Fish Tacos with a 7up Batter

Fish tacos are a really under rated dish here in the UK, if you’ve never had them what the hell have you been doing?! These fish tacos however are like nothing else, the 7up batter is a work of genius (if I do say so myself!)

I stumbled across this tasty batter quite by accident!  I was making some beer battered fish but in typical style totally forgot to buy the beer.  There was some 7up in the fridge so I used that as a substitute, 7up batter was born and it worked wonderfully!  The 7up batter was crispy and light with a sweetness and hint of lemon and lime.  It didn’t work too well accompanied with mushy peas and chunky chips but i knew the flavours would be perfect in some Mexican fish tacos.

In this recipe I used Basa fillets, a fish from Asia but farmed here in the UK so it makes a great sustainable alternative to Cod.  You of course can use Cod in this recipe, or any other white fleshed fish, but if you haven’t tried Basa before then do give it a go.

There are a really good balance of flavours in these fish tacos. A creamy avocado base, a sweet and spicy  7up batter topped with an acidic red cabbage dressing and the freshness of cucumber and coriander.

If you like these tacos, be sure to check out my Chilli Beef Nachos!

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Fish Tacos in a 7up Batter

Prep Time

20 mins

Cook Time

30 mins

Total Time

50 mins

 

These fresh and light fish tacos will be a real crowd pleaser!

Course: Appetizer, brunch, entree, Main Course

Servings: 4 people

Author: Slow The Cook Down

Ingredients

For the fried fish

• 4 basa fillets
• vegetable oil
• 200 g self raising flour
• pinch of salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 tbsp cayenne pepper
• 1 egg beaten
• 375 ml 7up

For the red cabbage

• 1 small red cabbage finely sliced
• 1 green chilli finely sliced
• 50 ml white wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp salt
• zest of 1 lime
• 5 tbsp mayonaise
• 5 tbsp sour cream

For the cucumber salsa

• 1 cucumber diced
• 1 red onion diced
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 tbsp finely chopped corriander

For the creamed avocado

• 2 ripe avocados
• juice 1/2 lemon
• salt and pepper

To serve

• 8 soft corn tacos

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, paprika, cayenne, salt and pepper. Whisk in the beaten egg and then bit by bit whisk in the 7up until you have a nice smooth batter. Pop in the fridge until ready to use.
2. For the red cabbage, mix all the ingredients together well and pop in the fridge.  Same for the cucumber salsa. Really nothing tricky about knocking these up!
3. Peel the avocados into a bowl and add the lemon juice and a pinch of salt and pepper.  Mash together.  Add the mayo and sour cream and mix well. Put in the fridge until ready to serve.
4. Put a large saucepan on a high heat on the hob and pour in about 1cm of vegetable oil.  You need to get the oil really hot, so could take 5-10 mins.
5. Take the batter out of the fridge and cut each Basa fillet in half length ways.
6. Once the oil is really hot, dip a fillet in to the batter to coat it and carefully lay into the frying pan.  They only take about 3 minutes on each side to cook through and get a crispy batter.  Be careful when turning the fish and only do two in the pan at a time.  Put the fish on some kitchen towel to soak up any excess oil.
7. Warm the tacos through according to packet instructions (I was going to make my own, but sometimes life is too short!).
8. Put a spoonful of the avocado mix on to each taco, top with a piece of fish and the cabbage and cucumber mixes.