Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Coconut Encrusted Tilapia



We like seafood around here. Everyone has his or her favorite ranging from which type of seafood they prefer to how it can be prepared (i.e. breaded, grilled, fried, baked etc). The only problem is that seafood scares me. Why? It’s not the taste (that I love), its the prep. Because of it’s cost, I have a much harder time presenting fish to the sacrificial “teach me to cook” Gods than almost any other protein. The fear of wasting money paralyzes me and thusly…my family doesn’t get a lot of fish (unless I make my mother-in-law cook it, which, up until we moved into our current digs last August, I made her do for me. How lame is that? But she does such a great job that I really didn’t see the point in sacrificing a perfectly good fish to my poor skillet skills.)

Ok so every once and a while I dare to put my fear behind me and cook fish. Coconut Tilapia was a sweet reward to my most recent venture. And when I say sweet…I mean that literally and figuratively, but mostly literally.  The inclusion of cream of coconut v. milk can be attributed for the mild sweetness this recipe produced.

This was inspired by a recipe I found on foodfrenzy as a winner of a monthly contest. I thought I knew what was going on with this recipe but somehow I missed that this had a marinade and was oven baked (something to look forward to on another day I suppose...really I need to examine the entire recipe before I decide to make it). All I saw was the panko bread mix and it wasn’t until after I got started when I realized, I didn’t have everything I needed…panic set it.

Breathe breath…I could do this. I CAN do this! I can wing it…right? Yes I can! I CAN DO THIS!

And so I did.

In the end, it turned out that this fish, was nothing to be scared of. The kids loved the sweet crunch and Boy and I enjoyed how the raw orange bell peppers and boiled brown rice sides tempered the sweetness to make for one truly satisfying fish dinner. Now you try it.



Coconut Encrusted Tilapia

Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil - divided
½ cup whole-wheat flour (or AP- you  know me I like my whole grains)
1 egg
1 tbsp cream of coconut
½ cup Panko bread crumbs
¼ cup coconut flakes
salt and pepper
6, 5 oz. tilapia steaks

Directions:
  1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat.
  2. Put flour in a shallow dish
  3. In another shallow dish beat 1 egg with cream of coconut
  4. Combine Panko bread crumbs and coconut flakes in a third shallow dish
  5. Pat fish dry with towels and season both sides with salt and pepper
  6. Coat fish in flour, dip in egg wash, then coat in breadcrumb mix. Repeat with remaining fish.
  7. Once oil is shimmering, place 3 of the fish in the skillet and cook until breading is toasted and golden brown. Flip and do the same for the other side. When finished transfer to a clean plate and tent with foil. Heat remaining oil and cook remaining 3 fillets. When complete, serve with brown rice and julienne bell peppers. 
Notes:  This recipe will cover 6, 5-oz. fillets however to stretch my buck I used three fillets that were split lengthwise. This also helps the fish cook thoroughly without burning the breadcrumb coating.

Source: Apron Appeal original, inspired by Down Home Foodie: Coconut Milk and Citrus Tilapia
Gwenevere

9 comments:

Kate@Diethood said...

Tilapia is one of my favorite fish, and I love what you've done with it here... I have never used coconut in my breading...that's a great idea!

Trac said...

I tried a Tilapia recipe some time ago, and it wasn't a good one so I've stayed clear of this fish. Funny how a recipe can do that. Looks like it's time to give it another go. This looks so good, I'm sure it is! I'll stick it on the menu-Thanks Gwen.

A SPICY PERSPECTIVE said...

Oh the coconut crust sounds SO GOOD. :)

The Cilantropist said...

I love the golden brown crust on the tilapia! And with coconut... mmmm!

Kate from Scratch said...

Nicely done! Fantastic work...facing fears, improvising and coconut! I'm a huge fan of these things. So happy your kids ate it! That's the true test, I know. Good work!

Kim (Feed Me, Seymour) said...

My family hates seafood and everything it encompasses. I can't get them to even glance at a crab and we live in the state best known for their crabs! It's unfair. Especially since I'm dying to try this tilapia! It looks so fab. Light and tasty and delish. I'm going to make it and try to pass it off and non-fish. Hope they like it!!! I know I will!

Three-Cookies said...

This looks like a brilliant idea. I saw a TV program where someone encrusted prawns in coconut and it looked really delicious

Dreams of cakes said...

It looks very nice!! Thanks for the recipe!!

Trac said...

This is what we had for dinner tonight, I'll be making this again, yum! Kelli said "That was a very nice dinner". It's a rare thing if I get any good comments from that girl. :) Brandon made some red curry sauce to put on top of the fish and rice, and it just brought out all the flavors. It complimented the coconut very well. I'm a fan of Tilapia now!

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