A Fish Story

How to dress a Cincaru. (Scienticfic : Megalaspis Cordyla, English : Hardtail Scad, Malay : Ikan Cincaru, Cantonese : Ngan Mei Chee)

I like to eat this fish. I remember my see koo (4th Aunt) always cooked it for me when I visited her. She will stuffed the fish with a spicy paste made from chili, onion, garlic, dried shrimps and belacan (prawn paste). This recipe is called 'Hu Chee Rumpah - Sambal stuffed fish'. Of course she made it all look so easy. I found out this is a Nyoya (a Peranakan woman) recipe. My grandmother was a Strait Born (Peranakan - a Chinese who is borned in the Straits Settlement - speaks and dresses like a Malay) so I guessed my auntie learned this from her.

Two nights ago I was invited to a pot luck party. Thinking it was the Ramadhan (fasting season) I wanted to make something local. So I bought a dozen Cincaru. I told the guys at the fish counter to help clean my pickings while I go buy other stuff. When I got home I discovered the fish were gutted but with the scales still intact. This fish is aptly named. It possessed an armor like cover - one scale over the other in a continuous chain. I have limited culinary skills, I thought in order to fry the fish I must take off the tough exterior. So I tried to remove the skin. It was so tough the knife could not even penetrate the scale. Out of desperation I used a pair of pliers. While pulling off the skin I took out the meat too. By that time I was hot, sweaty and totally frustrated. Besides time was fast running out, so was my confidence. I knew I was doing it wrong because by then I had a fish without meat staring at me. I raced up to my PC and keyed in 'How to dress a Cincaru?' but zilch, absolutely nothing on this matter. In the end I packed all the fishes into the freezer.

So here I am posting this article. Hopefully one day it may rescue someone. Now take heed - you do not need to remove the scale at all! If you fry this fish without the scale the meat will all fall off from the bone. After cooking, the armored skin can be removed easily by just lifting it off! Aaaaaaaaaaargh.

Anyway for whatever reason you may need to remove the skin this is how you do it. I consulted a colleague and she taught me this way.

Method :

Make a cut next to the gill, just at the beginning of the first scale. Do not cut into the tough scale because it will only blunt your knife. Take a piece of newspaper or any protective medium (to prevent cutting your hand) and grasped the first tough scale. Pull the scale towards the tail in one smooth motion. The scales should come off in one long section. Of course you may use pliers!

Is there anyone out there who would like to share recipes for Cincaru? Please reply to this posting and I shall be eternally grateful.