Thank you so much Australia and New Zealand! It was yet another incredible leg of the Mrs Carter Show with Beyonce. I can’t wait to visit again, but dang what a long flight! I just got back last night after traveling for 30 hours and to my surprise I was actually able to sleep through the night and so far, (thank goodness) I’m not really that jet lagged! (*knocks on wood*)
I hit the ground running back in New York, running errands and taking care of business today. I went super market hopping today (one of my favorite past times), lugging around my brand new mortar and pestle from Sur La Table, picking up a whole bunch of ingredients for some upcoming recipes.. I could not wait to get back into the kitchen after being away from mine for a month! The first thing that popped into my head was fish tacos with a homemade sweet chili sauce. The tacos are light and fun and the chili sauce is sweet, zingy, and packs a serious punch.. Kind of like the perfect track to pair up with this recipe.. Christian McBride’s “I’m Coming Home” from his “Family Affair” album. It just seems oh so fitting.
Check it out!
You’re going to need a mortar and pestle for this. If you don’t have one, it’s seriously a great investment for the kitchen. Great for grinding up spices, making pesto, guacamole, and much more. (Mine was $25 from Sur La Table)
Recipe makes 4 tacos
Sweet Chili Sauce:
- 2 red chilis deseeded and chopped (see Adi’s Tips below)
- 2 cloves garlic crushed and peeled
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- Juice from 1/2 a lime
- 2 green onions chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh cilantro chopped
Method
Combine chilis, garlic, sugar, and salt in mortar and grind with pestle until smoothish. Stir in olive oil, vinegar, lime, onions, and cilantro. Taste. Season accordingly.
For the Fish:
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 lb firm white fish (I used 2 basa fillets)
- Garlic powder
- Paprika
- Chili powder
- Black pepper
- Shredded radicchio
- 1 small red onion sliced finely
- Squeeze of lime
- 4 flour tortillas
- any other garnishments you like
Warm tortillas in a 300 degree F oven while fish cooks. In a pan large enough to fit the fillets of fish, heat olive oil over medium high. Season fish on both sides. Place in pan lying the fish down away from you so the oil doesn’t splash you. The fish should sizzle, if it doesn’t you need to wait longer for the olive oil to heat up. Cook fish 3-4 minutes on one side, then flip for an additional 1-2 minutes. Once cooked through, cut fillets into 4 servings and construct tacos with sweet chili sauce, radicchio, onion, and lime.
Can you tell how excited I am to be home and cooking again!? haha
*Adi’s Tips:
- In order to de-seed a chili pepper you can pretend you’re the most killin’ drummer on the face of the planet and they are your drum sticks and jam out on your kitchen counter. (I’m serious) By tapping the pepper against a surface you release all the seeds, so once you cut the top off they will all pour out.
- If your fingers start to burn because of touching the inside of the pepper rinse them with lemon juice. It’ll relieve the burn.
You can improvise:
- Experiment with different garnishes like cabbage instead of radicchio, or by adding sour cream or guacamole, etc.
- Use a different type of fish
- Bread the fish with japanese bread crumbs by first dredging it in beaten eggs, flour, and then panko bread crumbs, then sear.
Stay tuned for more recipes! I’ll be cooking and playing up a storm the next 2 and a half weeks!
Adi's Jazz Kitchen 