Catfish Claypot Home Cooked in San Francisco

That's right, we're back! Not only do we love to eat out, we also love to cook so let's kick it off wt a homecook meal. Last week, V and I conjured up a catfish claypot dish. It is a tricky dish that calls for lots of attentive love and care. Unfortunately, we did not have a clay pot to cook this dish, which is usually used to enhance the smoky essence of this dish. However its all good, because you can use any heavy pot or pan to make the goods.
Here's whats needed:

Some plain white sugar sugar
Some catfish
Some shallots
Some ginger
As much fish sauce as you please
Good ol' black pepper
Chili peppers if you like it spicy

1. The hardest part is melting the sugar. In an empty pot, melt the plain white sugar by stirring it around and around on medium heat. Its going to start to bubble smoke and brown. Don't be scared, its suppose to! Once the sugar is brown, kill the heat and add the catfish.
2. Completely coat the fish wt the caramelized sugar. Now the hard part is done and the rest is easy!
3. Add some shallots, ginger, black pepper and chili if you like.
4. Stir in fish sauce as you please.
5. Reduce the heat to low and cover pan.
6. Simmer for about 30 minutes, turning the catfish occasionally and carefully.
7. Serve straight from the pot.

I must say, it came out pretty good despite the fact that we didn't use a claypot. Of course, we would have loved it to have the really really smokey effect that its suppose to have, but shrug. The dish came out a bit sweeter than we wanted, I think we carmalized a bit too much sugar for the amount of catfish we cooked. But it was nothing that a bowl of jasmine white rice and some vegetables couldn't balance out. It is now one my new favorite ways to cook catfish HOLLA!