Ingredients

4 big Pangasius filets
1 lime
1 cup basmati rice
Saltwater for the rice
Butter
Cheese
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
Olive oil
1 cup Water
1 tablespoon of vegetable broth
Vegetables of your choice

Directions

Wash the Basa filets and dry it with kitchen paper. Cut them into 8 pieces and drop some lime juice on each. Add some salt and pepper.
While boiling the rice, place the fish in a baking dish and give some butter on the filets. Bake in preheated oven at 380° F cook for about 20 minutes. Then add the cheese until

the filets are covered and let the fish bake for another 5-10 minutes until the cheese turns golden-brown. Let it cool down and rest.
Meanwhile, chop the onions, the garlic and the tomatoes and saute them in a skillet with olive oil until the onion turns transparent. Add a cup of water and the vegetable broth.

Let the composition simmer. Serve the filets together with rice, the sauce and vegetables of your choice.

Scalloped Pangasius filet, served with rice, tomato sauce and broccoli

Tips

Broccoli goes well with this recipe. Instead of the tomato-based sauce and the rice you could try also potatoes and Alfred sauce.

Ingredients

6 Basa filets

3 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup green pepper, chopped

1/4 cup red pepper, flakes

6 tablespoons onions, chopped

1/2 cup fresh breadcrumb

1/4 teaspoon oregano

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

some salt

2 cups water

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 lime

Optional: spinach, red pepper

Directions

While preheating the oven to some 380 degrees F start melting the butter in a skillet. Mix with the green pepper, little garlic and half of the chopped onions. Saute them until the onion turns transparent. Now add the bread crumbs, oregano and a tablespoon of lime juice, the parsley and salt. Mix it well, and then give it onto the Basa filets. Roll the filets up and fix them each with a short skewer or toothpick.
Take a shallow casserole, put the water in there, add the remaining garlic and onions, the red pepper and about 3-4 tablespoons of lime juice. Put the Pangasius rolls in the baking dish and give them into the pre-heated oven. Some 30 minutes should do it. When serving, garnish the rolls with some slices of the lime.
Serves well with rice and a dry white wine.

Optional steps: You can stuff the rolls also with spinach and chopped red pepper. Just saute the spinach in the first step, then follow the instructions as usual.

Baked Pangasius Rolls, here combined with spinach and garnished with red pepper

Tips

You can add some cooked shrimp or even almonds. Just be creative about what you like and try combining with the basic recipe.

Traditionally, Pangasius Hypophthalmus has been fished in the wild, but it is increasingly also raised in farms all over Southeast Asia. The total production amounts to several hundred thousand tons per year. The majority is exported to Europe, where Pangasius is popular because of its delicate, mild-tasting meat and its low price.

Main producing countries of Pangasius are Vietnam and Thailand, to a lesser extent, China, Myanmar, Bangladesh and India. For quite some years Pangasius has been farmed in the United States, too. But the main producers, such as Vietnam raised their production significantly. Vietnam raised the production of Pangasius and “Basa”, the trade label for the Pangasius Hypophthalmus and Pangasius bocourti from some 400,000 tons in 2005 to over one million tons in 2007, having a market value of more than 700 million U.S. dollars. Pangasius is farmed using primarily flooded rice fields. The fish are kept in special ponds or within cages natural flowing waters until the frozen filets are exported to the rest of the world. The main consumers are countries of the European Union (Read more on Pangasius farming).

The Mekong giant catfish is endemic in the Mekong region. Originally, this included the whole Mekong River and its tributaries in Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Vietnam and southern China. Today, Pangasius Gigas is almost exclusively found in the Tonle Sap Lake and the nearby areas of the Mekong River. The Mekong giant catfish is a pure freshwater fish, living in large rivers preferring water depths of 10 or more meters. They prefer rocky or gravel substrate and are occasionally found in underwater caves.

While young animals feed on zooplankton and small crustaceans – they are even prone to cannibalism – adult Mekong giant catfish are pure herbivores, feeding mainly on algae.

The Mekong giant catfish has been a popular edible fish for a long time due to its size and its tasty meat. Here the meat is tastier than after the spawning migration. However, since the 1950s, annual catches decreased from several hundred to a few individual catches. The stock seems to be in a free fall, reaching a maximum of some 2,500 animals in the wild.

Initial attempts to keep the Mekong giant catfish in farms were started in 1967 in Thailand, as their rapid growth seems promising for commercial use. 1983 was the year of artificial reproduction and the annual production reaches currently over three hundred thousand fish. However, it is still unclear whether attempts of reintroduction to the wild can have the desired positive impact.

The Giant pangasius populates in groups of up to 50 animals the main currents of large rivers. Young animals are also found in smaller tributaries and estuaries and might even reach into brackish water. Adult sanitwongsei do not migrate in the flooded areas, even in the rainy season, despite most other species after spawning. The Giant pangasius feeds primarily on fish, but also crustaceans. Larger animals might also eat carrion or floating plants.

