The most popular recipe of my blog, batter fried basa, got an all-new makeover today and became even more delish and more addictive!
If you have been loving my earlier batter fried basa fish, then I can guaranteed that you will like this new and improved version even more! The earlier recipe is about 7 years old but it still wins everyone’s heart thanks to its simplistic deliciousness! I haven’t complicated the recipe at all, just gave a new makeover!
Basa fish is my favorite choice whenever I feel like making a seafood snack recipe. It is buttery soft in texture and simply melts in mouth as soon as you take your first bite! Moreover, basa fillet cooks in no time!
If you want to keep few ingredients handy in order to be prepared for surprise guests, then basa fish fillet is definitely a great one to be on that list. I keep frozen fillets handy and just thaw them in microwave if I need to make anything in a jiffy.
If you have the fillets ready, making this batter fried basa is another 10-minutes job. Cut the fillets in small portions if you feel, season them, dip in the batter and then finally deep fry for 2 minutes each side! That’s it! Your batter fried basa fillets are ready to serve!
The batter that I made for this recipe is pretty simple and is actually a universal one! You can use this same batter for other stuff too e.g. you can make batter fried chicken bites (coming soon!), batter fried chicken wings, batter fried veggies and many more!
This batter only takes 2 primary ingredients – all-purpose flour and cornflour (which is same as corn starch as known in US)! I always recommend to keep these 2 kitchen staples in stock as these two are common ingredients in many recipes.
Adding both all-purpose flour and corn flour is important to get the right texture of the outer coating of your fish fillet. All-purpose flour adds tenderness and corn flour adds crispiness; you need to play around with the ratio of these two to reach your sweet spot!
I love crispiness more which is why I follow a ratio of 1:2 for all-purpose flour to corn flour i.e. for half a cup of AP flour, I add 1 cup of corn flour. You can modify the ratio as per your choice; for super crispiness you can use 3 times more corn flour than AP flour.
Now let’s talk about the seasoning, shall we? I am a fish lover which is why I like simple and fresh fishy taste in my batter fried basa without too much of spices loaded into it. But my recipe is completely customizable and I guess that’s why my readers liked it so much when I had shared it earlier.
Only mandatory seasoning for me is garlic powder as I feel garlic brings out the fishy taste beautifully. You can build on this recipe and make many customizable versions of this batter fried basa. Add paprika, Italian seasoning, Cajun seasoning, taco seasoning (separately of course!) and make your own signature style! I bet, you’ll love them all!
Finally, let’s talk about some alternatives of basa fillets as I am sure this one is not available everywhere. If you are in India, you should be able to get your hands on frozen basa fillets which are available in mostly all supermarkets – online or offline. To substitute basa, look for a firm, white and meaty fish fillet.
My recommendations are cod or haddock. You can also make-do with tilapia fillet but that should be in rank 3 after cod and haddock. So give your seafood craving a go and make this scrumptious batter fried basa this coming week; it will sort out your weeknight dinner too! Enjoy!
- Basa fish fillet – 500 gms, boneless & skinless
- All-purpose flour – ½ cup
- Corn flour/cornstarch – 1 cup
- Garlic powder – 1 & ½ tsp
- Egg – 1
- Salt – 1 tsp
- Black pepper – ½ tsp
- Canola/vegetable oil for deep frying
- Cut the basa fillet into 3x3 inch pieces. Place all the pieces on kitchen towel and pat dry them using another piece of kitchen towel. Once all the fish pieces are nicely dried, transfer them to a plate.
- Drizzle ¼ teaspoon of garlic powder and ¼ teaspoon of salt over fish pieces. Gently rub them in. then flip the pieces over and repeat the process of rubbing in ¼ teaspoon each of garlic powder & salt over each piece of fillet.
- In a large bowl, combine all-purpose flour, corn flour/cornstarch, remaining garlic powder, egg, salt & pepper. Whisk everything together.
- Now add water, about ¼ cup at a time and continue whisking to make a smooth lump-free batter. Add more water, a spoonfull at a time, only if the batter seems too thick. The batter should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon but still should have the drizzling consistency.
- Heat enough oil in a frying pan for deep frying the fish pieces. Once the oil is very hot, reduce the heat to medium.
- Now take each basa fillet piece at a time and dip it into the batter. Lift it up and let the excess batter drip off. Then carefully drop the batter coated basa into the hot oil. Do not over-crowd the pan while frying the fishes; do it in batches as they will stick otherwise creating an absolute mess!
- Fry the fish pieces on medium flame for couple of minutes or until the bottom turns golden. Then flip it over and fry for another 2 minutes on medium heat until they turn golden all over. Basa cooks very quickly, so do keep an eye continuously. I would recommend not to fry more than 3 pieces at a time to have better control.
- Take out the batter fried basa fillets and place them on a cooling rack; this will let the excess oil drip off without turning the bottom soggy. Fry all the fish pieces similarly.
- Once all the pieces are fried and ready, serve them warm with tartar sauce on the side. Enjoy!
This recipe is awesome Love it very much.
looks delicious! thank you for sharing your recipe!
I’m telling you…the absolute BEST way to eat basa is fried in butter with lots of salt. That’s it. No batter. SO GOOD!
Wow will try it too!! I hope you try this one once and let me know how it goes? 🙂