Step 1: Preparing the Dressing
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- 2 cups fresh squeezed orange juice
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 cup fresh cilantro
- 1 tsp Kosher salt - can substitute with 1/2 tsp table salt
- 2 pinches cayenne pepper
- 1/4 cup grapeseed oil or olive oil
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Juice the oranges and then reduce juice in a sauce pan over medium high heat and set aside to cool completely.
Heat a small frying pan over medium heat and toast the cumin seeds until slightly browned. Once toasted set aside to cool.
Now purée the cumin seeds in a spice or coffee grinder, but not too fine.
Transfer the cumin to a food processor.
Roughly chop the cilantro and add it, along with the salt, cayenne pepper and cumin, to the orange juice, and blend until smooth.
To finish the dressing add the oil and blend for another minute.
For the tilapia it is best to serve the dressing at room temperature. But any remaining dressing can be refrigerated for a day or two and used on salads.
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Step 2: Frying the Capers
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- 1 to 1 1/2 cups grapeseed oil or vegetable oil
- 4 tbsp capers
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Fry the capers using a deep-sided pan and heat the oil over medium high heat.
Strain the capers onto a paper towel to remove any excess liquid.
Once the oil is hot and just begins to smoke, carefully add the capers. As soon as you add the capers, you can turn off the heat.
The capers will only take a minute or two to crisp up.
Once ready, remove them from the oil with a slotted spoon and place onto a paper towel to drain the excess oil.
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Step 3: Finishing the Tilapia
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- 1 to 2 tbsp grapeseed oil
- 4 tilapia fillets
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 lime (2 tbsp.)
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Preheat the oven to warm.
Then heat a large frying pan with oil over medium high heat.
Season the fish on both sides with salt and pepper.
You may need to pan-fry the fish in two batches depending on the size of the fish and the size of your frying pan. If so, place the cooked fish into the warm oven while you cook the second batch.
Once the oil is hot, add the tilapia and pan-fry for 3 or 4 minutes or until golden brown. Once the tilapia is added to the pan, immediately turn the heat down to medium low.
Then just before you flip the fish squeeze a little lime juice over the top.
Finish cooking the fish on the other side, squeezing over the remaining lime juice.
Once the fish is done, plate it up, drizzle a few tablespoons of the cumin orange dressing over top, garnish with the crispy fried capers and serve!
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Notes
Tilapia can be substituted with any white fish such as sole, basa, orange ruffi or halibut. Leftover dressing will keep for a day or two if refrigerated.
Comments
This was super easy to make and turned out delicious. And it was a totally different meal for our family. I bought 4 frozen talapia fillets for less than $5 which was amazing I thought. The dressing was a breeze with a hand blender - only complaint is that it made way too much dressing - about 7-10 times more than needed. But I actually mixed some with eggs the next morning for breakfast and that was super as well.
I wish I followed the rice recipe because I went on my own there and it didn't turn out as I had hoped. Also, I hate capers but did it anyways and they were really nice. My wife hates capers too and these little deep fried salty bites were great.
a big thumbs up from me.
Tilapia is a great, environmentally sustainable, delicious fish. Never adverse to leftovers, we will be looking for lots of opportunities to make use of the extra sauce.
My frying technique wasn't perfect and I had some sticking issues despite testing the temp of the oil before frying. I will use my non-stick next time. I also need to fry the capers a little longer next time. They were yummy, but could have been crisper. A great meal. Even my 3.5 year old said, "I love this fish!" Can't beat that!
I made this dish the other night for dinner and it was super easy and delicious, although I couldn't find Tilapia at the supermarket so I had to replace it with Sole fillets. They were really good but very thin so they ended up in very small pieces, smaller than what I would've expected.
I also loved the taste of the fried capers, it was a really nice flavor to add to the fish.
I wanted to cook something simple (not to many ingredients) and fast and this was the perfect meal. I have to say I'm not a huge fish fan but I can say that this is now one of my favorite dishes.
Thanks for the recipe =D
This is a great, yet easy and quick dish. The dressing is the same as for the mango & shrimp salad on this site, which is also very good. I had already made the salad a few nights before, and had leftover dressing when I noticed this recipe... it was a great way to use more of this delicious dressing and each dish still had it's own taste.
We didn't have vegetable oil at the house, but my mother recommended I try to fry the capers with Canola oil. I was a little intimidated by the oil splattering all over my mother's NYC apartment, but the capers were DIVINE. I think the recipe will be almost as tasty without the capers. I can't wait to make this recipe again!
Had a great time making it and the taste was both interesting and excellent. I probably used a bit too much cilantro so that the dressing was a little too green perhaps.
Otherwise great, with the fried capers being quite a highlight. The overall mix of opposing tastes is quite impressive in this recipe. I don't think I got it quite right but I'm certainly interested in refining that part.
For the basmati rice recipe I couldn't find pandan leaves but will try harder next time.
As a final note I must say that the tilapia turned out much better than my past attempts where I was using too high a temperature and no lime juice. The cooking procedure in the recipe produces a much more moist texture.
Great start for my first rouxbe recipe!
I made this recipe this evening and it was very easy to follow. I usually have tilapia once a week and each time I prepare it I like to try different recipes. So when I saw this recipe I had to try it. What I liked about it was that cooking the fish was very standard but the dressing is what made the fish stand out. I made it with brown rice and a salad so after dressing the fish I put some of the dressing on the salad which worked very well. I also have to say that I didn't know how I would like the capers because I've never used them before. I bought a jar of them a few months ago to use in another recipe but never got around to it so this was the perfect opportunity to use them. I really enjoyed their flavor and the crunchy texture worked well with the rice. This is a recipe I will be using it again and I can't wait to try some more recipes listed on rouxbe.
My comments are merely "tweaks", as this is an excellent dish. Like another reviewer I thought the capers could benefit by a bit longer cooking time. The roasted cumin seeds were too subtle for our tastes, so we added 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin to the finished dressing. This will become a family favorite. Thanks!