How to make Colm O'Gorman's fabulous fish tacos in 30 minutes

One of the best things I have ever eaten was a fish taco bought from a hole in the wall place my family and I discovered as we drove across Southern California several years ago. Our kids were still quite young then, but they were always very adventurous with food, so finding great places to eat was a big part of our family holidays. This place was a great find. The fish taco was amazing. It only cost a few dollars, but it was just so fresh and bursting with flavour. I think about it often, and I would happily go back to Southern Californian just to eat there again.

Mexican food is one of my favourite cuisines. It is also possibly one of the most maligned. The taco and enchilada kits we see on our supermarket shelves being one example, and the portrayal of Mexican food on TV is sometimes not much better. If you watched ‘Mexican week’ on the last season of the Great British Bake Off, you know what I mean!

When I write a recipe, I usually try to ensure that I am using locally available ingredients. This can mean that the recipe is not always fully authentic, but what I generally try to do is write recipes that encourage the reader to try cooking something new, but that still seems achievable and somewhat familiar. The idea is that this will get you hooked on a dish or cuisine and then encourage you to learn more about it and try new dishes and techniques. No matter how exotic a cuisine might appear, once you start to get familiar with the ingredients, cooking techniques and flavours, then it all starts to make sense and become much more achievable.

So with all of that in mind, this week I am sharing a recipe that seeks to recreate that fabulous fish taco. The biggest challenge you will have in cooking this dish, is finding good corn tortillas. You can use wheat tortillas which are now readily available in most supermarkets, they will still give you a tasty dish, but in truth, a corn tortilla always tastes better. If you cannot find those locally, the fabulous Mexican cook Lily Ramirez-Foran sells them from her wonderful shop Picado Mexican Pantry in Dublin. Lily will deliver nationwide and stocks all the best Mexican ingredients. While you are at it, grab a copy of her book ‘Tacos’, and you will be making your own delicious tortillas, sauces and salsas in no time!

Fish Tacos

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

This recipe only takes about thirty minutes from start to finish, and you will fry the fish at the very end.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 20 mins

Cooking Time

 10 mins

Total Time

 30 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• Tacos

• 100g plain flour

• ¼ tsp sea salt

• ½ tsp garlic salt

• 1 tsp ground cumin

• 1 tsp smoked paprika

• ½ tsp baking powder

• 150ml ice cold lager

• 300g boned and skinless cod fillets

• 12 small tortillas

• 1 litre sunflower

• 200g sour cream

• 2 tbsp chipotle chilli sauce

• Mexican Slaw

• ¼ head white cabbage

• ½ red pepper

• Juice of a lime

• Small handful chopped coriander

• A pinch of flaky sea salt

• Salsa

• 175g tomatoes

• ½ red onion

• 1 green chilli

• ½ corn of a cob

• A handful chopped coriander

• Juice of a lime

• A little flaky sea salt

Method

1. To begin, make the batter for the fish. Combine the flour, salt, garlic salt, cumin and paprika in a mixing bowl. Use a whisk to combine them thoroughly and then pour in the ice-cold beer while you whisk away until you get a smooth batter. Pop that into the fridge while you make the slaw and salsa.

2. Finely shred the cabbage. Deseed and very finely slice the red pepper. Pop both of those into a bowl, add a pinch of flaky sea salt, about half a teaspoon is plenty, the chopped coriander and lime juice. Toss everything well to combine and set aside for now.

3. On to the salsa next. Cut the kernels away from a sweet, fresh cob of corn and blanch for two minutes in boiling salted water. Drain and rinse under a cold tap. You only need half of the corn for the salsa but keep the rest to use in a salad or other dish. Deseed and finely chop the chilli. Peel and finely chop the onion. Wash and chop the tomatoes. At this time of year, I use baby plum tomatoes as they have the best flavour. Cut them into quarters and add them to a bowl along with the corn, red onion and the chopped coriander. Add the lime juice, and some flaky sea salt. Taste and add more lime juice and salt if needed.

4. Combine the sour cream and chipotle sauce in a bowl, adding more chipotle sauce if you want a bit more heat.

5. Slice the cod fillets lengthways into strips about 2cm thick. Heat the sunflower oil to 180 Celsius in a saucepan. Dip the fish in the batter. Lightly shake off any excess and fry the cod for about two minutes in batches. Remove the fish from the oil and drain it on kitchen paper, making sure to get the oil back up to 180 Celsius before adding the next batch.

6. While the fish is frying warm the tortillas in a dry pan over a high heat. Give each one just half a minute on each side. Keep the tortillas warm by wrapping them in a clean tea towel.

7. When you have given the fish its first fry, heat the oil back up again and pop all the fish back in at once for one more minute to make it super crispy. Then remove it from the pan, drain on clean kitchen paper and season lightly.

8. Seve all the elements in the middle of the table and let everyone build their tacos as they go. Start with a warm tortilla, adding some of the slaw first, then some of the crispy fish. Sprinkle over some salsa and finish the taco with the chipotle sour cream, some fresh coriander leaves, and a few thin slices of green chilli. Tacos are meant to be eaten with your hands, so tuck in and get messy!