Tastes Like Summer Fish Tacos

I'm willing, wishing, and doing magic dances to get the sun to shine in Berlin for more than 3 hours. Right now it's humid and muggy and grey. Not a patch of blue sky anywhere. Maybe if I write about summer food the sun can be coaxed out?

Back in June when it was sunny, and hot, I fancied some fish tacos. We could have gone over to Prenzlauer Berg to have the great fish tacos that Maria Bonita serves up, but instead I dug out a tin of chipotles in adobo sauce that was lurking in the back of the cupboard, took out a packet of corn tortillas that had been deep-sixed in the freezer, and pedalled down to our local Turkish market that has a fairly decent fish counter, to see what they had.

I came back with some Viktoria Barsch fillets. Not sure what they are in English? Kind of cod or haddock like.

Anyways, I made some chipotle mayonnaise, batter for the fish, and some shredded veggies for the garnish. I used some radishes, iceberg lettuce and red onion. Kelsie made a batch of her marvelous margaritas and our wee garden in Spandau was temporarily transformed into a Baja oasis. :-)


FISH TACOS
chipotle mayonnaise recipe from: All Recipes

for the chipotle mayonnaise:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 chipotle chilies in adobo sauce
1 tablespoon adobo sauce from chipotle peppers
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Whizz all the ingredients together in a food processor.

for the batter:
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
1 cup beer

Mix together the dry ingredients. Then whisk in the beer. The batter will resemble pancake batter.

for the tacos:
500g firm fish fillets (we used Viktoria barsch)
canola or sunflower oil
wedges of lime
corn tortilla

To make the tacos:

1. Make the chipotle mayonnaise and set aside.


2. Make the beer batter and set aside.


3. Make the garnish -- shred iceberg lettuce or white cabbage, some radishes and finely slice some onions.


4. Heat 3 inches of sunflower or canola oil in a large saucepan.


5. Pat the fish fillets dry with kitchen roll. Slice into 2-inch strips. When the oil is hot, coat the fish in the batter and fry in the oil until golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper.


6. Heat the tortillas in a dry frying pan until supple.


7. To assemble the tacos, put a piece or two of fish in the tortilla, drizzle on some chipotle mayo, top with shredded veg to taste, and finish with a squeeze of lime.


8. Best accompanied with an ice cold beer or a margarita!