Almond Crusted Catfish Fry
What is the point of going on vacation, when you have to come back and work double as hard for the next few days to make up for the lost time? I only have myself to blame for it though, I took a week off at the wrong time. Anyway, the vacation was great while it lasted, extremely exhausting but extremely fun at the same time. How can you not have fun in Vegas, right? We tried out some nice restaurants by some skillful chefs like Mario Batali, Thomas Keller and Wolfgang Puck. I will post the reviews later. There was a ton of poker, and we even managed to squeeze in a tiny bit of shopping. I absolutely hate the fall styles this year, at least the stuff I’ve seen so far. There isn’t much for my body type; I finally ended up buying just a Betsey Johnson dress. I didn’t really need an expensive dress right now, but I won some money and really wanted to spend it on something. Now I just have to find a glamorous event to wear it to. Unfortunately, I just don’t get invited to many of those 
Oh well…
I wanted to break out of the blogging rut by posting an easy-breezy recipe from my drafts. This is so quick and effortless, but tastes incredible, and you can even make a complete meal out of it. Check out the end of the recipe for two different serving options.
Ingredients
- 4 catfish filets
- 3/4 cup whole almonds
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 1 tbsp red chili powder
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- salt to taste
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1-2 tbsp oil for shallow frying
- For Serving Option 1
- 1/2 tbsp oil
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced shallots
- 1 tbsp green onion slices
- For Serving Option 2
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced shallots
- 1/2 cup silvered almonds
- 1 cup cooked and cooled rice
- 2 tbsp lemon juice.
- salt to taste
Method
In a food processor, place the almonds, garlic, chili powder, lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil and salt and process to form a coarse paste.
Apply this paste liberally on both sides of the catfish filets. Let it rest for 15 minutes.
In a large frying pan, add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. When the oil is smoking hot, place the fish filets flat. Reduce the heat to medium-high and cover with a tight fitting lid. After 4 minutes, uncover, turn the filets and cook for 4-5 more minutes uncovered. You will have to reduce or increase the cooking time depending on the thickness of the filets.
When the fish is done, remove the filets and keep warm.
Now you can serve these two ways- just the fish with some sautéed shallots, or make a complete meal out of it with fried rice. We had it both ways and both were great!
Option 1
A lot of marinade must’ve fallen off the filets during the frying process; these bits are too delicious to waste. Add little more oil to the pan and add the sliced shallots and sauté till soft. Serve the fish with the sautéed shallots spooned over on top and garnish with green onions. Serve with lemon wedges to squeeze over.
Option 2
After removing the fish from the pan, add about 1 tbsp of oil to the pan. Add a few silvered almonds to the pan and sauté well. Add sliced shallots and sauté till soft. If you had any extra almond masala paste after marinating, add that to the pan. You can also use the almond paste that might have fallen off the fish filets during the marination. Sauté till the paste starts to brown. Add some cooked and cooled rice to the pan and mix well. Add the lemon juice and salt and mix well and cook for another minute on high heat to make fried rice.
I got this idea for making fried rice out of left over fish fry marinade from Shn from her fried sardines post. Thanks Shn for a keeper idea!
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Mouthwatering dish sig!
luv catfish, will try soon.
Those shallots look deadly delicious! Its been a while since I had proper fried fish.. Sigh..
looks so yum….
:drool: too good :drool: . I will have to try this
Yuuummmmmmy!!!
Awesome pic.
http://onlineraga.blogspot.com/2008/09/children-of-lesser-god.html
http://onlineraga.blogspot.com/2008/09/down-memory-lane.html
Will get back to food blogging very very soon.
Yum yum
Drooling gal :drool:
SIIIIIG, fish looks stunningly inviting! The flavours of fish n marinade must hv made rice taste great! Loved ur choice of marinade! Tks for sharing..would soon try it out.:)
Yes):
i simply love catfish. however we hardly ever get it here. great to see you back though. how about wearing the dress to my next mingle.
Love the dish, and lucky you, able to eat food prepared by Thomas Keller and Wolfgang puck, have heard so much about them
That looks so tempting…glad to know you had a wonderful time
Wow this looks gr8 and tempting.
Flower):
I think this is the first I’ve heard of fish and almonds being paired – sounds delicious.
I hear you about the vacation vis-a-vis work
I liked your spicy take on the almond crusted fry…and about using the fried marinade….you know, one of my friend’s orthodox grandma was really shocked to see my trying this combo a decade back….now I am relieved to know that there are some people out there who really enjoy this part like me and my family
))
ooh, those carmalised onions & almond crust…how lovely :drool: vegas is always fun
Fish and almonds…must have been a flavourful meal…
where did you stay in vegas this time? I love vegas..has been a year since i have been there
…u seem to take trips for all of us 
…
wow Sig, this looks delicious, can’t wait to try this. You tried Mario Batali’s restaurant… you’ve got to tell more…
Fried shallots – that must be divine… picture is as pretty as ever.
that looks inviting! mouth watering pics yar! come and join in the chicken event going in my blog!
Love catfish. amma makes a delicious kulambu out of it! The fat floating on the top makes it extra delicious. This fry looks wonderful! And this fried rice is a regular one at home! As whenever amma makes fish fry/mutton fry, she’ll leave a few table spoons on the kadai and used to mix rice with it and make balls of rice to giveaway to the nagging kids! What a treat!
totally!! would love to get drunk and pahrty….
That photograph is stunningly beautiful. Just out of a high-gloss magazine!
those lemons in the background look great. i liked it on meeta k’s blog too. nice pick.
Never tried fish with this crust…guess can replace it with any kind of such fish. Picture of fried onions and green onion garnish is simply outstanding.
Yes): :drool: 
Bookmarked dear
Hello! This recipe sounded wonderful. Just tried it for dinner, however, and was quite disappointed with the results. The fish was far too oily, and the almond crust was not adequately spiced. More chili powder was, at the very least, in order…. Also, it would be helpful if you could specify how much salt and lemon juice should be added to the paste. I think I’ll try it again, slightly modified, because the picture looks so enticing! Do you have any suggestions?
Hi I am glad I came across ur blog. I recently started blogging and am exploring around…
We eat catfish very often, esp. my kids. & I have tried garlic, ginger, tandoori powder.. this is a very different variation. need to try this out soon.
Thanks for sharing.
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