Gotta love those "fridge-scrounging" meals.
The recipe was born out of stale cornbread, expiring sour cream, frozen tilapia and zucchini - mmm mmm. We always have an unnecessary amount of rice in the house so that was a no-brainer side. It actually turned out really delicious. I'm not normally a "bread and fry" kind of girl, but this was super easy and tasted great without feeling oily or heavy. Good for ya too!
Pan-fried Tilapia with Jalapeno Sour Cream Sauce Recipe:
- 2 cups rice (I used half brown, half red Jasmine)
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 1 zucchini, cut into 1-inch strips (kind of like french fry size)
- 1 carrot, (same as zucchini)
- 1 tsp olive oil
- salt, black pepper, cumin
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 2 tbsp jalapeno vinegar (a.k.a. the juice in a jar of pickled jalapenos)
- 1 tsp water
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp jalapeno powder
- salt, black pepper
- 4 frozen tilapia fillets, thawed
- about 2 cups stale cornbread, ground into crumbs
- smoked paprika, cayenne pepper
- salt, black pepper
- 1 egg white + 1 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Preheat oven to 400-degrees Fahrenheit.
Combine rice and onion and cook according to preference (I use a rice cooker).
Coat vegetable strips with olive oil, salt, pepper and cumin and bake in oven for 20 minutes, rotating after 10 minutes.
To make the sour cream sauce, combine sour cream, jalapeno vinegar, 1 tbsp water, garlic powder, jalapeno powder, salt and black pepper. Mix together very well until smooth and creamy.
Combine cornbread crumbs, paprika and cayenne in a shallow dish. Combine egg and water in a separate shallow dish. Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Salt and pepper fish fillets, dredge in egg mixture then in crumb mixture and place in the pan. I was able to fit 3 fillets at once. Cook for about 3 minutes on each side, or until fish becomes tender and flaky.
Enjoy with your roasted veggies, rice and sour cream sauce!
