Yesterday i was hungry and I didn't have adequate food supplies at home. I was also pretty tired to drive out to find a meal so i rummaged through my freezer and found some well preserved cat fish i had cleaned up and stored earlier. Then again it was a question of what could i possibly arrange with this cat fish because i didn't have tomatoes & pepper blend to whip up a stew neither did i have pepper soup ingredients to arrange pepper soup. It struck me that that in Nigeria cat fish has typical recipes and i should try something different. I decided on grilling it and i must tell you it was JUICY, FLAKY & DELICIOUS when i was done. I paired it with some noodles but you can choose to pair it with whatever you like actually. I used western spices in this recipe which most Nigerians may not be conversant with but are readily available in Supermarkets. Next time i will showcase an option using our local spices and you can choose which option would grace you table best. So, let's get on with it!
Ingredients
- Cat fish (cut up, cleaned and washed with boiling water) - A large round piece cut in 2
- Salt to taste
- Ground Black pepper to taste
- Fresh or dried Parsley
- 1/4 Tsp Paprika
- Fresh or dried Thyme to taste
- 3 pinches of Dried Oregano
- 3 pinches of Dried Basil
- Juice of half a lemon
- 1 Tsp Melted Butter
- Garlic Powder
- Ground/Chopped Fresh Habanero Pepper (optional)
- Seasoning cube of your choice to taste
Directions
- 1Preheat your oven for 10mins. I used a halogen oven and i preheated it at 175 degrees for 10mins.
- 2Mix the black pepper, salt, oregano, basil, thyme, parsley & seasoning cube in a small bowl and set aside. Ensure you taste your spice rub to ensure it taste balanced.
- 3Melt the butter in another small bowl, add in your powdered garlic and lemon juice mix and also set aside. If you are adding habanero pepper then best to do that here. Ensure you taste this as well to ensure its balance.
- 4Arrange some foil in an oven friendly bowl/plate and place the fish on it.
- 5Sprinkle the spice mix all over the fish however before you do that best you pat dry your fish with a kitchen roll to reduce wetness on the fish.
- 6Next drizzle the butter-lemon-garlic mixture all over the fish and bake uncovered for 20mins.
- 7Yippie! its ready to be feasted on. Like i said earlier, you can pair it with any meal of your choice.
