How to Cook: Fried Catfish or Pritong Hito

After living in the city for 30 years, EC moved to the countryside. He writes about life in the mountains, dogs, plants, and cooking.

Fried Fish for Dinner or Lunch

Fish is also a good source of Vitamin D as well as protein and good fatty acids. Catfish is a freshwater fish like the carp and often considered as delicacy but very affordable.

In Asian cuisine, catfish is cooked in different ways: grilled, roasted, or cooked in spices.

Most common technique is frying. The whole fish or fillet is rolled in breading and deep-fried to a golden crisp.

Catfish - Nutritional Value

Catfish dishes are popular and well-known in most Asian countries; and also in Africa, Europe, North America.

The catfish often lives in lakes, rivers and ponds with hard sandy bottom though the flathead specie prefers muddy soil.

This black-skinned and scaleless fish has white or yellowish flesh and considered as delicacy in some parts of Southern US and Central Europe. No wonder, the formerly wildlife fish was now widely farmed in most countries!

The catfish meat is similar to the flesh of the carp fish. In some places, people believe that eating catfish may help blood purification and fast recovery from fever as well as other minor illnesses.

Wild Catfish is rich in Vitamin D while catfish raised in farms has high level of omega-6 but low in omega-3 fatty acids.

Interesting Names for Catfish

• Hito - Philippines
• Ikan Keli - Malaysia
• Thedu - India
• Magur - Bangladesh

Delacata is the proposed new name for US-farmed catfish.

3 Catfish Species Raised in the US: Flathead, Channel, and Blue Catfish

Catfish is Farm-Raised Now

In North America, most common species and easy to farm are the channel catfish and blue catfish; while in Asia, the walking catfish and shark catfish. Because they are easily grown, the catfish is low-priced.

Catfish has no scales, mostly black in color but a white belly, very slippery to touch, and has whiskers (or barbels).

It has barb that stings so cleaning is a bit tricky.

Catfish is being fed with meat and fish because it is carnivorous.

How to Cook Pritong Hito or Fried Breaded Catfish

Ingredients:

• 500 grams catfish fillet or 3 medium catfish, without head and cleaned
• 1 head garlic, cloves crushed
• salt, vinegar, cooking oil
• 1 cup cornmeal or flour breading

How to Prepare Fried Catfish

1. Thaw properly if catfish fillet is frozen to avoid shredding the flesh. If bought from supermarket, do not remove fish fillet from its vacuumed package to seal in freshness.
2. Fresh live catfish should be handled carefully. If bought from the wet market, ask the fish vendor to behead and clean the catfish.
3. Roll fish on breading several times until well coated. Arrange on a dry plate and put aside.
4. Heat cooking oil in frying pan. Drop the crushed garlic cloves when smoke appeared on surface of oil. Remove garlic when turned brown.
5. Roll the fish on breading once again. Pick the fish using a pair of tong and lower it into the hot oil carefully. Adjust heat to medium.
6. Serve fried catfish while hot and crispy with steamed rice. A vegetable salad in vinaigrette dressing is a perfect side dish.

How to Make Mango Cucumber Salad

Salad Ingredients:

• 1 cup semi-ripe mango cubes
• 1 cup cucumber cubes
• 1 large tomato, cubed
• 1 medium red onion, peeled and cubed
• 1 stalk flat parsley, coarsely chopped

Ingredients for Vinaigrette Dressing:

• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• Pinch of salt
• Dash of fine white pepper powder

Mix all ingredients for Vinaigrette. Toss the salad ingredients. Pour dressing over veggies, cover, and chill inside the refrigerator if cold salad is preferred.

Julienne is a culinary term for knife cutting method that produces long thin strips from vegetables or fruits. Julienned apple or carrot look like matchsticks or shoe strings.

Tips on How to Clean Catfish

1. To remove the slippery touch, rub salt to the fish skin.
2. To lessen the fishy smell, soak the fish in vinegar solution for 1 minute.
3. Add 1/2 cup water to 1 cup vinegar to make soak solution.
4. Wash the fish with water one more time and drain well.

How to Prepare Seaweed Salad

Seaweed Salad has only 3 ingredients: 2 cups fresh seaweed, 1 large tomato cubes, 1 medium red onion, and 1 Tbsp ginger julienned (cut into long thin slivers).

Salad preparation is very simple. Just wash and drain well the seaweed. Lightly toss with tomato and onion. Drizzle vinaigrette dressing all over salad, cover, and set aside inside the refrigerator.

How to Hold a Catfish When Cleaning

Comments

Kenneth Avery from Hamilton, Alabama on May 25, 2014:

Hi, Queen Cleopatra,

Great idea, dinner for lunch and catfish are my favorites. If prepared right. I cannot eat a greasy catfish, but those cooked and served dry, I could eat three if I were not on a diet.

I voted up and away on this hub. I loved it.

You are a very versatile and talented writer.

I cordially-invite you to check out a couple of my hubs then be one of my followers.

I would love it.

Kenneth/ from northwest Alabama

EC Mendoza (author) from Philippines on November 22, 2011:

Hi ChaplinSpeaks, thanks for the crunchy comment. :)

Sarah Johnson from Charleston, South Carolina on November 22, 2011:

Great Hub! I wish I could bite into that cucumber mango salad! It looks awesome. Voted UP.