We’d never eaten fish tacos in all our years though we’ve heard our California friends rave about them over and over. Then in Hawaii last June, while staying at the Kanapali Hyatt we finally ordered them at their pool side restaurant Oovo. Gotta tell you, we’d been totally missing out all these years. Now at Oovo they had grilled fish and fried fish, and as you can guess Chris went for the latter while I enjoyed the former (you know, for health reasons).

So it completely took me by surprise when I saw a recipe in Cooking Light of all places for Baja Fish Tacos with fried fish and we decided to give it a go.

Now first off, they warn you to maintain the oil at the correct temperature otherwise the fish absorbs to much fat (who knew that was the secret to healthy frying?). We did ours in Chris’s Deep Fat Fryer (since it has a temperature gauge) and had to use more oil as a result but I think an electric fry pan would work as well too (just remember don’t overcrowd the fish).

The original recipe called for corn tortillas but we used the lowfat mission tortillas because it’s what I keep in the house and they’re less fattening. It also called for halibut but we prefer Mahi Mahi, so that’s what we used.

I still prefer grilled, as I found the fish a tad greasy but overall we definitely like them and would make them again.

fish tacos

Baja Fish Tacos

Baja Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa

1 cup diced peeled ripe mango
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
5 cups canola oil
3.38 ounces all-purpose flour (about 3/4 cup)
1 cup beer
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 1/2 pounds skinless mahi mahi fillet (fresh, never frozen) cut into 16 (3 x 1–inch) strips
8 (6-inch) tortillas.

1. Combine first 6 ingredients; set aside.
2. Add oil to pan; heat over medium-high heat until thermometer registers 375°. Reduce heat to medium, maintaining oil temperature. Or heat up the oil in your electric fry pan or fat fryer.
3. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, beer, black pepper, 1 teaspoon salt, and garlic powder, stirring with a whisk. Add fish to batter, tossing gently to coat. Remove fish from batter. Carefully add 4 or 5 fish pieces to hot oil (I think we did less so as not to drop the oil temp – 3 pieces at a time); cook 4 to 5 minutes or until golden brown and done, turning occasionally (maintain oil temperature at 375° throughout cooking process). Drain fish on paper towels or cut up brown paper shopping bags turned inside out so print side doesn’t touch the fish. Repeat procedure in batches with remaining fish.
4. Heat tortillas according to package directions. Divide fish evenly among tortillas; spoon about 2 tablespoons salsa into each tortilla.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 2 tacos)

CALORIES 356 ; FAT 17g (sat 1.4g,mono 9.3g,poly 4.9g); CHOLESTEROL 5mg; CALCIUM 38mg; CARBOHYDRATE 47.3g; SODIUM 690mg; PROTEIN 6.8g; FIBER 3.9g; IRON 1.5mg