Fish tacos

As I mentioned in the kicking fast food thread I'm a single graduate student, and I live alone. What this means is, I'm broke, I cook for one, and I'm often pressed for time. I also love food, and rapidly get sick of takeout. Therefore I'm a bit a collector of simple, quick and flavorful recipes, especially if they're budget-conscious. This is one of those recipes. Although it takes two days, this recipe requires about 10 minutes of active prep time.

Ingredients:

Individually frozen fillet of tilapia or some other light flavored whitefish

Corn meal and cumin for breading

Corn tortillas

Cabbage (I buy the pre-shredded kind. It's called "angel hair coleslaw", but it's just shredded white cabbage. If you do buy the bag, take care not to get the cole slaw that has carrots and celery in it. Unless you like that sort of thing.)

Avocado

Freshly made salsa (see below)

Hot sauce

A neutrally-flavored oil like corn, soybean, or sunflower

Day One

The night before you decide to make fish tacos, you want to make the salsa. I've decided to make a modified Pico de gallo. You will need:

- 5-6 scallions

- 2-3 medium sized tomatoes

- one fresh jalapeno pepper

- a handful of fresh cilantro (aka coriander)

- the juice of one large lime

Wash all your veggies. Chop your tomatoes, chop and seed your jalapeno, chop the white part of your scallion. Combine the veggies in a container with a tight fitting lid. Cover them with lime juice.

After you've covered everything in lime juice, put the tupperware in your fridge to marinate overnight. At this time, you're going to also want to take your fish fillet out of the freezer

Variations: Try substituting a mango for the tomatoes.

Once you have made the salsa, you can make the tacos in about 10 minutes, so long as you have the right ingredients.

Day Two

Assemble your ingredients. Put about 1/8 cup of cornmeal and a tablespoon or so of cumin on a plate. Lightly combine the two and pat this onto your fish. If you don't like cornmeal, breadcrumbs or an egg/flour mixture would also work.

Put a small amount of neutrally-flavored oil in a frying pan and heat it up. Cook your fish about 3 minutes on each side, turning once (or more if you have a thick fillet). Heat up another frying pan, and use it to warm your tortillas. If you have a microwave (I don't), you can put your tortillas on a plate, cover it with plastic wrap or waxed paper, and heat them that way.

When your fish is cooked, assemble your tacos. Divide the fillet of fish. One fillet of fish usually portions out to three or four tacos. Slice your avocado. I find that I use half an avocado for four tacos. Put the fish at the bottom, and then the avocado, cabbage and salsa on top. Top them with hot sauce.

Pour yourself a glass of your favorite beverage, and enjoy (in front of your TV, in your underwear. alone).