Frugal Expat

We decided today to eat “real food” (Yeheey!!) in the next seven days so my friend and I went to the Mina Port fish market. People visit the fish market for two reasons. It is cheaper and has more variety.

By the way, real food for me means homemade dishes.

Anyway, I do not know what she would cook in the next few days but we wanted to have grilled fish for today’s dinner as it was late already when we headed to Mina Port fish market. The left-wing of the building is an array of stalls which offer to fry, grill or bake your fish, prawns, crabs, etc.

On weekends, it is common to see people in queue because this is a convenient and easy way to prepare for picnic on weekends. Just buy a big fish or prawns in the fish market, and then take it to any of the stall for grilling or frying. Their cooking time takes between 20-30 minutes and they charge AED 10 (USD 2.70) per kilo regardless of the method of cooking.

We tried before for baked squids and shrimps. It was really good even though they garnished it with certain sauce concoction. Then we tried grilled and fried fish too. We didn’t like it because they coated the fish with some spices. We prefer a plain grilled and fried method, no spices and flavorings except for salt. Simply rub it on to the fish skin, then that’s it! It’s ready for grilling and frying, no other cooking rituals needed. LOL!

For today’s dinner, my friend specifically gave instruction to grill our fish in charcoal and to use salt only, nothing else. Just make sure they understand your instructions because they have limited English though they understand the basic.

After dropping our fish for charcoal-grill, we shopped around for shrimps, more fish and the needed vegetables. I really didn’t know what she had in mind but we bought a lot.

To lessen the kitchen process at home (I can’t hide that I detest loitering in the kitchen area in our house. LOL!), I asked one of those men in red overall jumpsuit to clean the fish. They charge AED 2 (USD 0.58) to clean every kilo of fish. It is  important to give the ‘fish cleaner’ specific instructions of the way you want the fish to be cleaned. Like today, my friend specifically asked to remove the gills and scales of it. Good that I urged her to pass by to the cleaner’s section before buying another item because the ‘fish cleaner’ didn’t remove the scales, only the gills. This is quite doomed to happen especially if your instructions are not that clear. Most of them understand basic English only so misunderstanding is quite prevalent.

Then the most important tip, always haggle! You can always bargain between AED 5 to AED 10 per kilo.

Before we went home, my friend took delight in sipping a fresh coconut juice for AED 5 (USD 0.58). She shared me a tip when choosing for fresh coconut juice. Always ask for old coconut because the juice is sweeter.

Then after more than an hour, we headed back home. There is nothing to worry because there are many available taxis. Also, if you have a car, it is easy to find parking (based on my experience). It is not a nightmare at all!