I’m very excited to release the last video that I filmed in Mexico! In this video, you’ll see how to prepare a raw fish meal with dipping sauce, and how to pan-fry fish in a very simple way.
I like to remind you of my 3 other previous Mexican videos! : )
The videos that I filmed in Mexico
- Gochujeon (green chili pancake) –made with the hotel chef where I stayed in Mexico city
- Mulhoe (cold raw fish soup)
- Emergency kimchi (made with regular cabbage)
- Fresh fish feast (raw fish and pan-fried fish meal)
My hotel in Puerto Escondido, Mexico had a small kitchen, so I could cook fresh fish everyday during my stay. I cooked and shared with fellow travelers who were staying in the same hotel. I always believe that a raw fish meal is delicious in proportion to the number of people you share it with. I’ll post another blog soon about Bev and Chuck that you see in the video because I think it will be an interesting story for you to read.
Hoe (raw fish meal)
Ingredients
Fresh fish, soybean paste, garlic, vinegar, toasted sesame seeds, toasted sesame oil, green onions, green chili peppers, hot pepper paste, honey, kosher salt, wasabi powder, soy sauce, seaweed, flour, vegetable oil, lettuce, cucumber
Directions
- Make fluffy rice!
- Wash and drain lettuce and cucumber and set aside.
- Cut the cucumber (and carrot, if you have some) into about 4 inch long pieces.
- Slice limes (or lemons) and green chili peppers crosswise into pieces ¼ inch thick to use as garnish later and set aside.
- Cut fresh raw fish into bite size pieces and place it on a serving plate.
*tip: cut one motion in one direction. If you cut like a saw, the fish will break and the cut will be ragged instead of smooth and shiny.
- Garnish with sliced lime, green chili peppers and sprinkle roasted sesame seeds on top.
- Keep it in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
Let’s make 3 different kinds of delicious dipping sauce for hoe!
Choose your favorite or make all 3 to compare the different tastes:
Wasabi and soy sauce
Make the wasabi paste first by mixing 1 tbs wasabi powder and 2 ts water in a small bowl. Roll into a small ball and add ¼ cup soy sauce before serving.
Chodoenjang aka doenjang bangah
A savory and sweet soybean paste based sauce.
Mix these ingredients well in a bowl: ¼ cup soybean paste, 2 tbs hot pepper paste, 3 cloves of minced garlic, 2 tbs worth chopped green chili pepper, 1 tbs honey, 1 ts roasted sesame seeds, 2 tbs vinegar, and 1 tbs toasted sesame oil.
Chogochujang (초고추장) aka Chojang (고추)
A spicy, sweet, vinegary hot pepper paste based sauce.
Mix these ingredients in a bowl: ¼ cup hot pepper paste, 2 cloves minced garlic, 2 tbs honey, 3 tbs vinegar, 1 chopped green onion, and ¼ ts kosher salt.
How to eat
Japanese stye:
- Lightly roast the seaweed and cut into pieces about 3×4 inches in size.
- Add soy sauce to the wasabi paste you made and mix it well.
- Place some rice on a piece of roasted seaweed. Add some sliced raw fish and the mixture of wasabi soy sauce.
- Wrap up the edges of the seaweed to make a packet.
- Eat it in one bite.
Korean style:
- Place some sliced raw fish on a leaf of lettuce.
- Add your favorite dipping sauce from either chojang or chodoenjang. You can add rice if you want.
- Wrap up the edges of the lettuce leaf to make a packet.
- Eat it in one bite.
How to pan-fry fresh fish
- Clean a fish and remove the guts. Fillet both sides of the fish.
- Slice the fillet into bite size pieces and sprinkle some salt on each piece.
- Salt the head and bones.
- Coat the fish, the fish head and bone lightly with flour.
- In a heated pan add vegetable oil generously and fry it until golden brown and crispy.
“Buy some fresh fish from fishermen at the beach. You will have to get there early in the morning!” “Yes, sure, I will!”
“I had never had Korean food in my life before I met you, Maangchi! I’m already addicted to spicy kimchi and the sauce!”
“Please consider giving me some food! I’m sure my owner won’t care much about what I am eating, please!!!”
“Maangchi! I’m getting almost crazy now! ahhh! give me some food!”
“Calm down! bring me a note from your owner to let me know it will be ok to give you food!” : )
Maangchi's Amazon picks for this recipe
It's always best to buy Korean items at your local Korean grocery store, but I know that's not always possible so I chose these products on Amazon for that are good quality. See more about how these items were chosen.
Hello Maangchi,
I am going to be going to Mexico this coming May. Where is the fish market that you bought your fish from? I would like to go buy some fresh fish directly from the fishermen too.
Julie
maangchi, is the dip with the red pepper paste without soybean paste the dip usually prepared for cooked octopus or squid?
That’s right, it’s called chogochujang.
this is a great video! i love that you’ve taken your cooking to different places and incorporate it into where ever you happen to be!
Thank you, Deborah!
…May I make a small suggestion? I love your site and all the delicious recipes. I make this suggestion only to hopefully make it even better =]. I hope you don’t mind. you may possibly think about changing the ‘Hoe’ to Hwae, I think it’s closer to how the Korean pronounced.
Thank you very much! I love your politeness! : ) I checked out Wikipedia and a few Korean websites to find out how they romanize the Korean word “회”. It looks like “hoe” is used generally.
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_6.jsp?cid=258643
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoedeopbap
As you said, “hwae” may be right romanization? But if it’s written in Korean, it will be “후ㅐ”. I can’t type the word as 1 word. How about “hwe”? the sound is right, but it has to be written “훼”!
I prefer hwe to hwae though. Actually I posted my raw fish bibimbap called hwedeopbap long time ago here: https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/hwedupbap
I think hoe seems right to me – hwe would be confusing to some English speakers as they might think it is “hwee” and “hwae” would make us think it is “hway” (like hay) making the “oe” part sound much longer than it should be. That is probably why “hoe” is so commonly used :)
Can you eat the fried fish bones? Are they crunchy or too hard to eat?
It depends on the type of fish. The snapper that I fried in the video has very strong and thick bones, so there is no way to chew and swallow the bones. : ) You will have to treat the fish bones as beef or pork ribs! lol And the fish head has lots of meat there.
You can eat fish bones from crispy fried sardines.
very nice recipe …. though i don’t normally eat raw fish … maybe one day i give it a try ^_^
: ) You remind me of my Buddhist friend who said when she saw I was eating raw fish meal. “How can you eat somebody else’ flesh!”
That looks so good! It was funny to see the dog trying to find food in the rubbish bin :) As soon as I can get good raw fish I am making this. Can you use Korean mustard instead of wasabi for the Japanese style sauce?
Yeah, actually the dog is the hotel owner’s lovely dog. I really wanted to feed him, but I never knew if the owner would like the idea or not. Anyway, he was digging in the garbage bin while I was being filmed! I found out when I edited the video. : )
I think you will have to use wasabi powder. I learned this simple method from my friend Yukiko about 13 years ago. Since then, I have been enjoying this simple method.