thriller tacos

It was a majorly shitty week so it seemed like a good time to deep-fry the crap out of something. I'd never deep fried anything before—so messy, so tricky, so unhealthy. But it's been on my mind for some time now and I had a piece of cod in the fridge which wasn't quite enough to feed all of us so I did a bit of research and came up with fish tacos. The final recipe combined an epicurious recipe and a recipe from a book on Mexican street food that I picked up somewhere. 

The frying part was pretty straight forward—flour/season the fish and add to very hot oil for a short time. It emerged looking so delicious that I was immediately fired up to throw more things into the bubbling caldron and turn them into gold. Vegetables? Soccer cleats? But I hadn't planned ahead and only had a few flour tortillas on hand so I cut them in triangles and threw them in. The "chips" tasted a bit like wontons but had that perfect crunch that you can really only get from a deep fry. 

The tacos were delicious and I highly recommend you give them a try. Despite the deep fry aspect, they are very healthy and well-balanced and even kid-friendly (sans hot sauce.) Even if frying is not an option, I would still make these with broiled or grilled fish. Just remember, everything is better fried, and in the movies.

  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 3 tbsp chile powder
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 1 pound cod (or any white firm fish)
  • 1 lime
  • 1/2 head cabbage, sliced and chopped
  • 4 tbsp chopped cilantro
  • 3 tbsp mayo
  • 1 tsp worcestershire sauce
  • 1/4 c plain yogurt
  • 1/4 cup green salsa
  • 1/2 red onion sliced very thinly
  • warm tortillas
  • salt, pepper, hot sauce to taste
  1. Mix flour and next three ingredients in a bowl. Cut fish into 2-inch pieces and coat with flour mixture. Shake off extra.
  2. Heat enough canola (or vegetable or peanut) oil in a pot to reach three inches and attach a candy/fry thermometer. 
  3. Meanwhile, combine cabbage, mayo, yogurt, 1/2 lime's juice, 2 tbsp cilantro, red onion. Add salt and pepper to taste. 
  4. When temperature reaches 375F fry fish for about 2 minutes until light brown. Drain on paper towels then add to bowl, along with worcestershire, rest of lime's juice, salsa and cilantro. Mix, slightly breaking up fish pieces. 
  5. Place fix mixture on tortilla and top with slaw. Add hot sauce.