Eat Good Catfish Laab

this is so damn good.

Hello my Sweet Swamp Dwellers — it’s Eat Good Thursdays and good gawd do I have something good for y’all today. Catfish. Laab. Catfish Laab. CATFISH! LAAB!

So what had happened was, I was brainstorming dish ideas for my first little intimate dinner here in LA and my brain just started braining. And what I mean by that is a surge of memories can rushing through my prefrontal cortex along with real time observations of weather, produce, what I ate for dinner the night before, what I wanted for lunch the next day and what would really gag the people (in a good way haha). Thats when Evil Kermit appeared before me and said:

“put the fried catfish in some laab”

To give you some Kia Lore, I grew up in Central Florida, more specifically Orlando, and contrary to what some may think, we have a very large and diverse Asian population. Most of that community is situated on a street called Mills 50, also called Little Vietnam. I’m not yet certain of how that area came to be (I’ll bookmark that for my own research time) but I feel very lucky having it be a player in the development of my taste and worldview. I always say that the strength of Florida’s southernness is our diversity. If I wasn’t a Southern girl raised eating pho, lumpia, takoyaki, soon tofu, papaya salad and char sui, then I wouldn’t have been able to bring you this masterpiece.

Before I release you to go wild and crazy, I have to tell you why this works. Laab is the national dish of Laos but is also massively popular in Thailand. Traditionally the dish is comprised of ground pork, shallots, green onion, fish sauce, lime, mint, cilantro and chilis. It’s sweet and spicy and tangy and sour and everything good in the world. I only knew laab in the classic sense until my eyes were opened by the late Uncle Boon’s Sister. That’s when I had fried chicken laab for the first time — effectively changing the course of my life. I remember thinking that it was a dish that felt very Florida coded. Flash forward to today and instead of fried chicken, we’re using cornmeal crusted, fried catfish. The perfectly fried outer layer withstands the strength of the dressing while lending the power of it’s own spicy kick, courtsey of that good ole Southern seasoning.

In short, it’s damned good.

Fried Catfish Laab

Yield: 2 servings

Prep time: 45 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Total time: 1 hour 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 pound of fileted catfish

• 2 cups of buttermilk or plain kefir

• a few dashes of tabasco

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal

• 1 ½ cup AP flour

• 1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning

• Neutral oil for frying

  For the dressing

• ¼ cup fresh squeezed lime juice

• 3 tablespoons fish sauce

• 1 tablespoon light brown sugar

• 1 tablespoon toasted rice powder

• 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes

• 1 large shallot

• 1 bunch cilantro

• 1 bunch mint

• Fried garlic (optional)

Directions

1. Cut the catfish into ½ inch nuggets and place them in a bowl. Pour the buttermilk over the fish and add a few dashes of tabasco. Mix the fish and buttermilk then let it marinate on the counter for at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile mix together the cornmeal, flour and seasoning onto a baking pan. Line another baking pan with paper towels and a cooling rack then set them both aside for your frying station. When the fish is done marinating, take a few at a time, shake off the excess buttermilk and add them to the dry mix. Shake the pan to coat the fish and place the pieces on the cooling rack. Repeat until all of the nuggets are coated. Let them rest for another 15 minutes.This gives the coating time to stick, which makes for a better frying experience.

2. Pour two inches of oil into a cast iron pan or dutch oven. Bring the oil to medium heat. You want the oil at 350 degrees and the best way to achieve that is with a thermometer. If you don’t have one, no stress. Just look for the oil to have this shimmer to it and use a tester piece before you start frying in bunches. 

3. When the oil comes to temperature, work in batches to fry the fish. Be sure not to crowd the pan. Fry the fish for 4 minutes then use tongs to flip the pieces and fry for 2 more minutes. Remove them from the oil and drain on the cooling rack. Repeat until done.

4. While the fish rests, make the laab dressing. Combine the lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, rice powder and red pepper flakes in a large bowl. Whisk together then taste for heat, sweetness, and tangy acidity. Thinly slice the shallot lengthwise and add it to the dressing. Add the catfish to the bowl and begin to coat with dressing. An easy way to do this is to use two serving utensils to gather the fish from the bottom of the bowl and bring it to the top, repeating until it’s all coated evenly. 

5. I prefer my laab on the herbier side, so I lean heavy on the mint and cilantro. On average for this recipe you’re going to want at least a cup of each. Roughly tear up a cup of cleaned mint and toss into the bowl. Follow with a cup of cilantro, roughly torn. Mix well and pour everything onto a serving plate. Finish with whole pieces of mint and cilantro for garnish and some store bought fried garlic.

6. Serve with roti or sticky rice and cut limes for squeezing.