With the exception of Restaurant Month last month I have been a little MIA. Not just from this blog but from the kitchen too. Once I stopped putting up recipes regularly it became a lot more difficult to even do so once in a while. I was in a funk and I am thinking I may be out of it…maybe. We just moved into a little cute apartment, closer to the water and closer to town. When I say ‘little cute’ I actually mean ‘super small, help! I can’t move around in the kitchen’ apartment. Alas! Life goes on and I gotta start cooking again sometime. Fish Tacos was the way to go and get up out of my dry cooking spell. I love fish tacos and when we lived in Mexico DH and I really got addicted to fish tacos at a little joint in our town. The fish was fresh and served in warm flour tortillas. We used to go there for lunch at least twice a week but since we moved to Costa Rica we haven’t had fish tacos at all. I think this recipe may become a regular weekly thing for us now.
Delicious Rating: Fish Tacos have never tasted so good! The beer batter is not that super thick kind that tastes mushy half way through biting it but rather it really coats the fish and fries up nicely and stays crispy too. I used Tilapia fillets and loved their flavor but you can use any firm white fish you prefer. The cream sauce…OMGoodness. Like seriously, it is pretty the bomb. I kept eating it by itself. It is spicy and has a great cilantro flavor and complements the fish very well. I used corn tortillas and they were great but next time I think I will stick to flour. Just personal preference.
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- Fish
- 1 lb firm white fish
- 1½ cups flour
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 cups beer
- Oil for frying
- Corn Tortillas
- Lime wedges
- Sliced Avocado
- ½ head of Red Cabbage
- Spicy Cilantro Cream Sauce
- ½ cup sour cream
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ½ tsp oregano
- ½ tsp chile powder
- ½ tsp cumin
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp all spice
- 1 minced jalepeno
- 1 lime squeezed
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- Cut fish fillets into strips and marinate in two cups of beer in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
- Combine all ingredients for the Cream Sauce and refrigerate.
- In a bowl, whisk together 1 cup of flour, the paprika, chili powder, cumin, and salt.
- Stir in remaining 1 cup of beer and let mixture sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Slice cabbage.
- Heat oil with a depth of 2 inches to 375 degrees F.
- Pat dry fish and season with salt and pepper.
- Toss with the remaining ½ cup of flour.
- When the oil is hot, coat 6 piece in the beer batter and shake off excess batter.
- Fry for 4-5 minutes, moving pieces around once or twice to avoid sticking to the bottom of frying pan.
- Remove fish and place on a wire rack and serve with warm tortillas, cabbage, avocado, and Spicy Cilantro Cream Sauce.
I threw all the ingredients for the cream sauce in a food processor. But you can mince everything up by hand just as easily and combine with a spatula.
YUM!
Red cabbage gives the taco a little extra crunch, color, and another level of taste that I love.
Use your favorite beer, not too dark, for the batter. I am not a big beer drinker so I used my DH’s favorite Costa Rican Beer, Pilsen. It was a good choice.
The batter will be very thick. Just do your best to shake off the excess batter before frying the fish strips.
Delicious!
