Sweet chili tilapia
Golden pan-seared tilapia glazed with sweet chili sauce and lime over rice, with cool cucumber on the side, ready in half an hour.
- 30 min total
- 15 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 2
- About $3.01 a serving
- 540 calories
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Most of the time here is hands-off, so you can sit down while it cooks.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- ¾ cup jasmine rice, rinsed
- 2 tilapia fillets, thawed if frozen
- 3 tbsp sweet chili sauce
- 1 lime, half juiced, half cut into wedges
- ½ cucumber, sliced
- 1 green onion, thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp cilantro (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 cup water
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
Each serving has about 540 calories, 34 g protein, 80 g carbs and 10 g fat, and costs about $3.01 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No jasmine rice? Long-grain white rice or basmati rice works.
- No tilapia fillets? Cod fillets work.
- No limes? Lemons work.
- No cucumbers? English cucumbers or mini cucumbers work.
- No green onions? Chives work.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Put the rice and water in a small and over high heat.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cover, turn the heat to low and cook for 15 minutes, then leave it covered off the heat.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
the tilapia dry, with the salt and dust both sides lightly with the cornstarch.
Pat dry. Patting dry means pressing paper towels onto food to soak up the moisture on its surface. Wet food steams instead of browning, so this is how you get a good sear and crisp skin.
How you’ll know: The surface feels tacky, not wet, and the last paper towel comes away barely damp.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
Dolly’s tip: A light dusting of cornstarch gives a thin crisp crust that holds on to the glaze.Heat the oil in a large nonstick over medium-high heat until it . Cook the tilapia 2 to 3 minutes per side, until and it flakes easily.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Shimmering oil. Oil shimmers when it’s hot enough to cook: its surface looks rippled and wavy, like heat over a road. That’s your cue to add the food, just before the oil would start to smoke.
How you’ll know: The oil looks wavy and runs thin like water when you tilt the pan, with no smoke yet.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium-high heatTimer: 5 min
Food safety: Fish is done at 145°F, when the middle looks opaque and flakes apart easily with a fork.
Turn the heat to medium. the sweet chili sauce with the lime juice, pour it over the fish and let it bubble for 30 seconds, spooning it over, until glossy.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Medium heatTimer: 30 sec
Serve over the rice with the cucumber, green onion, cilantro and lime wedges.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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