Roasted Tilapia

For a person who doesn't have much preference for fried-anything, I liked the taste of fried fish. Not the concept of frying, but the taste of fish, fried. Even then, I did not think I'll be cooking fish often! Fish curries are yummy and fish fries taste wonderful, but the time it takes to sweat in front of the stove to fry fish, the process of deep-frying and the stink in the kitchen after cooking were major put-offs. Fortunately, I discovered the pleasure of roasting meat / veggies in the oven and there! there was no looking back! We roast a LOT of fish at home and enjoy it, without any calories from fat. Roasting gives the meat or veggies a unique taste, even better than fried ones, and yes, it's crispy!

Here are our latest roasting episodes with Tilapia! Tilapia fillets that we got from Sam's club, look like a leaf with a split in the center. I went ahead and cut the split all the way till the end. Like any frozen fish, Tilapia has to be thawed before marinating. Just immerse the fillets, in cold water (yep, with the plastic covering that comes with it) for about 20 mins. Peel the plastic cover and cut the fish fillet to your preference and marinate them. 20-30 mins time is good for the marinade to soak in and they are ready to be roasted. Unlike Salmon, Tilapia is not an oily fish, so you might want to add 1-2 tbsp oil extra in the marinade. Also, Tilapia is a very light fish when compared to Salmon.

Roasted Tilapia - with homemade marinade

After reading Tony's idea on using Asafoetida on Fish that asafoetida masks the smell from the fish, I decided to try it. I made a marinade of asafoetida+turmeric+chilli powder+salt+olive oil and smeared it all over the fish fillets and marinated for 30 mins. Roasting time was (At 375-400 F, baking 4 mins on each side + broiling 5 mins). There was no stinking smell involved at any stage and the fish tasted great. Thanks Tony! We had Rice, a simple rasam and roasted Tilapia and it was a very nice meal. We LOVED it.

Roasted Tilapia using store bought marinade

This time, it was a last minute meal without any planning. And I wanted to finish off all my masala powders before moving. Shaan's Tandoori Chicken Tikka BBQ powder is what I used, with no extra salt. Just the powder + 2 tbsp olive oil . Same method for roasting (At 375-400 F, 5 mins baking time + 5 mins broiling time) Oh! It tasted great, but I won't be buying anymore of this powder again because of the food colors added. I also, suspect that their might be more chemicals than what's printed on the package. I didn't have to bake on both sides, because the fish was cooked at the first 5 mins baking time. So, I just moved onto broiling mode. We had Roasted tilapia with Rice, Chayote Squash kootu and Rasam. I usually don't combine two heavy proteins together, but as I said, before the meal was unplanned and also, was a way to finish my freezer stock.

Note:
1.Use greased Al foil sheet on baking tray or lined grilling tray for roasting.
2. Baking is done at the bottom shelf of the oven and broiling at the topmost shelf (that's where the heat comes from, for each of these processes).