This is my favorite way to eat fish; served with head and tail they are a delicacy; we eat the eyes too! I would have it every Sunday at the beach when I was a teenager. They sold the fish with plantains and coconut rice from small wooden houses right on the beach. Imagine the vendors walking around, selling mangos with salt and pepper, mamoncillos*, coconuts with their water and a straw to drink it from them, and advertising their "fish of the day," which in my hometown was almost always mojarra, a kind of tilapia. Mojarra and red Snapper are the most popular fried fish in Colombia.
Ingredientes:
- One (1 to 1½ pound) whole Snapper or Mojarra, cleaned, scaled, and gutted
- 1½ teaspoons minced scallion,
- 1 teaspoon minced parsley
- 1 teaspoon lime juice
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups oil for frying
- 2 slices of lime
- Make sure all the scales have been removed from the fish by passing your hands over them from tail to head. Make 3 or 4 slashes along the sides of the skin of each fish; they should go all the way down to the bones.
- Combine the scallion, parsley, lime juice, and salt, and rub them inside the cuts and in the belly of the fish.
- Cover and set aside in the refrigerate for 15 minutes or until ready to fry.
- Heat 2 cups of oil in a large sauté pan or wok over medium heat to 325º F.
- Carefully drop the fish into the oil and fry for 10 to 12 minutes. Turn and fry for 8 minutes more.
- Remove from the oil and drain over paper towels.
- Serve with lime slices.
