Oven-dried Fish is a traditional Nigerian recipe for a classic method of making dried fish using an oven. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Nigerian version of: Oven-dried Fish.
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Dried fish are a crucial component of many West African recipes. However, Outside West and Central Africa, they can be hard to source... So, why not make your own? The following is a recipe for oven-dried fish originating in Nigeria. Here, catfish is used as an example, as its one of the commonest West African dried fish (along with bonnies), but you can use the method to dry any kind of fish. As an example this also works very well with mackerel. It's also useful for more common and economical but less flavourful fish such as whiting and pollack.
Ingredients:
3 whole fish, cleaned and scaled (with heads and tails left on)
2 lemons
1 tbsp sea salt
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp ginger powder
Method:
Thoroughly clean your fish with salted water. Drain and rinse then use half a cut lemon to scrub the fish and remove the surface slime (this is essential for catfish). Using kitchen shears trim off any fins and protruberences (this also includes the barbules of catfish).
Cut the fish into steaks about 8cm (3 in) in length then wash once again. In a bowl, mix together the salt, ginger and garlic. Arrange the fish in a bowl then scatter over the salt and spice mixture. Rub the spice mixture into the fish.
Place a wire rack in a roasting tin then brush the rack with oil. Arrange the fish pieces on the wire rack. Transfer to an oven pre-heated to 160°C and bake for 60 minutes. If you only want cooked and semi-dried fish then remove the pieces at this point.
For properly dried fish, return the fish to the oven and continue cooking for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, transfer to a plate and allow to cool. Your dried fish is now ready.
Note the the result here is not as fully dried as the traditional sun-dried fish, however it makes an acceptable substitute. That being said, as the fish is not fully dried you will need to store in the refrigerator if using within a week or freeze it for longer-term storage.
As a by-product you will also obtain fish oil in the base of your roasting tin. You can store this and freeze as ice cubes for adding fish flavour to other dishes.
Use these dried fish in any recipe calling for 'dried fish'.
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