Products from fish

Fish cutlet

One of the many products developed by the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology is fish cutlets. The basic raw material required for preparation of this product is cooked fish or `fish 'kheema' (fish meat picked from whole fish by means of a meat picking machine).

• Cooked fish meat : 1000g
• Salt : 25g (approx - to taste)
• OIl : 125 ml
• Green chilli : 15 g
• Ginger : 25g
• Onion : 250 g
• Potato (cooked) : 500 g
• Pepper (powder) : 3 g ( to taste)
• Clove (powered) : 3 g
• Cinnamon (powered) : 2g (to taste)
• Turmeric : 2 g
• Eggs : 4 Nos
• Bread powder : 200 g

Before and after frying

Method of preparation

• Cook fish mince in boiling water for 20 min.
• Drain off the water. (In case of whole fish, dress the fish and cook for 30 min. and drain
• Remove skin, scales and bones and separate the meat
• Add salt and turmeric to the cooked meat and mix well
• Fry chopped onions in oil till brown. Fry chilli and ginger. Mix these with the cooked meat
• Add mashed potato and spices and mix well with the meat.
• Shape 40 g each of this in oval or round form, dip in beaten eggs, roll in bread powder store in deep freezer.
• Thaw and fry in oil before use.

Source : Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Cochin

Fish Balls

There are several varieties of fish which do not command a ready market as fresh fish, but are comparable to many table fish in nutritive value and other attributes. One of the ways of ensuring effective utilisation of such fish is to process ready-to-serve or ready-to-cook value added `convenience' products, for which there already exists great demand from within the country as also from abroad. Fish ball is one such product prepared using fish mince and starch that can be processed as a coated product or as     a heat-processed product in a suitable fluid medium.

Method of preparation

• Mix mince prepared from fish using a mechanical meat bone separator after heading, gutting and washing thoroughly with 1 % salt and 5% corn starch (if required, spices like garlic, ginger etc. can be added).
• Prepare balls, 2-3 cm in diameter, from the resultant mass and cook in boiling 1% brine for 5-10 minutes.
• Cool the cooked balls after which they are battered and breaded.
• Pack the balls preferably in thermoformed trays as such or after flash frying in hot vegetable oil.
• Preserve by freezing and store at -18°C.

Fish balls before and after frying

Though mince from different species of fish can be used for processing fish balls, threadfin bream (Nemipterus japonicus), Pallikora (Otolithus argenteusj and Barracuda (Sphyraena spp.) are found to yield satisfactory products. Mince from freshwater fishes such as Rohu (Labeo rohita) and Catla (Catla catla) also can be used. However, in such cases, the mince needs to be refined by passing through a mechanical strainer to get rid of the interstitial spines.

Source : CentralInstitute of Fisheries Technology, Cochin

Fish pickle

Traditionally, pickles made of vegetables like lime, gooseberry, ginger, garlic etc. are used as an important side dish along with meals. Though such pickles made of fish or meat were practically unknown in the past, such products have now become very popular and products under several brand names are now available in the market.

Ingredients

• Fish (dressed and cut into small pieces : 1 kg
• Mustard : 10 g
• Green chilli (cut into pieces) : 50 g
• Garlic (peeled) : 200 g
• Ginger (peeled and chopped) : 150 g
• Chilli powder : 50 g
• Turmeric powder : 2 g
• Gingelly oil : 200 g
• Vinegar (acetic acid 1.5%) : 400 ml
• Salt : 60g
• Pepper (powdered) : 2.5g
• Sugar : 10g
• Cardamom, clove, cinnamon (powdered) : 1.5 g

Method of preparation
Mix the fish thoroughly with 3% of its weight of salt and keep for two hours. Light salted and partially dried fish also may be used. Fry the fish in minimum quantity of oil. Set apart the fried fish.

Fry the ingredients (mustard, green chillies, garlic, ginger) in the remaining quantity of oil and then add chilli powder, pepper powder and turmeric powder and mix well over low flame for a few minutes. Remove from fire, add fried fish and mix well. When cooled, add vinegar, powdered cardamom, clove, cinnamon, sugar and remaining salt and mix thoroughly. Sufficient quantity of boiled and cooled water may be added to cover the ingredients well. Transfer to clean, sterile g1ass bottles and seal with acid proof caps. Take care to see that there is a layer of oil over the contents in the bottle.

Flexible pouches made of 12 micron polyester laminated with l 18micron LD-HD co-extruded film can also be use for packing the pickle.

Prawn pickle

Ingredients

• Prawn (peeled) : 1 kg
• Green chilli (small pieces) : 50 g
• Ginger (small pieces) : 150 g
• Garlic : 200 g
• Chilli powder : 35 g
• Turmeric powder : 2 g
• Gingelly oil : 200 ml
• Vinegar (1.5% acetic acid) (boiled and cooled) : 300 ml
• Salt (approx. 60 g) : to taste
• Sugar : 5 g

Method of preparation
Mix the peeled prawns with salt (3% on the basis of weight of prawns) and dry under sun for 1-2 hours. Fry the prawn in minimum quantity of oil and set apart. Fry garlic, ginger and green chilli in remaining quantity of oil. When brown in colour, add chilli powder and turmeric powder and mix together over a low flame. Remove from flame, add the prawns
and mix thoroughly. Allow to cool and add vinegar, sugar and remaining salt. If necessary, add 1 % acetic acid to make up the consistency. Fill in clean, dry bottles taking care to provide a layer of oil at the top covering the contents.

