Herbs Infused Dory Fish With Hummus

There was two slices of Dory fillet left in the fridge and we were planning what to eat for dinner. It became an inevitable choice especially when eating out is not the main option nowadays. Dory fish is not an exotic fish. It is not expensive and they are often caught in big amount by fisherman. Dory fish are known to be deep sea fish and they are often sold filleted. Main reason is that they are ugly fish to see on the table.

Who would had wanted to eat this??? Photo from TripAdvisor.com

Dory fish is super low in calorie, being an almost fat free fish (it has a compressed flat profile) with 100gram scoring 100kcal only. The flesh is white and has little flavour - which explain why they are used mainly for commercial food such as those available in fast food such as fish burger or fish&chips.
Here is my suggested marinade to get a bit more flavour into the fish. People usually eat fish with Tar Tar sauce, but i decided on something slightly healthier and provide some carbs as well and made my own hummus (if it qualifies as such) from chickpeas.
What You Need:
Dory Fish and Marinate
Dory fillet - one slice per person. Typically about 6 inch long and about half inch thick. Roughly 100grams/slice.
1 tablespoon Olive oil
Approximately 1 teaspoon of black pepper (grinded), enough to sparingly coat the fish. More if you like spicier.
Herbs - dry such as rosemary, thyme. You can buy them cheap from baking shop.
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Leave the fish and the marinade for at least 4 hours in the fridge. The herbs and balsamic vinegar will be absorbed into the fish. Sadly, i deleted that photo i taken of the marinate and the fish.
Hummus
60grams or one handful of chickpea, drained
1 tablespoon of Olive oil
1 teaspoon of Mustard seeds (optional)
A dash or squeeze of lemon (i use lemon extract)

Chickpea or Kacang Kuda. One handful or the size of tennis ball is about 60grams

Before you grill or pan-sear the fish, i would suggest that you prepare the hummus first. The usual way of doing this would be using a food processor, which i decided to just use a fork as the amount i am making is enough for one serving. As the peas will be dry when you mash them up, i use a spoon of olive oil to moisten them up. For a bit of texture and pungent-ness, i throw in a teaspoon of whole mustard seeds. Lemon juice was optional. I put it in as the original hummus recipe actually calls for lemon juice (and tahini or sesame paste).

Hand powered food processor

Mix the hummus up really good to become a smooth paste. Leave it aside and start cooking the dory fillet. It will look like this with the mustard seed peeping out from the paste.

It is sweet, creamy, slightly sourish with mustard seed bursting into flavour as you bite into them.

Fish cooks faster than meat and care must be taken not to overcook fish or you will destroy the protein content in it. Dory fish, as per describe, has little fat and you might over dry the fish if you cooked it too long. Pan sear on medium heat or grill at low heat. I used the grill (non-stick) to prepare the fish.

Marinate sizzling on the hot pan

Let the fish cooked for 1 to 1.5 minutes on each side and flip over twice, for a total cooking time of 6 minutes. As the fillet are usually about 1/2 inch thick, it will cook fast. Avoid overcooking or it will flake.

Nicely done. Herbs and balsamic vinegar on the fillet. Hummus is at the back

So, what how much does this cost, calorie wise? With some learnt and experienced judgement, each serving (one fillet with half scope of hummus) works out to be about 300kcal. As olive oil was used pretty much, the majority of the calories will come from this good oil. A check with MyFitnessPal shows i was almost accurate.

Missed out mustard seed which sets back about another 15kcal.

At 550kcal for two serving, one slice with hummus would be about 250kcal! I would say this is certainly diet friendly! A serving will provide about 25grams of protein (21 from fish and balance from chickpea), 5grams carbohydrate (all from chickpea), 16gram fat (15g from olive oil, 1 from fish), 0.5gram sodium and about 2grams fiber (chickpea).

Juicy, savoury and healthy!

In fact, if you are hungry, two serving of this is just equivalent to a bowl of Curry Mee - definitely a healthier choice (The fish) for weight watcher!

Hope you enjoyed this!
Update: March 7, 2012 Afternoon
Be careful when buying Dory fish. They are mostly farmed fish in unsuitable condition for human consumption. Try buying Dory from Euro country (as they have stricter control on chemical usage). Dory is a generic name for a type of white fish. Dory in this region are widely farmed in Vietnam and they are often sold as fillet to fast food or fish restaurant. They are also sold as Ikan Pangas and widely available in hypermarket and also at wet market.

Ikan Pangas. Photo taken here

Back in 2008, there were concerns about how these were farmed. Lets just say that these fish, much like how the local farm cat fishes, receive the same treatment and food such as innards and waste to fatten them up. Do a search and be an informed consumer.
As for us at home, we will eat this sparingly. The above recipe can be used with Salmon and also Cod too. The variation of fishes is limitless.