by Lora Iannotti
This recipe is a delightful boiled dry milonge soup from Zambia. This simple dish combines only five ingredients: catfish, onions, tomatoes, oil, and water.
The recipe calls for steaming the fish and then adding in the other ingredients. Thus, any nutrients lost in the boiling process (e.g. B vitamins) can be captured in the now nutrient-rich broth.
Catfish generally dwell close to the bottom of water bodies, and in aquaculture, they may have enriched body composition due to additional feeding on natural food sources beyond prepared diets. Natural diets can enrich their nutritional qualities through incorporation of xanthophylls and fatty acids.
- Catfish like so many other fish foods offers high quality protein and fats as well as many important to vitamins and minerals. Compared to other fish like tilapia, catfish is an even richer source of zinc, vitamin B12, and lipids.
- Tomatoes provide extra vitamin C (or ascorbic acid) that helps in the absorption of important minerals like zinc and iron. The added oil in the soup also helps in the absorption of fat-soluble nutrients like vitamins E and D.
- For school age children and youth, this soup can aid in healthy growth and brain development. For younger children less than two years of age, though, we recommend just giving the nutrient rich parts of the soup such as the catfish and tomatoes - the broth may make infants and young children feel full before enough nutrients are absorbed!
- The soup can also be beneficial to adults, especially pregnant and lactating women who need extra nutrients to support offspring. Catfish is concentrated in immune-boosting nutrients!
Lora Iannotti is the nutrition specialist for the Fish Innovation Lab, as well as a PI on the lab’s SecureFish and Samaki Salama projects. She is an associate professor at Washington University in St. Louis and director of the E3 Nutrition Lab.
