Fried Tilapia Fish and Chips with Homemade Tartar Sauce

Ingredients:

For the tilapia:

• 4 tilapia filets

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

• 1 cup panko bread crumbs

• 3 large eggs, beaten

• ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

• 1 lime, zested

• 1 pinch garlic powder, or more to taste

• 1 pinch hot paprika, or more to taste

• salt and ground black pepper to taste

• avocado oil (with a similar smoking point, canola oil works too)

For the Tartar sauce:

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise

• 1/4 cup bread and dill pickles, finely chopped, plus 1 tbsp of the juice

• Juice of half a lemon

• salt and ground black pepper to taste

• 1 small shallot, finely chopped

• 2 tbsp coarsely chopped fresh dill

• 2 tbsp capers, coarsely chopped

• 1 tsp soy sauce

• Kosher salt to taste

For the Sweet Potato Fries (Chips):

• 2 medium - large sweet potatoes

• 2 tbsp corn starch

• 1.5 tbsp olive oil

• kosher salt

• a sprinkling of chili lime seasoning, to taste

Instructions:

Fried Tilapia

1. Put flour and eggs into 2 separate, shallow dishes. Combine panko, cilantro, lime zest, garlic powder, hot paprika, salt, and pepper in a third dish.

2. Season tilapia fillets with salt and pepper. Put 1 fillet in flour, coat both sides, and gently shake off excess. Dip into eggs, turning once, then drag through the bread crumb mixture to coat. Repeat with remaining fillets.

3. Heat oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Place fillets in the skillet and cook until crust is golden and fish is easy to lift with a spatula, approximately 3 minutes. Turn and cook on the other side until fish flakes easily with a fork, about another 3 minutes.

Tartar Sauce

Make the tartar sauce: In a small-medium bowl, combine all of the ingredients listed above for tartar sauce (except for salt). Whisk well, and then add salt to taste.

Sweet Potato Fries

This will probably take two sheet pans. The key to crispy is to avoid fry overlap.

1. Cut sweet potatoes into 1/4" wide and thick fries

2. Place fries in greased sheet pan(s), option to use parchment paper to reduce cleanup.

3. Toss dry fries with corn starch and kosher salt, until fries are covered in powder.

4. Drizzle the olive oil over starched fries, and toss until the powder has worked in to the olive oil and you no longer see white spots.

5. Layer the fries in one layer making sure there is no overlap.

6. Place on top shelf in oven and bake for 15 minutes

7. Turn fries and bake for another 15-20, watching carefully

8. Before serving, sprinkle fries with chili lime seasoning