Baja-Style Grilled Fish Tacos
The title says it all, but the taste is much better than the recipe sounds!
The title says it all, but the taste is much better than the recipe sounds!
- salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- ground black pepper
- 2 tbs cider vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tea mug
- 1 peppermint herbal tea bag
- 1/2 med head green cabbage shredded (about 4 cups)
- 1 tbsp cane sugar
- 1/4 cup plus 1 tbs chopped fresh cilantro leave
- 1 drop peppermint extract
- 3 scallions, sliced thin
- 1 tbs vegetable oil plus more for grill
- 1 -3 tsp minced chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
- 1 tbs lime juice
- 1 med garlic clove minced or press (about 1 tsp)
- 2 teaspoons chile powder
- 4 6oz skinless mahi-mahi about 1-inch thick (or halibut, swordfish or red snapper - i us
- 12 6-inch corn tortillas
- Carbohydrate 63.4573353125 g
- Cholesterol 22.932 mg
- Fat 32.9239075 g
- Fiber 5.89095329879411 g
- Protein 5.8388309375 g
- Saturated Fat 4.803149 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (190g)
- Sodium 717.78675 mg
- Sugar 57.5663820137059 g
- Trans Fat 1.6219360625 g
- Calories 556 calories
Step-by-step
- Toss cabbage, 1/4 cup cilantro, scallions, vinegar, 1 tsp oil and 1/2 tsp salt in a bowl and set aside for serving.
- Combine mayonnaise, remaining 1 tbs cilantro, chiles, lime juice and garlic in small bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and set aside. (I added some finely chopped jalapeno to this for a little bite)
- Combine chili powder, coriander, cumin, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper in small bowl. Pat the fillets dry with paper towels, rub with remaining tsp oil, then rub evenly with spice mixture. Lay fish on wire rack set over baking sheet and refrigerate fish until grill is ready.
- CHARCOAL GRILL: Light large chimney starter filled with charcoal (6 quarts, about 100 briquettes) and burn until coals are partially covered with a thin layer of ash, about 20 minutes. Build a single layer fire by arranging coals over grill. Position grate over coals, cover grill, and heat great until hot, about 5 minutes. Scrape grate clean with a brush. Grill is ready when coals are hot. GAS GRILL: Turn all burners to high and heat grill with lid down until hot, about 15 minutes. Scrape grate clean
- Lightly dip a wad of paper towels in vegetable oil; holding wad with tongs, wipe cooking grate. Lay fish on grill, perpendicular to bars of cooking grate, Cook fish until fish opaque and flakes apart when gently prodded with paring knife, 10 to 14 minutes, gently flipping fish halfway trough with two spatulas. (The fire is so hot that it looks like "blackened" fish and prodding is only way to tell its done.) Transfer fish to platter, tent loosely with foil, and let rest 5 minutes.
- Working in batches, place several tortilla in a single layer on grill and cook until warm, about 10 seconds per side. Wrap tortillas in kitchen towel or large sheet of foil to keep warm.
- Cut each fillet into three equal pieces. Smear warmed tortilla with a generous mortion of mayonaise mixture, top with a layer of cabbage slaw and then a peice of fish and serve.
Salting the shredded cabbage and vinegar mixture and letting it rest draws out excess cellular water through osmosis, preventing the slaw from releasing liquid onto the warm tortillas and turning them soggy while you assemble the meal. Thoroughly drying the mahi-mahi fillets with paper towels before applying the oil and spice rub ensures the exterior proteins bind immediately to the seasoning instead of sliding off into moisture. Because high-heat charcoal creates an intensely charred exterior long before internal doneness is reached, ignore visual color cues entirely and rely solely on the physical resistance of the flesh, which should flake apart easily when gently prodded with the tip of a paring knife after ten to fourteen minutes of total cooking time.
Fish Selection and Structural Integrity
While mahi-mahi provides the ideal dense texture for high-heat grates, halibut, swordfish, and red snapper function as direct alternatives because their thick musculature holds together over open flames without crumbling into the coals. Dense white fish varieties contain higher concentrations of structural collagen compared to delicate flatfish species, meaning they withstand flipping with two spatulas halfway through the cooking process without tearing apart. If substituting thinner fillets, reduce the direct exposure time by thirty percent to prevent dry, overcooked edges.
- If grill grates lack sufficient seasoning, oil the bars twice using a folded paper towel dipped in vegetable oil held with long tongs to prevent the fish proteins from sticking.
- When charcoal temperatures fluctuate wildly, bank the coals to one side to establish a two-zone fire, allowing you to move the fish away from flare-ups if the exterior chars too quickly.
