Fish Tacos

A huge thank you to MacLean Fraser, Executive Chef Artisan at Bolton Hotel for this yummy recipe.

If you’ve been watching Davey’s Boat Journey and got inspired to head out onto the water and catch some kai then here’s a recipe for you. I have used butter fish but any white flaky fleshed fish will work great. I used a deep fryer to cook the fish but if you don’t have one then you can use a deep pot with a thermometer over a stove but you have to be really careful so I don’t recommend it unless you’re confident. Just as good would be to give the fish a rub with your favourite spice rub or even just a dredge in some flour and pan fry it then finish it with a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkling of sea salt. If you don’t want to make the flat breads you can just buy the wraps but you won’t be nearly as cool. 

Pilsner battered fish tacos with Asian slaw, Jalepenos and pineapple salsa. 

Makes 4 portions

Ingredients:

4 white fish fillets (approx 500g)

Pilsner Beer batter:

1 ½ C Flour

1 can Pilsner or other light beer of your choice (but please no Tui!)

1 ½ tsp Baking powder

¼ tsp Baking soda

Pinch salt

½ C Flour for dredging

Flat breads:

(makes 12 x 15cm flat breads)

280g Flour

180ml Warm water

2Tbs Olive oil

½ tsp Salt

1Tbs Chopped parsley

Extra flour for rolling out

Asian slaw:

1 Large carrot (250g)

½ Red onion

¼ Small Cabbage

3 Stalks spring onion

½ Bag mung bean sprouts

Plus:

1C Mayo

1Tbs Lime juice

1Tbs Sesame oil

1Tbs Soy sauce

1Tbs Sweet chilli sauce

Pinch salt

Pineapple salsa:

½ Can pineapple (or 200g fresh)

½ Red onion

½ Cucumber

3 Small (or one big) tomatoes (about 250g)

5Tbs Olive oil

1Tbs Lime juice

Salt

To serve:

2 Lemons

½ Bunch fresh coriander

½ Bunch fresh mint

½ C Sliced Jalapenos

Method:

For the flat breads:

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl until they’ve formed a dough. On a floured surface knead for about 5mins until everything is well incorporated. Divide the dough into 12 even pieces and roll into balls. Using some flour and a rolling pin, roll the balls out until they are very thin like a tortilla. Using a fry pan over a moderate heat (dry, no oil in the pan) place the flat breads one at a time and cook on one side until they have changed colour from raw looking to more white with some brown spots. Flip over and do the same on the other side. Keep warm in a tea towel.

For the salsa:

Dice the pineapple, cucumber and tomatoes into a small to medium dice and finely dice the onion. Mix everything together in a bowl along with the olive oil and lime juice and season with some salt to taste.

For the slaw:

Grab a large bowl and peel and grate the carrot into the bowl. Finely slice the cabbage and red onion and add to the bowl. Slice the spring onions on the angle and add to the bowl along with the mung bean sprouts. To make the bay combine all the remaining ingredients together in a bowl and mix half of the mayo through the other ingredients in the bowl and keep the rest of the mayo to one side.

For the beer battered fish:

Slice the cleaned and boned fish fillets into decent sized strips and keep in the fridge until needed. In a big bowl whisk all the batter ingredients together until most of the lumps are gone, don’t be too precious as its better to have a few lumps than to mix the heck out of it in which case it’ll make your batter go tough. Set your deep fryer to 180C and dredge your fish in the flour set aside for dredging and then dip it into the batter. Make sure the fish is fully coated, give it a bit of a shake to remove any excess batter and then carefully lower into the deep fryer and cook until golden brown, crispy and cooked through. Drain onto a paper towel and season with some salt.

To Serve:

Pile up the fillings on your taco and top with some coriander, mint, jalepenos and some of the spiced mayo and give it a squeeze of some lemon juice. Fold it over, tuck in and be careful of drips!