Monday, July 11, 2011

Catfish with Basil and Jalapeno


A good friend who loves Asian food was visiting the bay area for business about a month ago and we had lunch at The Slanted Door by the Ferry Building. We ordered a few appetizer and one main dish in a clay pot - Caramelized Catfish. The fish was good but the gravy sauce was a bit too sweet. The chef may have put a little too much of the brown sugar. Both Leticia and I agreed on that and she suggested that I should try to cook it myself the next time she is in town.

About 2 weeks later, I bought a bag of frozen cattish nuggets and I decided to give it a try. Well, the past two weeks have been quite busy and I never got around to it until today! Now that I have fresh herbs growing in the backyard, I don't have to constantly run to the store and get what I need. The dish we had had cilantro and chillies. I substituted with basil and jalapeno. I don't own a clay pot so I used my wok. I used hoisin sauce instead of brown sugar. I used oyster sauce instead of fish sauce. Here is my own recipe!

Ingredients: (Servings for 2)

10 pieces of catfish nuggets (frozen or fresh)
3 tablespoons sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon fresh chopped ginger
3 garlic cloves (minced)
1 jalapeno pepper (sliced)
3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
3 tablespoons oyster sauce
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves

Preparation:

Heat up a large frying pan or a wok with the sesame oil. Add ginger and garlic. Toss and saute well until medium brown. Add jalapeno pepper and basil leaves and toss for about 1/2 minute. Turn the heat to medium and add the catfish nuggets and stir well in the wok, cover and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the oyster sauce, hoisin sauce and water and stir well. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes and until the sauce has thicken a bit. Enjoy with steamed rice!

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