John Torode's fish tacos
It’s Taco Tuesday! John’s whipping up a Mexican feast and his delicious fish tacos are bursting with flavour and livened up with a sour cream and cucumber sauce, zingy chilli salad and cooling avocado dressing.
Crispy fish tacos
Serves: 8 good sized tacos or 16 small ones
Ingredients
700ml oil, for frying
150 - 200ml soda water, chilled
120g corn flour, plus 20g to coat the fish and avocado
40g Self Raising flour
Pinch of salt
400g cod fillet, skinned, boned and cut into 6 x 3cm strips
1 avocado
¼ cucumber, grated
200ml sour cream
Salt
Good squeeze of lemon juice
For the smashed Avo:
2-3 large ripe avocados
Juice of half a lemon
Juice of 1 lime
2 drops of Tabasco
For the chilli salad:
Big handful of picked coriander and mint
1 long red chilli, sliced
2 small green chillies, sliced
1 spring onion, sliced
To serve:
8 large taco shells, hard or soft or 16 small soft corn tacos
Iceberg lettuce
Mayo (and lots of it!)
Sweet chilli sauce and / or Siracha
A jar of tomato salsa
Grated cheese
Sour Cream
Pickled Chillies and sliced pickled gherkins
Method
1. Pour the oil into a wok or deep fryer so it is one-third full and heat gently to 170C and heat gently over a medium heat - the oil will start to shimmer when ready.
2. Mix 300ml chilled soda water with 120g corn flour, self-raising flour and the salt and whisk to a smooth light paste, adding more water if needed.
3. When the oil is hot, stir the batter well, then dust the pieces of fish with the remaining corn flour and coat in the batter.
4. Drop the fish pieces into the oil (about ten every batch). Turn up the heat if need be to keep the fish frying. Once the fish floats to the top, cook for a further minute. Remove and drain on kitchen towel and fry the remaining fish.
5. Next cut the avocado in half and half again then peel. Remove the seed and cut each quarter in half again so you have 8 pieces.
6. Roll in cornflour and then batter and fry until crisp. Drain and season
7. Mix the grated cucumber with the salt and lemon juice and stir it into the sour cream.
8. Cut the avocados in half length wise, and all the way around the seed, using a large spoon, scoop out the flesh and keep one seed.
9. Use a fork to mash the flesh very well and then add the juices and seasonings, Store with the seed in the mix and covered well with plastic wrap so it doesn’t go grey.
10. Mix the herbs, chillies and spring onions together.
11. Assemble as you wish or place all the different ingredients into the centre of the table and let everyone make their own.