Lemony Catfish with Cherry Tomato Couscous

My friend Amalina, who is my cooking buddy, hates couscous. This is interesting only because she is a pretty adventurous eater and couscous is well, couscous. It’s pretty much the most non-threatening food to ever exist so the fact that she cannot stand it is mind blowing to me. Anyway, we were window shopping at a high end supermarket (yes, you read that right) and I chanced upon this box of lemon and garlic couscous that was on sale so naturally I snatched it up and begged her to try some. She politely declined but that’s okay because YEAY MORE FOR ME! Besides, my food obsessed brain had already decided that I would use it with a recipe I bookmarked in Nigella Lawson’s Kitchen. The original recipe was for salmon but I used catfish instead, because they are much cheaper. The ones I use are frozen sutchi fillets (basically southeast asian catfish) and they are readily available in all supermarkets.

Enough blabbering, onward with the recipe!

 

Lemony Fish with Cherry Tomato Couscous *adapted slightly from Nigella Lawson’s Kitchen*
1 box of couscous
1 lemon
½ red onion, finely chopped
A handful of cherry tomatoes (my handful=10), quartered lengthwise
1 tbsp olive oil
1 catfish fillet, cut into 2
½ tsp paprika
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1 tbsp vegetable oil

-Prepare the couscous according to the box
-Zest the lemon on a plate and add the paprika, salt and pepper. Swirl the contents around to make sure it’s thoroughly mixed
-Coat both sides of the fish fillets with this dry rub, set aside

-In another bowl, add the onions, tomatoes, olive oil and the juice of half a lemon, mix together well and set aside
-Heat a pan with the vegetable oil over medium heat

-Cook the fish for 2-3 minutes each side

-Once the couscous is done, fluff it up with a fork before adding the onion and tomato mixture
-Stir in the chopped cilantro, reserving some to sprinkle at the end

 

This could not be easier. You absolutely could not screw this up!

And trust me, you would not want to screw this up either, because then you wouldn’t be able to partake in the deliciousness that is this dish.

 

One of the reasons why I love using these frozen sutchi fillets, besides them being you know, cheap, is that they’re so easy to cook with and they will taste great any way you cook them.

Loved the couscous. Everything was right, from the crunch of the onions to the tartness of the tomatoes. I only used up (ahem, ate) half of the couscous so I kept the rest in the fridge and whaddya know!
As it turns out, cold couscous at 4am is the bees’ knees.