From ‘ugly’ to lip-smacking fish fingers

Chefs at work: Fabiane (left) and Suguna showing how they fillet the keli. They then mix the meat with seven secret herbs to give their fish fingers a classic, spicy Malaysian oomph.

GEORGE TOWN: Some fish get a bad name just because they are ugly and a prime example is the whiskered Malaysian catfish or ikan keli.

Although inexpensive, easy to farm, and packed with Omega-3 fatty acids, the keli is sometimes seen as a poor man’s protein because some consumers dislike the taste of freshwater fish while others are turned off by the keli’s whiskers.