On my last kayak trip, I witnessed some incredible bait ball action but only brought home 3 twelve inch opelu and 1 medium sized nabeta. My neighbor Brian really appreciates fresh, local fish and was excited to make the most out of the unused opelu, and improve on his nabeta deep-fry recipe.

Brian:

Opelu Jerky:

Fillet, quarter the fish in lengthwise strips, marinade for 45 mins in 1/4 cup shoyu, 1/8 cup mirin, 1-2 tbsp chili pepper water, then dry in dehydrator overnight (6-8 hours at 150 degrees).

I would have liked to cold smoke it for maybe 20-30 mins before the dehydration, but my cold smoker hadn’t arrived yet. Next time!

The opelu jerky turned out pretty good, I think I could have left it in the dehydrator longer (had to pull it earlier than I wanted because I had to for work early the next morning).  The salt level was good, in the past I’ve definitely made ahi/aku jerky too darn salty, so this one was just right for me.  Also, I’m going to try roasting one of them in my outdoor toaster (specifically for fish) when I eat the next one and I have a feeling that it’s going to be good.  It’s a great high protein snack.

Deep-fried Nabeta:

This time I changed up how I usually do my fried nabeta.  The past couple times I’ve been a little bummed about not being able to eat all the bones after frying the nabeta with the flesh on or if I fry extra long, the flesh is more like crackers.  So this time I filleted the Nabeta (more difficult than the Opelu due to flesh consistency, I needed to sharpen or get a better filleting knife). 

Then I dredged both bones and fillet.

Fried the fillet first just for a min or two and the meat was ONO, super juicy, tender and flavorful. 

Then I fried up the opelu bones and the nabeta bones and honestly I liked the opelu bones better than the nabeta.  The bones were easier to munch on, being a slightly smaller diameter than the nabeta’s.  I was able to eat the whole spine bone no problem with the proper frying time.