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Easy Baja Style Fried Fish Tacos

Baja Fish Tacos

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Savor crispy fish tacos featuring flaky white fish, zesty beer batter, creamy Baja sauce, and crunchy marinated cabbage slaw, all wrapped in warm, soft tortillas.

Ingredients

Scale

Fish:

  • 1 ½ pounds mahi mahi or other white fish of your choice
  • 1 teaspoon Old Bay seafood seasoning
  • 1/3 cup cornstarch

Batter:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 12 ounce bottle beer I used Shiner Bock
  • 1 teaspoon Old Bay seafood seasoning
  • ½ teaspoon granulated garlic optional
  • ½ teaspoon pepper

Marinaded Slaw (Curtido):

Baja Sauce:

Instructions

  1. Preheat oil in a deep heavy bottomed Dutch oven or Deep Fryer to 375 degrees F.
  2. Combine 1 t Old Bay, ½ t granulated garlic and ½ t pepper, mix well; set aside.
  3. Cut fish into 1-inch wide strips and pat dry with clean paper towels. Season both sides of fish with Old Bay mixture.
  4. Right before frying, dip into the cornstarch shake off the excess.

Batter:

  1. In a large bowl, add flour and salt; mix to combine.
  2. Whisk in 1 bottle of beer and mix until combined.
  3. Dip each prepared strip in the beer batter and carefully slide each piece of fish into preheated oil.
  4. Fry fish, turning over often, until deep golden and cooked through about 4 to 5 minutes.
  5. Transfer to a paper towel-lined baking sheet and keep warm in oven.
  6. Fry remaining fish in batches, returning oil to 375 degrees F between batches.

Curtido Slaw:

  1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the shredded cabbage, white onion, and minced green onions.
  2. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the distilled white vinegar, lime juice, kosher salt, pepper, and white sugar until the salt and sugar are fully dissolved.
  3. Pour the vinegar mixture over the shredded cabbage and onions in the large mixing bowl.
  4. Toss the ingredients together thoroughly, ensuring that the cabbage is well coated with the dressing.
  5. Taste the slaw and adjust the seasoning if needed. You can add more vinegar, salt, or sugar according to your taste preference.
  6. Pack all of the cabbage mixture into a 2 quart jar with a tight fitting lid and place in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to several hours, or best overnight, before using. This resting time allows the flavors to meld together and for the cabbage to slightly soften.
  7. Before serving, shake, taste and adjust seasonings according to your preference.

Baja Sauce

  1. Add the following ingredients to a blender or food processor and combine well:  1 cup mayonnaise, 2 chipotles in adobo, 2 peeled garlic cloves, pinch of salt, and lime juice.  You might need to add a splash of water to thin if needed.   If you want more heat you can add more chipotles or some of the adobo sauce.

To warm tortillas:

  1. Lightly toast tortillas on a hot iron skillet or electric griddle until slightly toasted on the edges, but not dried out.
  2. Keep in a tortilla warmer until ready to use.
  3. Optional warming: Dampen a clean kitchen towel with water and loosely wrap tortillas. If placing in the oven to warm, wrap again with aluminum foil. Otherwise, you can warm them in the microwave in the damp towel (no foil) for just a minute or so.

Assemble Tacos:

  1. Place 2 strips of fried fish on a warm tortilla and garnish with slaw, and drizzle with Baja sauce. Serve immediately with sliced avocados and lime wedges.