These fish tacos are perfect for summer. They are light and healthy, and the lack of cheese or cream means that they will travel well to picnics and the beach.
For the fish, I chose Tilapia. It is a white fish that has a delicate flavor and holds up well in the tacos. According to the FDA’s chart on “Mercury Levels in Commercial Fish and Shellfish”, tilapia has the lowest amount of mercury found in fish. Tilapia is a low total fat, low saturated fat, low calorie, low carbohydrate and low sodium protein source. It also contains Phosphorus, Niacin, Selenium, Vitamin B12 and Potassium. Beware of farmed Tilapia, as it does not contain as much of the healthy omega-3 fatty acids that wild Tilapia contains. And, farmed Tilapia contains too much of the bad omega-6 fatty acids. Stick with wild Tilapia, and you will have a great healthy fish taco. I was planning to grill the Tilapia for this recipe, but rain forced me to cook indoors, so I decided to lightly fry the fish. You can easily switch up this recipe and grill the fish, just negate the fish fry breading.
This article appears in Jun 16-22, 2011.