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Spicy and sublime monkfish tacos infused with classic Indian spices and coconut along with authentic Mexican smoked chilli and lime.
Indian monkfish tacos
Indian and Mexican cuisines have much in common and especially when it comes to the incredible array of street foods both nations have. Both serve up offerings of spicy stews, meat and fish in a variety of breads or flavoursome puffed parcels stuffed with delicious fillings of savoury spiced lentils, beans or grains and even grilled vegetables such as flame-grilled corn on the cob scattered with tasty toppings. If these two countries were pitted together in a battle of the street food top trumps, who would win? tacos or tikka, the samosa or empanada or masala bhutta or elotes (grilled corn on the cob), the list goes on and on. But, what is important is that whether each of these are uniquely Mexican or Indian dishes, they have a foreign doppelganger. So when we blur the lines of what is what with each street food dish by swapping a chilli con carne for a curry in a burrito for example, adding a little smoked jalapeno to a pakora or swapping a chutney for a pico de gallo salsa, the change is ultimately either enhanced or substituted with a unique yet compatible flavour of another country.
When it comes to one of the most replicated street food ideas around the world, and that is meat inside some bread, the variations are as endless as the possibilities in a game of chess.
From tacos to tikka - exploring the world of iconic street food
Tacos, being one of the most iconic Mexican street food staples, are a perfect example of “meat inside some bread”. In this case, the bread is a corn tortilla (or sometimes a flour tortilla) and the fillings range from pork, beef or chicken to fish, shellfish such as crab or even lobster and vegan produce all topped of course with a little salad and sauce, which, will be more often then not sweet, sour and citrussy with a healthy splattering of fresh herbs and spice.
A candidate for its Indian doppelganger would have to be a chicken, fish or lamb tikka skewer served on a roti or chapati (which are both unleavened bread varieties just like a tortilla) and topped again with a sweet, sour and citrussy sauce or chutney.
Each iconic yet very versatile dish has their own many varieties. Tacos, for example, have “Al pastor” and “adobada” style tacos which are spit-roasted pork tacos in adobo spices, “tacos de birria” which are stewed meat tacos and of course the Baja classic “tacos de pescado” a taco filled with fish or shellfish and often has a much fresher flavour of fresh lime, coriander and salsa. Indian flatbreads and their fillings are numerous too. Rotis, naans, puris, parathas and chapatis are synonymous with street food and topped with everything from dhal to potato and of course paneer, the Indian archetypal cheese.
Our monkfish tacos - where India meets Mexico
It must be, at this point, be mentioned that many of the ingredients that appear in both of these cuisines are the same. Chillies, for example, were introduced by Portuguese explorers to India via Mexico back in the 16th century. Onions, garlic, coriander and lime all feature highly in each cuisine too as well as both cuisines using stewed rice and grains, and both make many varieties of unleavened bread. To mix and match many of these ingredients to make our own Indian-inspired taco gives us a varied palette of flavours and interchangeable ingredients.
The Baja California peninsula of Mexico is surrounded by the Pacific, so of course it would reap a lot of seafood, the tacos from this area often use either fried or grilled fish or seafood accompanied by salad or cabbage and pico de gallo salsa. These fish tacos are lighter, and fresher yet full of flavour with spices, coriander/cilantro and lime juice. Fish gets this same treatment in many Indian dishes, however, one ingredient that seems to be more predominant in Indian cuisine, and especially southern Indian cuisine is coconut. Mexican dishes that use coconut tend to use flaked coconut whereas in India, coconut milk is much more prevalent.
How to make monkish tacos
For a full-flavoured and filling fish taco, we want to use a meaty fish so monkfish is perfect. In India, monkfish is commonly used with coconut as well as spices, lime and coriander (just as they are in a Baja fish taco) to create amazing dishes, so this idea to blur the lines between how monkfish is prepared in India and how fish is prepared in Mexico has inspired our creation of Indian-spiced monkfish tacos.
It is the use of coconut milk in our Indian monkfish tacos that give it a real flavour that balances the tastes of both cuisines perfectly. Tikka or vindaloo spices for the monkfish work well too but the flavours stand out a little too prominently by themselves, the addition of coconut and Indian spices along with the Mexican ingredients create a new and unique taste and just wonderfully confuse the tastebuds.
Although we use coconut milk, the mix is fried together to create a fairly dry sauce so that the sauce coats the monkfish rather than creating a curry which would only give you a soggy taco.
We first make a paste by pounding down shallots, garlic and fresh coriander/cilantro in a pestle and mortar which will give a nice thick base to the sauce. This is fried to release the flavours before adding an aromatic spice mix of deggi mirch (a chilli and capsicum powder mix), cumin, cinnamon and ancho chilli paste for that smoked authentic mexican flavour. Frying the spices develops their flavours too but not to intensify it too much. After a couple of minutes, we add chunks of meaty monkfish and coat them in the paste and sear the fish. It is a quick process so when we finally add the coconut milk it quickly bubbles and incorporates into the paste to create a creamy aromatic yet dry sauce perfect to pack inside a corn tortilla.
Monkfish tacos with accompaniments
It is nice to serve this with some traditional taco accompaniments, so prepare a simple guacamole by mashing some avocado with garlic, lime juice and jalapenos (adding a touch of deggi mirch gives it a hint of Indian flavour too) and then thinly slice some red cabbage with a squeeze of fresh lime and garnish it all with some torn coriander leaves and a little hot sauce.
Other substitutions to try
The preparation of this sauce alongside the traditional accompaniments of a taco makes this recipe work well. Monkfish adds a firm flavoursome meaty texture that pairs well, although you can use any firm fish such as halibut or cod or try large prawns or lobster if you want to push the boat out, otherwise simply try this with chicken or even paneer if you want to try an even more Indian taco, just adjust your cooking time accordingly.
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Monkfish tacos recipe
Equipment
- pestle and mortar
- Frying pan
Ingredients
- 300 g of monkfish cubed in bite sized pieces
- 60 g 4x small shallots
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon of fresh coriander/cilantro
- 2 teaspoon of deggi mirch
- ½ teaspoon of cumin
- ½ teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon of garam masala
- 1 tablespoon of ancho chilli paste
- 125 ml (or ½ a cup) of coconut milk
Guacamole
- 1 avocado
- 1-2 garlic cloves grated
- 1 tablespoon of jalapenos chopped (fresh or from a jar)
- ½ teaspoon of deggi mirch
- Juice of 1 lime
To serve
- 6 corn tortillas
- 160 g of red cabbage finely sliced/ shredded
- 1 lime
- handful of torn coriander/cilantro to garnish
- drizzle of hot sauce optional
Instructions
- Using a pestle and mortar, pound down the shallots, garlic and coriander leaves to a paste. Season and add to a frying pan with a touch of vegetable oil and on medium heat, fry for 2 minutes.
- Add the spices and ancho chili paste and fry for a further 2 minutes.
- Pat the monkfish pieces dry with kitchen paper, add to the pan and fry for 2 minutes. Pour in the coconut milk and cook for approximately another 3-4 minutes or until the sauce is thick and creamy.
- To make the guacamole, slice the avocado in half, remove the stone and scoop out the flesh. Roughly chop the avocado and place it in a bowl. Add the grated garlic and use a fork to mash the avocado. Add the chopped jalapenos, lime juice and degi mirch and stir to incorporate.
- Build the tacos by spooning on the guacamole equally on the corn tortillas followed by equal portions of the monkfish and sauce topped with shredded red cabbage. Garnish with coriander/cilantro, fresh lime juice and hot sauce.
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