proportions here:laugh:

[AlsHilux]

karma to you viper for the recipes!

there is a place in chinatown called.. yuens market(?) they have a massive range, a few different kinds of sambal paste.. so if you haven't checked it out, have a look.

i'm still a bit iffy about the catfish.. but i'll see if I can work up the courage.

any good ideas about cooking eel?

[kmetius]

i dont know if it's near you but theres a shop next to the warehouse at sunnybank across the road from market sqaure that have sambal they import alot of products from other countries rather than selling the inferior stuff we have here i go there for all my salvadorean supplies

[viperon1982]

Mack_attack wrote:

viperon you know how you said they are considered a delicacy in sinapore if you could get a license anyone could make millions by selling brissy catties to asia as they are in plague proportions here:laugh:

Haha. Well I was actually referring to stingrays as a delicacy. Catfishes aren't as popular as stingrays! damn.. i miss the sambal stingrays from back home... *drools*

Good idea eh? I could get the license for stingrays instead! They seem to be easy to catch especially in winter ya?

Any idea where or how I should get that license? :laugh:

[viperon1982]

AlsHilux wrote:

karma to you viper for the recipes!

there is a place in chinatown called.. yuens market(?) they have a massive range, a few different kinds of sambal paste.. so if you haven't checked it out, have a look.

i'm still a bit iffy about the catfish.. but i'll see if I can work up the courage.

any good ideas about cooking eel?

Haha. Dudes, you shouldn't have to ask any chinese guy if they know about Yuens. Coz we all do! I know of the massive range of sambal, and most of them suck... seriously! Even though they import the stuff, somehow they aren't as authentic.. very very fishy.. :dry:

Well in case you guys wanna try the sambal, my latest source tells me that this brand of sambal called Glory Nonya Sambal is THE one to try! It's supposed to be the exact same ones they use to grill at the foodstalls, NICE!!!

I shall have to verify its authencity, but first, I need to catch me a BIG PHAT stingray!

[AlsHilux]

yuens is the business.. i love that place.. even if most of the time i don't know what i'm buying. i've currently got some sambal in the fridge i got from there a while a go and i can only describe it as brutal... i can foresee it's going to last me a long time.