 |
| Fish Tacos & Lime-Cilantro Rice |
Ingredients
Fish Tacos
.75lbs - fresh tilapia
2 - vine ripened tomatoes
1/2 - white onion
1/4 head - red cabbage
2 - small jalapenos
1 - avocado
1/2 - lime
1 cup - cornmeal
1/8 to 1/4 cup - cilantro
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Lime-Cilantro Rice
1/2 cup rice
1/2 lime
1/8 cup cilantro
I made the rice first because I knew it could sit. Make the rice to the instructions on the package, and then just as I took it off the heat I added the juice of the half lime and threw in the 1/8-ish cup of cilantro, stirred, and then set aside.
The next step, and to be sure the most time intensive, was dicing up all the vegetables. I did a small dice on the tomatoes, onion, and jalapenos. Next I did a thin chop of the red cabbage and put all the different elements into different little bowls.
 |
| All diced and nowhere to go |
After all the dicing and chopping I took the tilapia and put a little sea salt and pepper on both sides. Then I split the tilapia at the middle seam turning three tilapia filets into six strips. I poured the cup of cornmeal into a reusable Chinese food container and dredged the tilapia in the cornmeal until it had a nice coating but wasn't caked in cornmeal. I put some olive oil in a frying pan and let it heat to almost smoking and then put three of the six pieces in the pan. They only took about 2 minutes per side and then I repeated with the remaining fish.
 |
| Avocado, tilapia, and rice. |
My girlfriend cut up the avocado and we plated up and enjoyed. The rice turned out okay. I think I put in too much cilantro (and thus would say 1/8 cup versus a 1/4 cup) or maybe not enough lime. Obviously the rice is a rip off of Chipotle's rice, but that didn't make it a poor option. The fish came out exactly the way I wanted in no small part because it was fresh. Frozen tilapia would have crumbled or I would have been inclined to heat the hell out of it because it was frozen.
I will tell you this secret for great fish tacos. It's all about dredging, whether it's corn meal or flour, a very light coating to the fish takes care of excess moisture and gives it just a slight crispiness. Without it, the fish can be mushy. With a full on breading you lose the fish in breading and oil. Start to finish, less then 90 minutes and cost around $25 for two people.
 |
| I went back for seconds. |
Just one more picture for good measure. I put a little Nali sauce on this one to give it an extra kick. Happy cooking and remember, anybody can make this.