The species is traditionally fished, using poultry or dog carcasses as bait. Large animals are partially obscured before the sale by cutting off the fins as they sell worse on local markets for being known as scavengers. Due to their size and rapid growth attempts were made to raise Pangasius sanitwongsei in farms. The species is seriously threatened by overfishing and habitat loss as. Already in 1967 the stock was estimated at a maximum of 2,000 animals.

Larnaudii populates large river systems and is found in both fast-flowing and slower, but deep waters. Just as other Pangasius species, the spawn will be deposited at the beginning of the rainy season, before the adults will migrate into the floodplain. Larnaudii feeds on small fish, crustaceans, molluscs and plants.

Pangasius bocourti is a species of the shark catfish family (Pangasiidae). The species is present in the river systems of the Mekong and the Chao Phraya River in Cambodia, furthermore in Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. Pangasius bocourti is a popular edible fish, often raised in farms and sold worldwide.
The Basa fish is a solid built fish with a bluish-black back. The head is wider than long and rounded with a blunt, rounded snout that has a broad white band around the mouth. On each side of the jaw teeth are each one group of teeth. Bocourti reaches a length of up to 120 cm.

The Basa fish populates major rivers and is found here, both in speedy as well as in slow-flowing sections. Though it feeds mainly on plants Pangasius bocourti also might eat arthropods, molluscs and smaller fish. Spawning begins at the onset of the rainy season. After the eggs are deposited the adults migrate into the flooded areas.

Pangasius Farming in Vietnam

The Vietnamese have literally “launched” a new Pangasius industry on the world market starting in 1996-1997. As Pangasius supports a high stocking density and grows extremely quick, a big industry evolved during the last fifteen years. Pangasius does not feature only a fairly good environmental performance, but its farming does not even require a high consumption of other animal based food.

Pangasius Production

In nature, Pangasius can live up to twenty years, while the fish breeds once or twice a year; producing some 2,000 eggs per spawning. However, with artificial ovulation, it can reach hundreds of millions of eggs. The Pangasius can be harvested already after some 5 to 8 months. When it comes to Pangasius farming, the breeding place is composed of several basins with a size of some 500 m² and a depth of 2.5 m to 3 m. The Pangasius is fed with fish offal, small shrimp, soy flour, wheat, or even beans.

When Pangasius are raised, the water is constantly maintained at a temperature of 28° C, what makes the Fish to reproduce faster. Thus, one can gain per cage m³ a yield of 100 to 300 kg of fish. This high efficiency compared to the farmed salmon from Norway, with a yield of only 30 kilograms per cubic meters explains the competitive price of Pangasius.

Pangasius Processing

At the end of the production cycle a Pangasius will weigh some 900 grams up to 1.5 kilograms. The fish is then transported to a nearby industrial area where it will be sliced and frozen. Freezing is virtually inevitable, given the high distance to the destination markets in Western countries. After freezing, the Pangasius will be packaged and stored, and finally transported by ship or aircraft to the destination markets.

Pangasius Export and Shipping

For transport the Pangasius to its destination markets some documents will be necessary:

The packing list

The health certificate (issued by the Ministry of Fisheries in Vietnam NAFIQUAVED)

A Certificate of Origin (issued by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Vietnam VCCI).

Eventually, after the Pangasius arrived it might be thawed and sold to wholesalers, purchasing centers and the like. Some of course, are sold frozen.

The whole process will delay the time until the fish will reach the customer by roughly 15 days. It may take 1 day for the fishery, on the second day the fish will be processed, while it has to wait afterwards 3 more days to get the product specifications done and another 7 days for the health certificate. Finally, the export will take some other 3 days for the Pangasius to arrive.

Basa fillets are very easy to cook and to prepare. However, whatever recipe you try, stick to some basic rules to get the maximum flavor out of your meal:

1. Basa fillets are mild, yet tasty on their own. Hence, refrain from strong seasoning that would dominate or even destroy the own taste of the filet. Be careful with garlic or onion. The less, means the more when it comes to Basa fillet.
2. Basa fillet is firm and perfect for rolls. Most fish fillets break easy or flake out while frying or cooking. The fillet of the Basa fish keeps it shape much better. However, thaw it carefully in the fridge. Do not use heat to refreeze and dry the thawed fillets carefully with kitchen paper.
3. As Basa fillet is mild in taste, do not waste it on soups or other dishes which have a need for a strong and dominant flavor.
4. When frying, the fillets will be ready until turning golden.
5. For baking, about 25-30 minutes should be enough. Preheat the oven to some 380 – 400 °F before baking the fillets.
6. For maximum flavor, let the meal cool down for some 5 minutes, then serve.

You can combine Basa with several other dishes, garnish and side dishes. However, potatoes, rice (especially basmati rice) or pasta fit best. Basa fish, such as most fish, is best served with a glass of dry white wine.

Pangasius (Basa) Fillet, seasoned with fish seasoning