Beer Battered Tilapia with Red Chile Mandarin Orange Sauce

I made beer battered tilapia with a mandarin orange sauce and a side of garlic sauteed bok choy for dinner tonight. It's been a while since I've made this last, but it's simple and light and always gets good reviews from my family. Any white fish can be used in this dish, but I do prefer to stick with tilapia since it's relatively sustainable. Here's the recipe:

Beer Battered Tilapia with Red Chile Mandarin Orange Sauce

Ingredients:

Vegetable or canola oil 3/4 cup all purpose flour, divided 2/3 cup beer 1 egg, lightly beaten 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 4 tilapia or flounder fillets, about 5 ounces each

Salt Freshly ground black pepper 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 2 teaspoons red chili paste 1 (11-ounce) can mandarin oranges, drained and chopped 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Directions:

1.	Heat enough oil, to shallow fry the fish, in a large skillet over medium-high heat
2.	In a shallow dish, whisk together 1/2 cup of the flour, beer, egg, and baking powder. Place remaining 1/4 cup flour in a separate shallow dish.
3.	Season both sides of fish fillets with salt and black pepper. Dredge fish in flour, turn to coat both sides and then shake off excess flour. Dunk fish in beer mixture and turn to coat both sides.

4.	Add fish to hot oil and cook 2 to 3 minutes per side, until cooked through and opaque. Remove fish from oil. Place on a paper towel lined plate.

5.	While the fish is frying, in a medium bowl, whisk together lemon juice and chili paste. Add mandarin oranges and cilantro and toss to combine. Serve sauce over fish.

I always serve this fish with brown rice, and I highly recommend Trader Joe's Organic Brown Rice for anyone out there with only a small family to feed. It comes in a box with frozen pouches of cooked rice and each pouch only takes 3 minutes in the microwave to cook. One pouch is a perfect serving size for two people. It couldn't be easier or more healthy!

Our freezer is always stocked with this rice. It sells out quickly!

I'm ending tonight's entry with a (blurry) bonus picture...afterwards we went to the mall to get a new cell phone and Sophie had a great time watching TV while waiting for me.