Cajun Blackened Fish with Corn and Tomato Salsa

I absolutely love the colours of this easy and yummy dish. Since I'm too lazy to cook up anything else to serve it with, the salsa and the fish is good enough for a light dinner.

To make this meal, you can use any boneless fish cutlets you are comfortable with. I notice most households now use the frozen dory fish which is easily available in every supermarket. Although it's extremely convenient to use the fish, I prefer buying fresh fish fillets as they contain less water content when you pan fry them. The ones I usually get can be found at supermarket counters and it's a flat fish which they call "sebelah" in Malay. Pricewise it's slightly more expensive than the frozen dory fish. Incidentally I doubt it's dory fish but a river catfish that is raised in fish farms in Thailand and Vietnam. I think only Jusco labels the fish as Sutchi while the rest of the supermarkets call it Dory Fish.

You can make your own Cajun spice as provided in the recipe or alternatively, buy them off the spice rack of any supermarket. My Cajun spice came from the bake shop which stocks all kinds of dried herbs and spices that they indiviually pack in plastic containers. Since I was out of coriander that night, I made do with sliced spring onions. The salsa is really yummy and for more zing, I added lime rind to it.

Cajun Blackened Fish with Corn and Tomato Salsa

(from Australian Women's Weekly Cooking Class for Beginners Cookbook)

3 teaspoons coarse salt

3 teaspoons hot paprika

3 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

3 teaspoons ground oregano

1/2 teaspoon chilli powder

12 small boneless fish fillets about 1 kg

2 tablespoons olive oil

Corn and Tomato Salsa

2 corn cobs (800 grams)
1 small red onion (100 grams), finely chopped
4 medium tomatoes (375 grams), deseeded and chopped finely

1 tablespoon finely shredded coriander leaves

2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon olive oil

Combine the salt, paprika, pepper, oregano and chilli powder in a bowl or a tray. Coat the fish fillets on both sides with the spices or ready made Cajun spice. Heat up oil in a heavy base pan and cook fish in batches, about two minutes each depending on how thick your fillets are. The coating on the fish will become blackened as seen above. If using frozen fish, make sure it's dry or else the coating will not stick on to it.

To make the salsa, remove and discard the silk from the corn cobs. Cut the kernels from the cobs and boil, steam or microwave them until tender. I prefer mine with more crunch hence I don't like to cook it for too long so adjust the times based on what you like. When the corn kernels are cool, combine with all other ingredients and serve with the fish fillets. This recipe makes four portions.

Tagged with: Cajun Fish + Corn Tomato Salsa