Coconut Fish with Mango Chili Butter
Crisp, coconut-fried fish fillets topped with a compound butter bursting with Thai flavors in the form of powdered mango, minced shallot, tart lime, and spicy chilies.
Ingredients
Mango-Chili Butter
- 1 stick butter softened
- 4 tbsp mango powder from freeze-dried mangoes
- 2 tbsp minced shallot
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 2 tsp crushed red pepper
Coconut Fried Fish
- 2 lbs. tilapia fillets or other fish
- 1½ cups flour
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1 cup dried, unsweetened, shredded coconut
Instructions
Mango-Chili Butter
- Leave the butter on the counter for a few hours until it is quite soft.
- Blitz the freeze-dried mango pieces in a food processor until they are a fine powder.
- Mash together the butter, mango powder, shallot, red pepper flakes, and lime juice until well-mixed and uniform.
- Spoon the mixture onto a piece of plastic wrap. Form the butter into a tight roll and then twist the ends up and secure with a rubber band or piece of tape. Place this roll in the refrigerator to resolidify.
- If you omit the shallots, this also makes a great sweet and spicy butter for slightly different applications.
Coconut Fish
- Stir together the flour, salt and garlic powder on a plate. On another plate, crack and beat the eggs (one at a time, if two is too much volume for the plate). On a third plate, mix together the panko and dried coconut. This is your breading station.
- Add around ½ inch of oil to a large, heavy-bottomed skillet, and bring up to around 350 degrees F while you bread the fish filets. To bread the filets, dredge them in flour, dip them in egg, and then toss them in the panko and coconut mixture until well-covered. Once breaded, they can go immediately into the hot oil.
- Fry the fish, flipping once, until golden brown on both sides. When nicely browned and crisp, remove the filets to a plate covered with paper towels so that they can drain excess oil. Salt liberally when they come out of the pan and are still hot.
- To serve, plate a still-warm fried fish filet and top it with a generous pat of compound butter. The butter will melt and sauce the fish. Add a lime wedge for extra acid and a bit of rice and beans, and you have yourself an excellent plate.