Many people have asked me through social media to share more fish recipes and I thought I should share these two about Nile perch. I have always loved Nile perch, right from my childhood. Unfortunately, we didn’t eat much of it as kinds because my mom, like many parents, did not want to deal with the aftermath of feeding children on Nile perch. The preparation work itself was actual work, and if you did not do it right, yours would end up like one of those homes you walk into and instantly know what their favourite dish is.
My mom had to make sure all the children were undressed before we ate mpuuta and then sat us on a mat (not the chairs or the dinning table). When we were done eating, we lined up at the bathroom door for a bath before we could move anywhere. Needless to say, Nile perch, also known as “mpuuta” was only eaten at lunch time, never dinner.
I have since adopted the same routine for Najjuuko. I cannot afford to have any spillages on the couch or chairs of the dinning table if we are to eat mpuuta stew. The recipes I am sharing here today are for pasted mpuuta and the deep fried one. I also use them often when preparing keto diet meals and I bet you will enjoy them as much.
If you do not have a slow cooker, feel free to just cook your pasted fish on low heat for a pronged period of time. As for the seasoning, feel free to explore with different herbs and spices beyond the limited varieties below. You will also notice that I mention coconut flakes, but you will only need it if you are on a low carb diet. Otherwise, feel free to use breadcrumbs. If you want to paste the fish, simply get the leftover deep-fried fish and cook it in your binyebwa (groundnuts). But if you want to do straight from fresh fish to pasted fish, then you can simply season your fish, deep fry it and slow cook it in binyebwa.
Deep Fried Nile Perch
Ingredients
- 1 kg fresh Nile perch, cut into equal parts of your preferred size
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup coconut flakes (or bread crumbs)
- Vegetable cooking oil
- 2 tsp. Salt
- 2 tsp. pepper
- 2 tsp. paprika
Preparation
- Season the fish with 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper and 1tsp paprika and make sure it’s well coated.
- In a bowl, beat the eggs and add the remaining salt, pepper and paprika and then smudge the fish pieces in the egg mixture.
- In a wok, heat the vegetable oil until it gets to smocking point, then deep fry the fish until it gets golden brown.
