Tacos de pescado – Baja-style battered fish tacos
Strips of fish in a crisp beer batter with mustard and oregano, served in warm corn tortillas with shredded cabbage, a crema and mayonnaise sauce, pico de gallo and lime. This is how they are eaten in Ensenada, Baja California; prawns are made the same way.
- 50 minTime
- 45 minHands-on
- 4Portions
- ≈ $35per portion
- 830kcal per portion
Ingredients for 4 portions
- 600 gTilapia fillet, in 2 cm strips
- to tasteSalt
- to tasteBlack pepper
- 150 gPlain flour, for the batter
- 1 tbspMustard
- 3 mlMexican oregano
- 250 mlBeer, cold
- 3 tbspPlain flour, for dusting
- 4 tbspRapeseed oil, for frying
On the side
- 300 gWhite cabbage, finely shredded
- 150 mlMexican crema
- 3 tbspMayonnaise
- 2Tomatoes, diced
- ½Yellow onion, finely chopped
- 15 gCoriander, chopped
- 1Serrano chile, finely chopped
- 1Lime, juiced
- 12Corn tortillas
- 2Limes, in wedges
Method
- Cut the fish into 2 cm strips and season with salt and pepper.
- Whisk the flour for the batter with the mustard, oregano and cold beer to a smooth, thick batter, a little thicker than pancake batter.
- Leave the batter to rest for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the pico de gallo: mix the tomatoes, onion, coriander and chilli with the lime juice and a pinch of salt.
- Finely shred the cabbage and stir the crema and mayonnaise together into a smooth sauce.
- Heat plenty of oil, about 3 cm deep, in a deep frying pan or saucepan to 180 °C, or until a drop of batter sizzles and floats straight away.
- Dust the fish strips in flour, dip them in the batter and fry in batches for 3–4 minutes, until golden and crisp. Drain on kitchen paper.
- Warm the tortillas in a dry frying pan and wrap them in a tea towel.
- Put a strip of fish in each tortilla and top with cabbage, sauce and pico de gallo. Serve with lime wedges.
The cost is estimated from average prices in Mexico (PROFECO, Quién es Quién en los Precios (datos abiertos), 2026-07).
