Broiled Tilapia with Coconut Curry Sauce

I know what you're thinking... or well, maybe you're not thinking because you don't follow this blog.. which I totally get, because no one seems to really be updating it often enough... Anyway, what i was getting at is that awhile back I believe I posted another tilapia dish with a coconut curry sauce. Well this one's different! So I have to share! I think I may like this one better. Can't remember.
So yeah - this recipe came about because I'm on a budget this summer (no summer job = no income = tight grocery budget) and I'm trying to eat healthier, and even though its freakin 100 degrees outside everyday... I can't help but want "spicy" foods.. I know, Brandon would be laughing at me right now... its not really spicy when I use mild curry, right? But anyway - I want thai food and indian food and I can't figure out why.. just been craving it. So tilapia was super cheap on sale at the grocery store ($3.99/lb!! thats insane!) and I knew I wanted to do something with curry since its such a bland fish. So I came across a recipe from Cooking Light and thought I'd give it a whirl. It was actually quite tasty and makes you feel better that something so tasty can actually be good for you as well. Well... not GOOD for you, but not bad for you either.

Broiled Tilapia with Coconut Curry Sauce
adapted from Cooking Light
serves 4


Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon dark sesame oil, divided
• 1 teaspoon safflower oil (or canola)
  
• 2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup white onion, chopped (or can use green onions)
  
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 2 teaspoons red curry paste
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 4 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1 (14-ounce) can light coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 4 (6-ounce) tilapia fillets
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
  
• Cooking spray
• Brown jasmine rice, cooked, hot
  
• 4 lime wedges

Directions:

1. Preheat broiler.

2. Heat 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil & safflower oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add ginger and garlic; cook 1 minute. Add onions; cook 3 minutes. Stir in curry powder, curry paste, and cumin; cook 1 minute. Add soy sauce, sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and coconut milk; bring to a simmer (do not boil). Remove from heat; stir in cilantro. Set aside, but keep warm or heat back up.
   

3. Brush fish with safflower oil; sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt, a tiny bit of curry powder and a sprinkle of chili powder. Place fish on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Broil 7 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Serve fish with sauce, rice, and lime wedges. I added a side of sauteed spinach, which I sauteed in the other 1/2t of sesame oil. (the recipe says to brush it on the fish while broiling, but toasted sesame oil has a very low smoking point so its best to stay away from dark, unrefined oils and stick to the ones with a higher smoke point)

So hope you enjoy! I'll now have to go back and compare this one to the old recipe I'd posted and maybe come up with a joint recipe.

-Lauren

Marinated Flank Steak with Asian Stir Fry

I tend to stay away from making Asian inspired meals as I usually don't want to go out and purchase a bunch of ingredients necessary to pull them off. I'll keep the typical soy sauce around.. and garlic and ginger are cheap to pick up... But the fish sauces, hoison, rice vinegars, chili pastes, dried shrimp, etc... etc..... Seems too much! Recently a friend of mine was moving and needed to get rid of everything in her kitchen - so naturally, I jumped on it! She unloaded a bunch of asian pantry items on me so - it was time to figure out a good stir fry recipe. One of the ingredients I was really wanting to base a recipe around were the Somen noodles I was given. They take only 2 minutes to cook! 2 minutes!@$ Thats amazing! Plus - they are 98% whole wheat, so they're healthy to boot! Now I think traditionally these noodles are supposed to be served cold... which I was wanting to do, but instead ended up throwing them into a stir fry and serving them hot.
I should also disclose the fact that I cheated in this recipe. I rarely ever cheat, but I'm on a budget this summer and it was more cost effective to purchase the Trader Joe's Soyaki marinade rather than making my own teriyaki marinade. But! If you want a good recipe for a teriyaki marinade I'm sure you could easily create one with some soy sauce, lime juice, pineapple juice, worcestershire, garlic, ginger.... etc etc... I just didn't feel up to it. Plus the TJ version contains pretty much those same ingredients and no weird unpronounceable ingredients you've never heard of.

Marinated Flank Steak with Asian Stir Fry
serves 4

For the Steak:

• Teriyaki marinade (your own recipe or I used TJ's Soyaki)
• 1.5lb flank steak

For the Stir Fry

• 1 8oz package Somen Noodles or some other kind of asian noodle (Or you could use angel-hair pasta)
• Assortment of Stir-Fry veggies: mushrooms, bell pepper, broccoli, snow peas, carrots - I would say use your judgement on what would feed 4 people because I didn't measure these ingredients! I used 1 broccoli crown, half a container of cremini mushrooms and half of a red bell pepper to feed 2 people.
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
  
• 3T soy sauce
  
• 2T hoison
• 2T rice wine vinegar
• 1t minced ginger + extra to throw in with veggies
  
• 1t minced garlic + extra to throw in with veggies
  
• 2t cornstarch
• sesame oil (I used a little for flavor at the end, but this is not necessary)
• safflower or canola oil
• salt/pepper
• sesame seeds

Directions:

1. Put flank steak in a large ziploc bag and pour enough marinade in to cover steak. Place in fridge and let marinate for 3-4 hours, turning over every once in awhile.
2. Make stir-fry sauce by combining soy sauce, rice vinegar, hoison, cornstarch, minced garlic and ginger, salt and pepper. Set aside.
3. Heat a large pot of water to boiling while working on everything else.
4. Heat a large non-stick skillet over med-high heat with a tablespoon or so of safflower oil. Once pan is hot, pull steak out of bag and place in the skillet. You can do this on a grill or cast iron skillet if you prefer, but we chose the method that would not smoke up the whole house! Sear the steak over med/med-high heat for about 3-4 minutes. Check to make sure the pan isn't so hot that the sugars in the marinade aren't burning on the steak. Flip steak over and sear other side for 3-4 minutes... making sure it isn't burning. At this point, I flipped it over on each side again for another minute or two, depending on the thickness of the steak. I like my steak med-rare, so 5 minutes per side was plenty. Pull steak out and loosely cover with foil and let rest while you make the stir fry.
5. Wipe out the skillet you cooked the steak in if it has burned pieces in it - otherwise, you can reuse this pan to add a little more oil to and throw in your veggies to heat. A word of advice with the veggies - think about the size of them and how long they take to cook. I try to cut things like carrots quite small as they take longer to cook, where as mushrooms and peppers take less time, so they can be a little bigger. You may also want to start with the veggies that take longest to cook and add the others a little later to try and keep them evenly cooked. So to start off, heat the oil over med heat, add a little bit of the extra garlic and ginger you chopped up earlier to flavor the oil. When the oil gets hot - don't let the garlic burn!! Begin adding your chopped veggies and maybe turn up the heat a bit so they cook up quickly, but don't burn. Once the veggies are almost done - its time to throw those 2 minute noodles into your boiling pot of water!
6. Once noodles are done cooking, I used a pasta spoon to pull them from the boiling water/slightly drained and then tossed them with the veggies I had stir-frying. At this point, take your stir fry sauce and add it to the hot skillet and let it boil up and cook for a few minutes. The cornstarch will help this turn into a nice thick glaze to coat all your veggies and noodles. Remove from heat. At this point, you can drizzle some sesame oil over for a little extra flavor.
   
7. Slice your flank steak, against the grain, into nice thin pieces. I like to cut it at a slight angle so the pieces are a little bigger.
   
8. Lay your stir fry noodles out in the center of your plate, top with slices of steak and garnish with scallions and sesame seeds.
   

There you have it! Simple meal that takes maybe 30-45 minutes to completely pull off!
Plus - its relatively healthy - bonus!

Enjoy
Lauren