It is my goal to eat more fish this year for it’s health benefits and just for the variety as well. I have always enjoyed fish, but I am not very experienced with it, so it will be fun to try new ways to prepare it. Tonight’s recipe instantly grabbed my attention by all the gorgeous colors in the dish. After all, they way your food looks plays a large role in your enjoyment of it. I was a bit disappointed to see that the recipe called for mango because I just can’t stand the stuff, but I also knew that I could probably substitute some pineapple with good results since I have had a similar salsa before. The addition of banana was very new to me however, and intriguing for sure. I will post it with the original recipe, but my own review is for the pineapple version.
The dish comes together very quickly, and easily. I suggest making the salsa earlier in the day if you have time and letting it sit in the fridge to really let the flavors marry, but I only had about a half hour for mine and it was still great. The dish has such a freshness to it, and a great balance of heat, sweet, and sour with the colorful salsa. With the eye-catching presentation it’s the perfect thing to serve to guests if you want to impress. It’s also very low calorie/fat which everyone appreciates. The recipes makes a lot of the salsa, almost more than you need, but it worked out to sort of eat it like a salad with the cut up fish rather than as a topping for it. I was a bit confused about the part where it called for half of a long red pepper, and then listed jalapeno or thai, so I just got a red jalapeno and put the whole thing in there since they aren’t very big. I would suggest tasting whatever type of pepper you use first to determine how much you want in there.
Mango & Banana Salsa with Tilapia
Serves : 4 Time to make : 25 minutes (+ time for salsa to sit)
Ingredients :
- 1 large ripe mango, cut into 1/4-inch pieces (a heaping cup) * I subbed the same amount of fresh pineapple
- 1 medium banana, firm ripe, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
- 1/2 long red pepper, ripe jalapeno or Thai
- 1 sweet red bell pepper, cored, seeded, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
- 2/3 cups cilantro leaves, 1/3 cup minced & 1/3 cup roughly chopped
- 1/2 small red onion, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
- 2 T. fresh lime juice (I added a little more and some zest)
- 1/4 tsp. kosher salt or to taste
- 4 tilapia fillets
- Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
- flour (about a 1/4 cup or so
- 2 T. olive oil
Directions :
- Combine mango, banana, pepper, red pepper, cilantro, onion, lime juice, and salt in a large bowl, cover and refrigerate for up to 3 hours if time allows, otherwise you can move right on to the fish.
- Pat dry fish fillets, season with salt and pepper on both sides and dredge in flour; shaking off excess.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add fish and cook until medium golden brown and fish easily lifts from bottom of pan. Turn over and cook until done all the way through.
- Move to either one serving tray or individual plates before topping with the salsa (about a cup per fillet if individual). Serve with additional lime wedges if desired.
