Catfish Stew - Nupe Style!

I am a Nupe girl and proud! Although I didn't grow up in Nupe land I have learnt a lot about my culture from my relatives and from reading many books. 

I still visit Lafiagi, Kwara State the village my great Aunt and some relatives still live. We love to eat rice and guinea corn in different forms as we grow them in the swampy areas because the Nupe land is located in the heart of Nigeria below the River Niger and river Kaduna. And also for this reason fish is very common in Nupe dishes. I still get my mum to send me some dried fish straight from the river! I don't mind the rice "forms" but I must admit that I cannot stand the meals made out of guinea corn!

One of my favourite Nupe dishes is made with fish and very few ingredients yet it tastes amazing! When I used to return home for the holidays during my school days, my mum would ask me before I boarded the flight what I wanted to eat when I arrived. I always asked for this catfish stew pronounced Eni Ikan Fun Furu in the Nupe language. Even if I arrived at 4 am, I would still go straight to the kitchen and get down! It was impossible to eat and not stain my clothes. As I usually ate it with my hand, you will find me trying to prevent the oil from running down my hands. Till today this still happens to me.

I used to be really scared of preparing this dish because I didn't want to tamper with the good memory  I had of it. I used to ask myself,"what if its not as good as mum's?". So for a very long time I was content with having it once a year. The first time I braved it was in my second year at university. M was my flatmate at the time and very curious about the dish especially when she saw the ingredients. She thought it was really good but it didn't taste like mum's so I gave up. Last year though I walked into an Asian store and saw frozen catfish while searching for prawns and I thought it was high time I mastered this stew that was very important to my tribe. I prepared it for some guests and they were blown away. I was also pleased with what I had cooked. Phew! At last! I swear no dish had ever made me this nervous. 

This is all you need!

Cat Fish Stew


Ingredients:
1 cat fish
1 medium onion (finely chopped)
1 tablespoon dried chilli powder
1 Knorr cube
4 table spoons of palm oil
Salt to taste

Directions:
Chop the catfish into five to six pieces:

Place the pieces in a bowl and pour hot water over them just to cover them  for a minute, you will notice the slimy stuff coming off the fish. Rinse them again in cold water, pat dry and keep aside.

In a sauce pan large enough to contain all the fish in a single layer, heat the oil for a minute and add the chopped onions and fry for another minute. Then place the fish in a single layer, sprinkle the Knorr cubes and dried pepper over the fish. Pour warm water over the fish just to cover it and let it cook on medium heat for about 20 minutes or until you notice a thicker smooth stew. Add salt to taste.

Serve with rice or Tuwo Shinkafa.