Growing up I was never a fan of catfish. The experiences at Tejuoso market watching my mum negotiate on the price of the fish while the fish thrashed violently in the bowl was enough to scar me. My mum also made the watery fishy stew called imoyo with Catfish and we had that with Okro on some Saturdays. Those days I pretended not to be too hungry that way after our formal lunch, I could pretend I wanted Indomie to snack on.
Fast forward to a few years later, I was at a Jamaican restaurant and I saw they had fish for sale so I asked for it with my rice and peas. I was enjoying it so much that I asked the attendant and he said it was catfish. I was shocked. All my years of hating the poor fish had finally come to an end. Maybe because I was not involved in the buying process. After that day, I always begged everyone around me to buy it for me. That way I don’t need to see the fish slaughtering process.
If you have been following our social media accounts closely, you would see that the Afrolems in Toronto Edition has begun. For people that order over $100 worth of food, they get a free treat but it is usually a surprise. Last week, the unsuspecting clients got a free bowl of catfish peppersoup. I ran into one of the clients over the weekend and he was raving about how he loved the catfish peppersoup and I should please post the recipe. I have decided to answer to his request. This week, the people that order from Afrolems Toronto Edition would get a very different surprise experience. Do you have suggestions for them? Leave a comment.
Recipe for Catfish Peppersoup and Yam
Ingredients
1 Medium Catfish (cleaned)
5 Yellow scotch bonnet peppers (reduce if you have low tolerance)
1/4 cup of crayfish head (blended)
2 African nutmegs (roasted and blended)
1/2 teaspoon of blended Ehuru
2 pods of Uda (Deseeded and blended)
10 small pieces of Yam
Seasoning Cubes
1/2 teaspoon of crushed dry bitter leaves
1 teaspoon of chopped Uziza
Method
In a pot, bring the yam to boil for about 10-15 minutes and set aside.
In a separate pot, bring the catfish to boil with the peppers, african nutmeg, crayfish head, ehuru, uda, seasoning cubes, bitter leaves and uziza.
Allow to boil for about 5-8 minutes as fish doesn’t need a lot of cooking time. At the 6th, minute, place your boiled yam in the pot and continue cooking so the yam can soak up the seasoning.
Serve hot!
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