Popcorn Cod & Seared Tuna Tacos
SEARED SESAME TUNA & POPCORN PANKO COD TACOS WITH ASIAN PEAR LIME PEPPER SLAW
When creating a feast for Cinco de Mayo, you gotta go big. Brandon and I are in the kitchen every night, creating meals from recipe books usually, but the weekends we experiment with creating out own dishes. These tacos spared no exception.
We’re a huge fan of seared ahi tuna tacos, but we wanted to add to the Asian inspired flavors with a pear slaw. After all, when you get pears delivered via Imperfect Foods, you use them!
This was a knock out where flavors are concerned. And what shocked us most of all was using cod with a panko batter. We’ve never used cod, because of the boring reputation it has. This is anything but! We are in love! Please check out the recipe below for a ticket to Flavortown!
There are so many different ways to make tacos, let alone style them for photos. Featured today are two of our favorites, popcorn cod and seared ahi tuna steak slices with an Asian pear ginger slaw.
The popcorn panko battered cod chunks were so delicious. You’ve GOT to try them!
SEARED TUNA & POPCORN COD TACOS WITH PEAR LIME PEPPER SLAW RECIPE
Slaw Ingredients
2 large stalks celery julienned
2 large Asian pears peeled and julienned 1/4” thickness
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves finely chopped
2 green onions diagonally sliced
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
2 tbsp lime juice freshly squeezed
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp Sambal Alek hot sauce
1 tbsp honey
Tuna & Cod Ingredients
2 fresh tuna steaks
kosher salt, ground pepper and toasted sesame seeds for rolling tuna sides for coating
1 fresh cod filet, cut into 1” chunks
1 cup of panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup AP flour, seasoned with black pepper, salt and paprika
1 beaten egg
4-6 small flour tortillas
sliced red cabbage for topping
for tuna, few glugs of olive oil for searing
for cod, about an inch of canola oil for frying
Instructions
To make the slaw, mix everything together but the liquid ingredients to right before fixing your taco, so that the slaw doesn’t sit too long and start to mush.
It will be most fresh if you do wait until the end to mix. You can also thinly slice the red cabbage at this point and set aside.
In a medium skillet, set heat to medium-high to sear tuna. Grab a small plate for rolling the sides of tuna steaks in the sesame seeds, pepper and salt.
Once you see ripples in a thin coating of olive oil, cook tuna steaks for 1 min and 30 seconds on each side. Slice the steaks immediately after removing from pan.
For cod chunks, add the canola oil to skillet. Set to medium-high as well.
Quickly roll the cod pieces in flour first, then coat in beaten egg, and lastly toss in the panko crumbs to coat. Do this for all remaining pieces.
Once skillet oil is ready, fry cod until golden brown on all sides, about 3-4 minutes total. Make sure to keep them moving the whole time to cook evenly. Remove cod from skillet and set on paper towels to dry and soak oil.
Now you can grab your tortillas and build your tacos! We like to use the spicy honey cream first then the pear slaw, fish and garnish with red cabbage.
You can make an optional spicy honey cream sauce to your tacos by mixing a 1/3 cup sour cream, 1 tablespoon of honey and 1 teaspoon of Sambal Alek.
