So yesterday my friend Nancy and I were sitting at one of Tom's and my favorite little seafood cocina economicas, Marlin Azul in Centro.
They do a filete de pescado empanizado (breaded fish fillet) that is awesome. It is a breaded and fried fillet but there is no oiliness or greasiness, it is almost as if it is baked. So crunchy on the outside and yet the fillet inside is still soft and moist. REALLY delicious. (fillet, salad, rice, and tortillas are now 45pesos)
So we're sitting there and all of a sudden delivery men start dropping these big boxes on the floor - frozen fish. Here we are, on a peninsula, surrounded by fishing villages.....
Anyway, these boxes contain fish from Vietnam - Have you ever heard of Pangasius? Neither had we!
Pangasius is a a genus of shark catfish, it is a freshwater fish that has become the tenth most popular seafood product eaten in the United States, and pretty darn popular here in MEXICO as well. When I buy fish fillets at the super, it is typically Basa Fillets, or Basa Oriente. Basa is another common term used for the Pangasius.