Sunday, November 1, 2009

Baja Fish Tacos



I grew up in Mumbai eating a lot of fish. Fish curry, fried fish, a lot of fish. Then I met A, then boyfriend now husband who didnt eat any fish at all. We also moved to the States and the fish didn't look familiar anymore. So I gave up on fish for a while. Sigh. And then the most incredulous thing happened, we went to a sushi restaurant and A actually ate sushi! I mean you must eat cooked fish first to even try raw fish, right? But anyways he liked it and I renewed my relationship with fish. Now Tilapia is a staple in our cooking and Fish Tacos have come close to displacing fish curry as my favorite fish dish.

I think a post on Fish Tacos would be incomplete without a mention of K38. We discovered it (thanks to my lovely friend AM) this summer when we spent a weekend in Wrightsville beach. I think the best part of the Baja Fish Tacos in K38 is the yogurt based sauce drizzled liberally over the crispy fish. Hmmm.

So I had to attempt this yogurt sauce (otherwise we would be driving three hours to Wrightsville every so often). I used sour cream and yogurt along with some cumin, paprika. Its not the same but it comes pretty close. Also instead of deep frying the fish, I pan fry it with a marinade and without any batter. K38 serves their tacos with shredded red cabbage. I thought that was a fabulous idea, I have eaten a lot of fish but don't remember any fish dishes with cabbage. So my fish tacos are also topped with red cabbage. Here goes:

Ingredients:

2 medium sized Tilapia / any white fish fillets
1/4 cup shredded red cabbage
1 chopped tomato
6 corn tortillas

Fish marinade:
1 and half tablespoon oil
juice of half a lime
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro leaves

Yogurt sauce:
2 tablespoons non-fat yogurt
2 tablespoons non-fat sour cream
pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cumin powder

- Mix all the ingredients together for the fish marinade and marinate the fish in it for 15-20 mins.
- Whisk all the ingredients together for the yogurt sauce.
- Heat a grill pan or non-stick pan and cook the fish till flaky (3-4 mins per side)
- Warm the tortillas.
- Break fish into bite sized pieces and divide among the tortillas.
- Top with shredded cabbage and chopped tomato, drizzle liberally with yogurt sauce.
- If you like your tacos real hot, add a dash of cayenne on top.

Serves 2.

8 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Removed for a reason.. I was about to say, the combination of Paprika+Cayenne with the honey sounds interesting. Have you tried anything besides Tilapia on this recipe, because this fish adds no taste of its own, right?

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  3. Actually I havent. If you do, let me know the results :)

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  4. Vinay and I tried making this today and it was real fresh and fulfilling. I especially love the Fish marinade combination with the Yogurt sauce. Could not stop eating!
    We made it with Tilapia and added guacamole to the taco. Will let you know when we try it again with some other fish.

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  5. Thanks Rem! I am glad you liked it :)

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  6. After staring at the mouthwatering picture for a couple of days I finally decided to give this a try, and it was well worth it. The combination of fish, cabbage and yogurt sauce works amazingly good and very refreshing, Shwe who does not eat much fish actually ate more tacos than I did. So thanks for the recipie

    We tried this canned "Spicy Refried beans" on the side that I picked up from Whole Foods just heat it and eat it, was pretty good and goes well with the tacos!!!

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  7. Thanks Deepak! I am glad you both liked it :) I will try the spicy refried beans from Whole Foods, thanks for the recommendation!

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  8. I must say separately that I really loved the fish, I think marinated fish and yogurt sauce was key to the taste;it was very refreshing!

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