Pan Fried Basa and Crunchy Salad

Basa - an affordable and underrated (in my opinion) fish! This lovely Asian type of catfish is super easy to cook right and goes wonderfully with a salad or other light side dishes.

I’d never bought basa before!

Basa is a lovely fish - that I had never really thought to buy before, but I found some on offer in my local supermarket and decided to give it a go. I’m glad I did! It was super tasty and incredibly easy to cook. Basa is an Asian species of catfish and has many names around the world. On a warm day as a light dinner, this was just perfection and highly recommended.

Pan Fried Basa and Crunchy Salad

For 2 people

Time: Prepare: 5-15 mins (depending on ingredients) | Cook: 6/7 mins

• 2-4 skinless, boneless basa fillets (depending on how large a portion you want!)

• A splash of olive oil

• A pinch of sea salt

For the salad (you can of course use whatever you have!):

• 1 red apple

• 1 avocado

• 1 medium sized bag of mangetout/sugar snap peas

• Half a cucumber, ideally pickled like in this recipe

• A handful of grapes

• A small red chilli

• 1/2 cup of bulgur (for some carbs, totally optional if you want to keep it lighter)

• 1/2 lemon

Instructions

Take the basa fillets out of the fridge about 20-30 minutes before you cook them and drizzle a bit of sea salt over them.

If you are doing pickled cucumber, make sure to make this a little bit ahead of time as per my recipe. When they are done, place them evenly on two plates. Similarly if you are making bulgur, cook according to instructions and make sure that it ideally has time to cool down a little before being served up on the plate. This is not really meant to be a piping hot meal! When the bulgur is ready, spread it out on the plate.

Steam the mangetout for a few minutes, but not too long, as they’ll lose their lovely crunch! Place them on the plate.

Rinse and slice up the apple and place the slices evenly on the two plates alongside the cucumber, bulgur and mangetout. Slice up an avocado and add it with the rest of the salad on the plate.

Heat up a bit of olive oil in a pan and make sure the pan is good and hot before you put the fillets of fish in. Cook for 2/3 minutes on each side.

Place on top of the crunchy salad and add some sliced grapes and chilli. I love to add a bit of dried dill too, but that’s not to everyone’s taste! Serve with a lemon segment so you can drizzle some lemon over your fish if desired.

Did you make the basa and salad? Did you like it? Share on Instagram and tag @TheFromScratchBody and hashtag #TheFromScratchBody so I don’t miss it!