Thursday, July 17, 2008

Mojarra Frita a la Mexicana (Tilapia a la Mexicana)

In this dish fish is seasoned, lightly fried, and simmered in a very light sauce (if it can be called that), I am not a fan of whole tilapia, my mother really enjoys it and many Mexicans love tilapia (which they call "Mojarra" pronounced "mo-ha-ra" but you got to roll the "r")

Anyway I'm sure you'll get really good results using any fish you enjoy. I think this would be great with a "Red Snapper", "Black Pomfret", "Catfish", "Sockeye Salmon" cut in segments, "Rainbow Trout" or simply "Trout", "Pollack" etc. you get the point.

Ingredients:
-2 medium with slits cut on the side whole tilapias (opened up, cleaned, scales removed by scraping in opposite direction with a knife, remive all guts with hand, and those wierd things in the gills. Then with a knife scrape of anything greyish black inside it will make the fish bitter also don't cut or rip a sack near the head it will make it bitter just remove it whole rinse fish well don't be afraid to use your hands be SAVAGE)
-6-8 cloves or more crushed minced garlic preferably mashed to a paste
-salt 1 teaspoon or more to taste
-ground black pepper 1 teaspoon
-1 large or 2 small tomatoes minced
-1/2 onion minced
-1 serrano chili pepper or jalapeno minced or sliced into thin rounds
-1/2 cup cilantro minced

Directions:
-Mix garlic, lime juice, salt and pepper together, rub all over the fish, and fill the slits with it to.
-Heat generous amount of olive oil on medium high in a pan and add fish pan-fry fish brown on both sides about 3 minutes on both sides and set aside
-In dripping sautee onions and chili pepper until translucent and fragrant. Add diced tomato and cilantro season with a little of salt
-Add fish back and cover with sautee. Cover and steam for about 5-1o minutes until tomatoes release some juice. It is not suppose to be a saucy dish.

7 comments:

Andrea said...

I'm going to try this right now. Shouldn't I dredge it in a little flour as well?

Nathan said...

My mother doesn't flour it, she just pat-dries it before pan-frying it, but if you'd like you can flour it :)

Gabriela said...

That looks so good, I'm cooking it as soon as I get home from work :)

Gabriela said...

That looks so good, I'm cooking that as soon as I get home from work :)

Nathan said...

Hola Gabriela,
Let me know how it turned out :)

Anonymous said...

so when you buy it at the supermarket it doesnt come cleaned??

Anonymous said...

When you buy fresh fish, it has the scales and insides still in it. When you buy it from the supermarket, that stuff has been removed.