Want To Spice Up Your Fried Fish Tacos?
Sure, we all do, don’t we?
As a healthy summer season of eating comes to an end, I wanted to go out on a delicious high note, and so when I dug into my stack of cookbooks, one popped right up:
I try to stay focused on all of the terrific “sustainable seafood” we have access to, and the cookbook “Fish Forever” gives insight, information and deliciously entertaining recipes – like this:
“Tilapia Tacos With Shredded Cabbage And Red Chile Salsa!”
It All Begins With The Salsa…
One reason I loved this recipe was it had a fresh salsa that promised to make the fish tacos “pop”! I don’t make salsa nearly enough, so this “Red Chile” version sounded like a great place to break in!
First up, the recipe called for roasted California Chiles – but I don’t do that heat, so for you spice lovers, add 3 diced Chiles here to a frying pan – you can roast them first in the oven as well – but I started by putting 6 chopped garlic cloves in a pan with olive oil and one chopped onion until brown and soft, about five minutes.
I then added one diced tomato and some orange rind and blended it all together for a few more minutes…here’s a video:
Now that the Salsa was resting, it was time to make some cabbage slaw:
This is very straightforward: shred two cups of cabbage into a bowl, and add a quarter cup of cilantro and the juice of 2 limes…
All you have to do is set this aside at this point once mixed…you can add salt and pepper, but I’m holding off until I get a sense of how all of these flavors play together at the end…
Time To Fry Some Fish!
The recipe called for Catfish, but I found Tilapia instead – to me the best fish taco is one with juicy chunks of fish, the meatier the fish the better…
You mix 1/2 cup of white flour with 1/2 cup cornmeal, a nice mix that gives a bit of extra “hold” to the fish, without using an egg wash…and this doesn’t have to be unhealthy…I fry my fish in olive oil!
3-4 minutes per side is all it takes, and now comes the fun part: building the perfect fried fish taco!
I put a soft corn tortilla shell in a ramekin so it would hold its shape as I put a piece of fish in, then added the slaw mixture:
Because I didn’t add chiles, I put some olive zest and salt into a bowl of Sour Cream – just add your nicely flavored sour cream and the special zesty salsa you made, and here’s what you have:
This is an easy delicious recipe, enhanced greatly by the cabbage slaw and zesty salsa!
There you have it: a delicious, easy recipe for summer!
A fish taco is a classic dish to me: while easy to make, tough to beat the flavor…you know what another easy classic is?
A Meatball!
So I made some from the iconic Rao’s restaurant in Harlem!
Click here to see the incredibly recipe – with a surprise ingredient that paid off in a delicious way!
As part of my cooking journey, I’ve tried to go around the world to explore all sorts of different recipes:
I even cooked my nemesis Eggplant the “Tiffin” way!
Click here to see how I did it!
One of my disastrous efforts was when I tried to make Chef Michael Ruhlman’s “Mollet Egg”:
Is this the way it was supposed to turn out – and can you really bread an egg while cupping it in your hand?
Click here for the answers!
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Categories: Bite Eat Swallow, Bite! Eat! Repeat!, Cookbooks, Eat This!, Food, Food Writing, Recipes, Wacky Food
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I have never had fish in a taco, but then I have only ever had tacos in Mexican restaurants in London, and all the options were meat. I would definitely try one though.
Best wishes, Pete.
What? Summer’s ending?
This looks delightful! I love fish, Napa cabbage, and fish tacos!
Hi John. I think my family would love this recipe. Thanks for sharing 👍🏻
I love good fish tacos!
I can’t follow recipes either. That’s why I don’t bake! Great recipe.
Very nice we love fish tacos…this sounds delicious. John 🙂