As far as I could remember, mom has always taught us the importance of not wasting food. I recall she would store tons of chicken, pork and fish bones in the freezer. One of my all-time favorite snacks is this Crispy Fried Fish Bones. Frying has a knack for bringing out some of the best flavors.
Whenever mom made her version of Crispy Fried Fish Bones over the weekend, whiffs of aromatic spices would fill the air and I would hover by the kitchen until she was done cooking. Those are simple joys of life and I love recreating those moments with my own family.
The fish bones I’m using are usually from larger fishes i.e salmon, snapper, garoupa. Usually, there is a good amount of flesh left on the bones after being filleted. To reduce any fishy scent, rinse the fish bones well to get rid of any excess blood and marinade with a spring onion + ginger + Chinese wine concoction.
Fried Fish bones might not be a gourmet food to many people but to me, they are so delicious in every way.
Ingredients:
1 kg fish bones – cut into bite size pieces
2 stalks spring onion – cut into sections
30 g ginger – peeled and cut into thin strips
3 tbsp Chinese rice wine
Cooking oil
Marinade:
1 tbsp curry powder
½ tsp chilli powder
1 tsp salt
1 ½ tsp sugar
1 ½ tbsp soy sauce
Few dashes of white pepper
2 to 3 tbsp potato starch (substitute with corn flour if unavailable)
serves 4
Wash the fish bones thoroughly to get rid of excess blood and fishy smell. Drain and set aside.
In a medium bowl, add in Chinese rice wine, spring onion and ginger. Use your hand to mix and lightly squeeze the ginger spring onion mixture to extract the juice.
Pour the ginger spring onion mixture onto the fish bones and mix well. Let them marinade for 15 mins.
After 15 mins, remove the ginger and spring onion. Drain excess liquid.
Add in the marinade ingredients and mix well. Let the flavors mingle for about 5 to 10 mins before cooking.
Add cooking oil into a frying pot or thick based pot.
Heat oil until hot. Insert a wooden chopstick into the oil, if you see tiny bubbles forming, the oil is ready.
Carefully add in the fish bones, a few at a time. Do not over crowd the pot.
Turn down heat slightly and fry until both sides are golden.
Drain on paper towel and serve warm.
- 1 kg fish bones – cut into bite size pieces
- 2 stalks spring onion – cut into sections
- 30 g ginger – peeled and cut into thin strips
- 3 tbsp Chinese rice wine
- Cooking oil
- Marinade:
- 1 tbsp curry powder
- ½ tsp chilli powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 ½ tsp sugar
- 1 ½ tbsp soy sauce
- Few dashes of white pepper
- 2 to 3 tbsp potato starch (substitute with corn flour if unavailable)
- Wash the fish bones thoroughly to get rid of excess blood and fishy smell. Drain and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, add in Chinese rice wine, spring onion and ginger. Use your hand to mix and lightly squeeze the ginger spring onion mixture to extract the juice.
- Pour the ginger spring onion mixture onto the fish bones and mix well. Let them marinade for 15 mins.
- After 15 mins, remove the ginger and spring onion. Drain excess liquid.
- Add in the marinade ingredients and mix well. Let the flavors mingle for about 5 to 10 mins before cooking.
- Add cooking oil into a frying pot or thick based pot.
- Heat oil until hot. Insert a wooden chopstick into the oil, if you see tiny bubbles forming, the oil is ready.
- Carefully add in the fish bones, a few at a time. Do not over crowd the pot.
- Turn down heat slightly and fry until both sides are golden.
- Drain on paper towel and serve warm.
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