Flexible pouches made of 12 µ polyester laminated with 118µ LD-HD co-extruded film can also be used for packing the pickle.

Source : Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Cochin

Fish Soup powder

Soup powders prepared from different materials like vegetables, meat, egg, chicken etc. are very popular and widely consumed in different parts of the world. These are rich in dietary constituents like protein, vitamin, fat and minerals. However, soups making use of fish are not so common. But fishes of low economic value can very well be used for making soup powder.

Chief Ingredients

• Picked cooked meat     : 750 g
• Salt                              : 170 g
• Fat                               : 125 g
• Onions                         : 750 g
• Coriander                     : 12 g
• Starch                          : 250 g
• Milk powder                : 100 g
• Sugar                           : 30 g
• Pepper (powder)          : 15g
• Ascorbic acid               : 1.5 g
• Carboxymethyl cellulose : 3 g
• Monosodium glutamate   : 10 g

Method of preparation

• Blending of the processed fish meat: Disperse the processed fish meat in about 150 ml of water and blend the material in a waring blender.
• Incorporation of fried ingredients and reblending : Fry the onion in vegetable fat in quantities as shown in the composition above. When the onion becomes light brown, add the powdered coriander and pepper and stir. Remove from fire. Add the fired onion and all other ingredients other than milk powder to the blended fish and again blend till it becomes a thick fine paste.
• Drying : Pour the whole mass in thin layer  in aluminium trays and dry in artificial dryer at about 70° C.
• Powdering and incorporation of milk powder: Powder the dried mass, add the skimmed milk powder and powder well to get a homogenous product.
• Packing : Pack the soup powder in airtight, polythene lined, aluminium foil bags or in cans. (Storage life of the product is one year)

Preparation for consumption:
Boil 5 g of the powder in 100 ml water for 5 minutes. The soup is now ready for the table.

Source : Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Cochin

Fish wafers

Dried, ready-to-fry-and-serve wafers, using a carbohydrate as main base and incorporating salt and several other ingredients with or without spices are very popular in most parts of the country. Such products are known by different names in different languages as -Kondattarn' in Malayalam, 'Vathal' in Tamil, `Sandings' in Kanarese, `Odiyalu' in Telugu and `Tikiya' in Bengali. Recipe for such a product enriched with fish protein and method of its preparation is given below.

Ingredients

• Processed fish meat : 2 kg
• Corn flour :1 kg
• Tapioca starch : 2 kg
• Common salt : 50 g
• Water : 3.5 litres

Before and after frying

Method of preparation

• Homogenise the processed fish meat with 1 litre of water for 10 mins. in a mechanical grinding machine
• Add the cornflour, tapioca starch and salt and rest of the water and blend the whole mass for one hour
• Spread the homogenised mass uniformly in aluminium trays in a thin layer of 1-2 mm thickness and cook in steam for 3-5 mins.
• Cool to room temperature.
• Cut the cooked material into desired shapes and dry under sun or preferably in artificial dryer (at 45° C to 50° C) to a moisture content below 10%
• Pack suitable lots of the dried product in sealed polythene bags or glass bottles and store it in a cool and dry place till marketing.

The product can be stored in good condition for two years.Permitted food colours can be incorporated, if needed, at the time of mixing the other ingredients with the processed fish meat in order to get desired colour. Generally, this type of product is used as side dish after frying in oil.

Source : Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Cochin

Ready-to -serve fish curry in flexible pouches

Fish curry processed in flexible pouches is a product of great value these days. In the existing method, metal cans are used as containers.

Disadvantages of existing storage containers for ready-to-serve fish curry

• Metal cans impart an undesirable taste to the product on storage
• Metal cans are not economical to use in India
• There is likelihood of leaks from containers if the metal containers are not strong
• Flexible pouches used are not heat stable and have various other disadvantages

Improved method of packaging ready-to-serve fish curry

• Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT) has developed a suitable three-layer configuration of flexible pouches for packaging ready-to-eat fish curry.
• This is a retortable flexible pouch based on Polyesters Aluminium foil/Cast polypropylene.
• These flexible pouches are manufactured in India employing the configuration developed by CIFT.
• CIFT has standardised the process for the production of fish curry in these pouches using over pressure autoclave. The curry processed in this way has remained without any change for over a year at room temperature.

For more details, contact
The Director
Central Institute of Fisheries Technoloev (ICAR)
CIFT Junction, Matsyapuri P.O.
Willingdon Island, Cochin - 682 029,
Kerala, India.Phone : 91 (0) 484-2666845
Fax : 91 (0) 484-2668212 E.mail : cift@ciftmail.org

Source: Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (ICAR), Cochin

Related Resources

1. Technologies developed by TANUVAS,Tamil Nadu (1.6MB)