FC Day 14 - Beer-battered Tilapia with Chile Garlic Mandarin Orange Sauce

That's a mouthful, isn't it? And a mighty spicy one at that. Woo-wee!! Now, don't get me wrong, I am a lover of spicy foods, but when I dipped my spoon in the sauce-bowl for a taste-test, I was not expecting that it would bite back! But now I'm jumping ahead of myself. Let me back-track just a bit. I do my grocery shopping on Saturday or Sunday for the following week. I look at the food calendar, go through each recipe, and make my grocery list. Somehow though, I managed to miss one of the primary ingredients for this particular recipe. The beer. Awesome. So, on my way home from work today, I had to stop at the convenient store by my house to buy a single beer.

I don't like beer, I don't drink beer, and I certainly don't stop at the Shell on the way home from work to buy beer. Except for today. I'm sure I looked a little lost, wandering around by the beer cases trying to find a single, 12 oz beer. No such luck. But I did find the 'tall boys' hanging out in the giant ice-bucket-thingy near the front register. Now, what kind of beer should I buy? I don't care, just grab one and let's get up outta here!! So, I grab a Bud Light, pay, and leave. It feels a bit foreign and weird to be carrying a beer out of the Shell station, but I couldn't imagine trying to substitute something else in its place!

Now, back on topic :)



The devil sauce



 Despite the heat, it was a great meal. K scraped off his 'sauce', because even though I am a fan of the spicy, he is not. I was nice though, and I warned him before he dug in so that he could taste it. Then I whipped up some tartar sauce for him to use instead. See, I'm a nice girlfriend :) He did comment on how much he liked the batter, and that it was the best  batter he'd had. Guess it's a good thing I stopped for that beer, huh?

Beer-battered Tilapia with Chile Garlic Mandarin Orange Sauce
Adapted from: Robin Miller @ the Food Network

Ingredients

• Vegetable Oil
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, divided
• 2/3 cup beer
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 4 tilapia fillets, about 5 oz each
• Salt & Pepper
• 2 Tbs lemon juice
• 2 tsp Chile Garlic Sauce***
• 1 (11 oz) can mandarin oranges, drained & chopped
• 1 Tbs fresh cilantro leaves

Preparation

1. In a shallow dish, mix 1/2 cup flour, beer, baking powder, & egg. Put the other 1/4 cup flour in another dish.
2. Heat enough oil to shallow-fry the fish, in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
3. Salt & pepper both sides of the fish. Dredge the fish in the plain flour, coating both sides and shaking of any excess flour. Next, dip the fish in the beer mixture to coat both sides.
4. Add fish to the hot oil and cook until browned, about 2 minutes per side. Remove from oil and place on paper towels to drain oil.
5. While fish is cooking, mix the lemon juice and garlic sauce in a bowl, then add oranges and cilantro and mix together. Serve sauce over the fish.

***Adjust this amount according to your tolerance for spice. Sarah, if you are reading this...you should cut the amount way down, since you are not a friend to super-spicy foods :) *Hugs*