Exploring Fried Surimi Seafood Variety Worldwide

Fried surimi seafood has been fulfilling the seafood demand, especially in Asian countries, and even become more popular across the world.

Basically, fried surimi seafood is a surimi seafood product made from surimi, a refined fish myofibrillar protein paste. It includes surimi seafood like crab sticks, fish balls, tempura, and more.

The invention of surimi seafood products, which mostly came from Japan, has been cooked in various ways. One of them is the frying technique that gives amazing crispy texture with great taste.

Popular Fried Surimi Seafood Worldwide

1.    Fried Fish ball

Fried fish balls have become one of the popular fried seafood snacks in many Asian countries, made from surimi. Basically, this fried surimi seafood is fish balls that are cooked in a deep- fryer until their color turns golden brown.

Fried fish balls have been a favorite snack in Singapore because of their soft and chewy interior. And the best part of it is the crisp and golden sensation from being fried.
In some Asian countries, the surimi is used to produce fish balls, which are later fried, is seasoned with soy sauce or fish sauce.  

2.    Oden

Oden is originally from Japan and is becoming more popular as a Japanese fish cake stew. It first appeared during the Edo period and was known as Kanto Daki.

Over time, oden became one of the icons of traditional Japanese dishes, which is commonly served in a pot and simmered in a dashi broth with a soy sauce flavor. The process is basically simmering all the ingredients, including tofu, daikon, eggs, and kamaboko (fish cakes).

Fun fact: The name ‘Oden’ means ‘to simmer’. It reflects its preparation technique through a slow simmering process.

3.    Fried Crab Sticks

Fried crab sticks are another fried seafood made from crab sticks or imitation crab. Originally, the crabstick, also known as kanikama in Japanese, was invented in Japan. This invention successfully gained popularity and blew up globally.

Fried crab sticks are quite a preferred choice in countries like Singapore and Japan because they are quick and easy to make. It only needs four ingredients to make one: breadcrumbs, eggs, flour, and crab sticks.

Frying is one of the techniques to make crab sticks as a snack. To make it crispy, many people toss crab sticks into the tempura batter before it gets fried for 2-4 minutes until the colors are golden brown. As a final touch, many people like to sprinkle a little salt and a wedge of lemon.

4.    Fish Tofu

Fish tofu is the other favorite snack in Asian countries like Singapore and China. It uses surimi as the main ingredient and is mostly found in soups, stirfries, and hot pots.

This fried seafood has a tender and juicy texture inside. Its great taste makes it almost available in every Asian grocery store.

However, there are lots of fish tofu recipes that people can try at home. Here’s the simplest recipe you can follow:

1.     Prepare the ingredients

To make fish tofu, make sure you have at least fish fillet, salt, sugar, ginger, green onions, Sichuan pepper, soy sauce, eggs, and tapioca starch. The type of fish recommended is whitefish, including Alaska pollock and catfish.

Chop the green onions and ginger. Put it into a small bowl, then add Sichuan pepper and hot water.
Let it cool down naturally for 15 to 30 minutes. This is your ginger-scallion water.

2.     Blend the fish

Dice the fish fillet you use and put it into a blender. Then, add 3 tablespoons of ginger scallion water and blend them with medium speed.

After blending it for 1 minute, add all the other ingredients except the tapioca starch. Then blend them for 1 more minute until it gets smooth.

3.     Mix it with tapioca starch

After all the ingredients are blended with the fish, move it into a mixing bowl. This time, add tapioca starch to 1/3 cup and blend it until the dry starch pockets are gone with a spatula.

Then, stir it in one direction using a whisk for 5 minutes. When it’s done, pour the fish batter into a food container that has already been brushed with vegetable oil.

Cover it with plastic food wrap and make at least 20 holes in it.

4.     Cook the fish tofu

Next, steam your fish batter for at least 25 minutes on medium-high heat. After it’s cooked, let it cool and then put it out of the container.

Now, cut it into square cubes. After that, fry them all for about 2–3 minutes on medium heat. Make sure their appearance turns golden brown and crispy.

5.    Fish Cake

Another popular fried surimi seafood snack that originated in Japan is fish cakes. This fried seafood snack is usually added to noodles, soup, or vegetable dishes.

Just like the other fried surimi seafood, fish cakes are also made using surimi as the main ingredient. In Japan, surimi made from pelagic fish is traditionally used to make fried fish cakes.

6.    Tempura

Tempura, a surimi seafood, is a local name for deep-fried kamaboko in Osaka. This fried surimi seafood is originally known as chiki-age in Okinawa and tsuke-age in Kagoshima.

The main ingredient used to make tempura is frozen Alaska pollock surimi. This surimi paste is ground with NaCl before it is mixed with other ingredients and seasonings such as sugars, starches, and egg whites.

In Japan, there are tempura called gobouage or yosaiage. This kind of tempura uses other vegetables and boiled quid as extra ingredients like carrots and onions.

After the surimi paste is seasoned, then it will move to the shaping process. Here, the surimi paste will be shaped into either square, oval, or ball shapes. Then it will get deep fried for about 120–130°C.
With its great taste, tempura is not only served as a snack, but it is also used in pot dishes like oden, or even stir-frying. Not only great in taste, tempura is also considered one of the healthy fried seafood products as it only contains 1-3% fat.

Conclusion

Surimi seafood products have gained high popularity globally, especially in Asian countries. With different preferences from each country, many served surimi seafood as fried seafood snacks.

From fried fish balls to tempura, they are all seafood products made from surimi, which is also known as fried surimi seafood based on how they are cooked.

All in all, fried surimi seafood is highly recommended as one of the best options for the fried seafood fans.