Catfish, delicious as it is, can be a little tricky to cook without it disintegrating in your pot of soup. I have four tips i use regularly to cook Catfish, to prevent it from disintegrating in my stews and sauces.

• Shocking
• Freezing
• Frying
• Pan Searing

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TIP 1

Shocking

To prevent your catfish from disintegrating in your pot of soup. After cutting and gutting your catfish, wash properly to get rid of slime.

• Boil some water and pour over the fish to cover the fish. The fish would immediately firm up.
• Leave in hot water for about 2 minutes and pour cold water and rinse. The hot water would allow whatever slime is left on the body to congeal so you can easily rinse it off. 
• Then put catfish into your soup or stew for 5 – 15 minutes before you take it off the heat.

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TIP 2

Freezing

After cutting and gutting your fresh catfish, wash properly to get rid of the slime. Salt and put in the freezer for at least a day or overnight. The freezing firms the fish up. Add to you nearly cooked pot of soup or stew.

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Tip 3

Fried Catfish!!

Personally I think this is the best way to eat fresh catfish. Nothing beats the taste of fried catfish, whether in soups or stews or as a side dish or main dish or garnish, fried catfish holds its own any day. This is how I make mine.

Recipe

• Fresh Catfish
• Vegetable oil
• Flour (all purpose is best but, I use any I find in the house)
• Salt
• Seasoning cubes
• Spices of your choice. (cayenne pepper, ginger powder, black pepper…)

Procedure

• Wash your fresh catfish thoroughly to get rid of the slime, I wash under a running tap, some people use salt or lime or alum. I use only water from the tap till I feel no slime.
• Then season with your favorite spices and salt. For this I used cayenne pepper (ground dried pepper/ ata gigun ) some orange juice, one single knorr cube and salt. 
• I marinated it for a little over an hour in the fridge -it doesn’t have to be in the fridge-
• To fry Heat oil till really hot , pour in some flour -about a handful- , stir the flour into the oil so it doesn’t curdle up, after about 10 secs put in the marinated catfish and fry to your desired crisp.
• You can turn the sides of the catfish after each side has fried for about 1 min.
• *If you are frying a large batch the flour might change colour. If it gets darker than golden brown, decant the oil and take out the burnt flour, you can return the oil to the heat and add fresh flour to fry the next batch. 

Voila! Enjoy your Eja Aro/Point and Kill/Catfish

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TIP 4

Pan Seared Catfish

VERY VERY SIMPLE to make. For this I used

• Catfish Fillet (I fillet it myself )
• 1/2 tsp Alligator Pepper (Ata’re)
• 1 dried Cameron pepper (also called Ghana Pepper by the market vendors)
• Salt
• 1/4 tsp Olive oil 

Procedure

• In a small mortar or coffee grinder, crush/blend the alligator pepper and Cameroon pepper.
• Mix with the right amount of salt you intend to use.
• Make slashes on one side of the fish fillet. Place fillet on a flat surface and rub the spice mix on both sides.
• Set aside for at least 30mins (I placed mine in the fridge ). When ready to cook, heat up a non-stick pan, once it is hot , take off the heat and use a pastry brush to rub olive oil on the pan, return to the heat and put in the fish.
• Turn the heat down completely and allow each side to cook for at least 3 mins or until the side is browned before you flip it.
• Sear both sides.
  
  The taste and aroma is awesome. *Note you can use any spice you chose if you don’t have alligator pepper or Cameroon pepper.
  
  Enjoy

• How to Series
• Tips for cooking Catfish