Warning: May contain innuendos.

I love fish tacos. I dream of staying near the coast in Mexico and gorging on fresh fish tacos every day.

We’ve enjoyed tacos at home a few times, specifically pulled pork tacos so when we received some lovely fillets from our delivery last week, I figured it was time to explore the fish taco at home. I’d never made them before, but it seemed pretty straightforward to me. I just made up the process as I went along.

The perfect fish taco has a good balance of fish, salad and condiments. I hate a dry taco. Saucy tacos FTW!

My preference is soft shell tacos, specifically corn tortillas. I first tried Tio Pablo’s corn tortillas last year when I was going through a gluten free phase, but turns out, I prefer the flavour of corn tortillas over flour tortillas.

I used tarakihi fillets, but any medium white fish will do. Snapper, red gurnard, or trevally would also be suitable. Other types of fish such as flounder, turbot or salmon would probably be amazing. Feel free to experiment with whatever fish you can get.

This recipe makes 12 tacos and is a great way to make a couple of fish fillets feed more than 2 people. I ate 3 tacos for dinner and The Koala ate 4 so this recipes feeds 3 or 4 people depending on appetite. If you are serving tacos as part of a larger meal or for lunch, you might only need 2 tacos per person.

Fish tacos

Makes 12 tacos

The fish

• 2 large fish fillets (about 400-500 grams)
• 1 tablespoon hot sauce
• 1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice
• Salt to season

Assembly

• 12 soft tortillas (taco size)
• 1/2 cup shredded cabbage
• 1/2 cup shredded carrot
• 1/2 cup chopped tomato
• A handful or two of spring onion or coriander, chopped
• Guacamole
• Sour cream
• Optional: hot sauce or spicy chutney (I used a sweet chili chutney)

Preparation

1. Cut the fish fillets in half lengthwise and each strip into thirds so that you end up with 12 equal sized pieces of fish. Place pieces in a bowl and add hot sauce and lemon or lime juice.
2. Warm tortillas three at a time in a large skillet, flipping once. When tortillas are just starting to colour transfer to a plate and cover with a clean tea towel to keep warm.
3. Heat a heavy skillet and add a little oil. Once hot, add the fish in a single layer. Pan fry for 3 minutes until browned, then carefully flip and cook on the other side.
4. Assemble your tacos with a little of the salad ingredients to your preference and a piece of fish straight from from the pan. Top with guacamole, sour cream (and hot sauce).
5. Repeat previous step until satisfied.

I’m so glad I made fish tacos at home. It was super easy and assembling each taco as you eat it is a fun, social way of eating. I’m definitely doing this again and next time I may try a different variety of fish. I feel confident enough about these to invite guests over next time.

 

This post is part of Our Growing Edge, a monthly blogging event to encourage bloggers to try new food related things.  Cynthia from Eat Munch Love is the host for this month’s event.

If you have a blog and you are eating or cooking something new this month, click below to join. More information here.