Today at Dee’s Mealz, you’ll be learning how to prepare Tilapia fish for either frying, roasting to dry or for grilling.
And when I say preparing, I mean from how to scrape the scales off the fish and also how to gut it.
Tilapia fish are very bony and those bones tend to get spiky when you eat them which can cause wounds to the mouth.
So the cutting for frying method in this post is a method that will help you eat the fish completely without getting bothered about the bones because you will be able to crush the bones completely with your teeth especially when its fried.
I bought this fish for 1,500 and they were still alive so I had to be very careful while washing so I don’t get injured (they get spikey).
I had to throw out the water I added while scraping because some the fishes were still alive even though they were weak. They kept flapping and splashing water on me.
You can watch the video below if you want a practical view of the steps or you can just continue with the post.
So, let’s begin.
Tilapia Fish Cleaning
The first thing to do is to scrape the scales off of the fish.
And you can begin by adding a little water to the fish because it’s much easier to scrape off the scales when they’re wet.
You do that by holding the tail of the fish on one hand and holding a knife using the other hand to scrape the scales of the fish all through the body up to the head.
Note: I used a bowl for scraping mine. Know that if you aren’t comfortable with the bowl, you can use a chopping board instead to scrape the scales.
Wash well after scraping.
How To Cut It For Frying
Slice it in half from the fins through the head and spread it open.
After spreading it in half remove all the internal organs of the fish and set in a bowl.
Continue the process above till you are done slicing the fish.
Wash and spread on a tray till the water dries up.
Flip over with time to enable the other side dry up too.
Note: Not for the fish to dry but for the water on it to completely drain.
When the water drains completely, then you can set the oil on heat and prepare to fry.
Below is my fried tilapia fish served with a little mixed pepper.
How To Cut It For Grilling Or Roasting
If you want to cut it for roasting or grilling, the method of gutting the fish is different.
You will make a slanted incision on the stomach of the fish to make it easy enough to remove the intestines.
Then you wash the fish and put in a basket or tray till the body of the fish is dried up.
Allow the water to drain a bit before roasting or grilling the fish.
Below is a picture of the roasted tilapia fish.
