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Catfish and Carrot Sauce is a very easy and must-try recipe. When you want a versatile, tasty, sustainable, and affordable fish, catfish is it.
Catfish is popular in Nigeria today, because of the boom in catfish farming, both as home-farming and large-scale fish farming. Catfish is high in protein and vitamins, and moderate in fat.
Whether you like catfish or not, you will love this catfish and carrot sauce!
Is Catfish Healthy?
Catfish is low in calories and packed with lean protein, healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals. It’s particularly rich in heart-healthy omega-3 fats and vitamin B12.
It can be a healthy addition to any meal, though deep frying adds far more calories and fat than dry heat cooking methods like baking or broiling. If you’re looking to eat more seafood, catfish is well worth incorporating into your routine.
How To Clean Catfish
My butcher has helped to clean the Catfish I used for this recipe. However, if you have to clean it up by yourself, there are two main methods, I have always used:
- Scrub the skin of the Fish with Salt
- Scrub with Alum
- Soak it in hot boiling water for about 3 minutes. The slime will fall off easily.
Even if the Fish had been thoroughly cleaned, I still soaked it in hot water. This is because Catfish is naturally a soft Fish, the hot water will not only remove the slime but will also help to firm up the fish a bit, therefore, reducing its chances of breaking apart in the stew.
How To Prepare Catfish and Carrot Sauce
For quick prep, use your food processor to shred the carrots (or buy them pre-shredded). Sweet red Chile sauce is available in the markets; it keeps for ages in the fridge and dresses up any cooked vegetables, tofu, or seared meats.
You can use catfish as a whole, in fillets, or as nuggets for this recipe. Any way you cook it, you get the full richness of nutrients in the fish. To achieve a carrot-based consistency, use a 3-part carrot, and 1-part tomato.
The sauce’s delicious richness also tames the bold, smoky spices we’re using to coat our pan-seared catfish. This sauce can be eaten with rice, potato, or yam dishes.
Let me know in the comments below if you have any addition, questions, or comments about this Catfish and Carrot Sauce recipe.
Catfish and Carrot Sauce
Ingredients
- 200 g Catfish
- 2 medium Tomatoes
- 6 medium Carrot
- 45 ml Vegetable oil
- 2 medium Garlic
- 2 cube Seasoning
- ½ tsp Salt
- 3 small Cayenne pepper
- 1 medium Onions
- 1 large Red bell pepper
- ½ small Lemon
- 1 medium Cucumber
Instructions
PREPARING THE CATFISH
- Wash catfish thoroughly with potash, maize or wheat chaff as the skin is very slimy.
- Cut into desired size.
- Place on a tray and allow water to dry off, for 10 minutes.
- Wash cayenne pepper, onion, red bell pepper and blend.
- Pour in a bowl and add seasoning, salt, fresh garlic and lemon.
- Marinade for 20 minutes. Grill fish for 15 minutes (or bake if you prefer).
MAKING THE CARROT SAUCE
- Wash, cut carrot and tomatoes into small cubes.
- Use three-part carrot, one-part tomato.
- Blend both carrot and tomatoes until smooth. Pour in a sauce pan.
- Add the marinade juice (from your fish marinade), seasoning and salt to the pot. Stir-fry until you get a thick consistency.
- Wash and cut carrots into big chunks.
- Add cut carrot into the carrot and tomato sauce. Continue to stir until carrot is tender. Remove from heat.
- Serve sauce in a soup bowl and add catfish. Garnish with a vegetable or herb of choice.
Notes
Before use, assess fish for awful odor, change in color and feel. Any doubt about safety of the fish should make you avoid use.
Fish contamination could lead to very serious gastroenteritis and food poisoning. Exercise caution.
