Fish Tacos With Lime Aioli Sauce – $10.00 (or less) Meal…Can Be Made Gluten Free Too

Fish Tacos With Lime Aioli Sauce

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Serves: 4 for approx $7.50

Serve these fish tacos with black beans and you have a complete meal in less than 30 minutes and the entire meal cost less than $10.00. You can substitute shredded cabbage for the jicama, add peppers, and change-up the tortillas if you want. I used frozen tilapia but you could also use catfish….see what you have on hand, look at what’s on sale and base your recipe on that. The lime aioli sauce has some zing to it and the fresh vegetables add crunch. And it tastes really fresh!

Ingredients:

• 3/4 to 1 pound frozen and defrosted or fresh tilapia fillets or catfish fillets
• 3 limes
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/3 cup flour
• 2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
• 4 large or 8 small flour tortillas (or whatever you like-you could also use crunchy taco shells)
• 1 cup shredded or julienned jicama
• 1/2 cup peeled and shredded carrots
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion (chop about 1 tablespoon for bean garnish)
• 1 15 ounce can black beans
• chopped cilantro for garnish

*You can make this recipe gluten free by using cornmeal instead of flour and corn tortillas/taco shells in place of the wheat tortillas.

Directions:

Rinse fish and pat dry. Cut into 1-inch pieces. Set aside.

Juice two of the limes into a bowl and add chili powder, ground cumin and mayonnaise. Whisk until blended. Remove 1/3 of the sauce and toss the fish pieces to coat.

In a large skillet over medium heat add 2 tablespoons oil. Dredge the fish in the flour and shake off excess. Working with 1/2 to 1/3 of the fish at a time (you don’t want to crowd the skillet), add the fish to the hot oil. Cook 2 to 4 minutes, turning, until evenly browned and the fish flakes easily. Drain the fish on paper towels and keep warm.

Heat tortillas in microwave for about 30 seconds (wrapped in paper towel). Top tortillas with fish, jicama, red onion, carrots and lime aioli sauce.

Heat the black beans (in the video I drained the beans but they dried out so the next time I made them I kept all the juice in and they were much better) over low heat until warmed through. Add a pinch of ground cumin (or crushed cumin seed) and top with chopped cilantro and a little of the chopped red onion.

Cut the third lime into wedges and serve alongside tacos and beans.

Because the fish takes so little time, you want to make sure you have all your toppings cleaned and shredded and the beans heated. Once the fish is cooked it’ll take seconds to build the tacos and be ready to enjoy!

Fish was on sale for $2.99 a pound and I used a can of store brand black beans that cost 99 cents. You’ll have leftover jicama and here’s what you can do with it….slice or cut in small bite size pieces, sprinkle with a bit of lime juice and sprinkle some chili powder over it….makes a great little appetizer to eat while you’re cooking or for another meal.