Ingredients
The eel
- 1 kgmoray eel
- cleaned, skinned and cut in pieces
- or conger eel
The marinade
- 8garlic cloves, crushed
- juice of 4 limes
- 2bay leaves
- 1 teaspoonpaprika
- 1 teaspoonground cumin
- 2 teaspoonssalt
- black pepper
To coat
- 200 gplain flour
- or half flour and half cornmeal
- 1 teaspoonsalt
- black pepper
To fry and serve
- oil, for deep frying
- lime wedges
- raw onion
- a hot pepper sauce
- cold beer
Directions
- Wash your hands and any cuts thoroughly. Moray is firm and quite meaty. Let the fishmonger do it for you. Cutting it is straightforward enough. Cut the eel into pieces across the body. Aim for about four centimetres. Rinse all the pieces thoroughly. Rinse it in several changes of water.
- Rub it with salt and rinse again. Put all the pieces into a bowl. Add the crushed garlic to them. Squeeze in all of the lime juice. Add the bay leaves and spices. Season it with salt and pepper.
- Turn the pieces so they are all coated. Cover it over and refrigerate it. Give it at least two full hours. Lift the pieces out of the marinade. Pat them all thoroughly dry after. Mix the flour with salt and pepper. Toss all of the pieces in the flour.
- Coat every single piece completely. Shake each piece before frying. Loose flour burns in the hot oil. Shake it all off properly first. Heating the oil takes attention. Pour the oil into a deep heavy pot. Fill it no more than half full.
- Heat it to about one hundred and eighty degrees. This needs a hot oil rather than a moderate one. Keep a lid nearby to smother a flare-up. Never put water on an oil fire at all.
- Keep children well away from the pot. Frying it takes care and batches. Fry it longer than you would other fish. It needs to crisp right through. Lift them out onto a wire rack. That softens the crust within minutes. Sprinkle salt over them while hot. That sticks to the hot surface.
- Pile them all onto a warm plate. Add raw sliced onion alongside. Put hot pepper sauce on the table. Serve very cold beer with them. They must be eaten hot from the oil.
Technique
- Moray eels can carry ciguatera toxin, which comes from reef algae and concentrates up the food chain — morays are large reef predators and among the highest risk species. Cooking does not destroy ciguatoxin and neither does freezing; nothing done in a kitchen removes it. Symptoms include nausea and strange nerve effects such as tingling and hot things feeling cold, which can last months. Risk varies by region and reef, and local fishermen’s knowledge of which waters are affected is the real safeguard; avoid very large morays particularly, and anyone unsure should choose another fish.
- Moray blood also contains a toxin, though that one is entirely destroyed by cooking and is a concern only for raw handling — wash hands and any cuts. Morays have long backward-curving teeth and bite wounds infect easily, so buy one cleaned where you can; the thick skin and heavy slime make cleaning genuinely unpleasant work anyway.
- Moray is very bony and not all the bones are removable, which is why it is fried hard: crisp frying makes the small ones brittle and edible. Larger bones still need picking out, so eat it carefully and check as you go.
Substitutions
- Conger eel is prepared the same way and carries no ciguatera risk.
- Half cornmeal in the coating gives a crunchier crust; plain flour gives a lighter one.
Variations
- Do not marinate it longer than about two hours, since lime juice starts to cook the flesh and turns it mushy.
- Pat every piece thoroughly dry after marinating, since wet fish steams and the coating slides off.
- It is a bar snack shared from a plate with cold beer in the islands’ fishing villages.
History
Moray eel caught in rock crevices, marinated and fried crisp; a bar snack of the islands’ fishing villages.
Frequently asked questions
What is Moreia frita?
Moreia frita is a snack from Cape Verde: crisp-fried marinated moray eel, beach bar favorite. Moray eel caught in rock crevices, marinated and fried crisp; a bar snack of the islands’ fishing villages.
How long does Moreia frita take to make?
Moreia frita takes 30 minutes plus marinating of preparation and 20 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Moreia frita?
Yes, within limits. Conger eel is prepared the same way and carries no ciguatera risk. Half cornmeal in the coating gives a crunchier crust; plain flour gives a lighter one.
What is the most important thing to get right in Moreia frita?
Heat it to about one hundred and eighty degrees. This needs a hot oil rather than a moderate one. Keep a lid nearby to smother a flare-up. Never put water on an oil fire at all.
