Tuesday, March 8, 2011

The Ridiculously Delicious Challenge - Stage 3


Thank you for your votes, everybody! Because of you, I have successfully made it to Stage 3 of the Ridiculously Delicious Challenge, hosted by Marx Foods!

In this stage of the challenge, I had to choose one of the other 14 blogger's recipes who advanced and makeover their recipe utilizing three of my unused ingredients from the original eight mystery ingredients.

After perusing the widely diverse recipes, I chose to interpret the Moroccan inspired fish tacos and coleslaw by Lawyer Loves Lunch in a new way.

My makeover uses a different flavor inspiration - the lively Jamaican jerk seasoning. Jerk seasoning is such a unique spice/marinade. It uses sweet, spicy, hot, salty, all in one burst of unmatched flavor. I looked through recipe after recipe until I found a list of must-have inclusions. In place of the traditional brown sugar, habanero chilis, and black pepper I used the coconut sugar, Tepin chilis, and Szechuan peppercorns, respectively. I feel like these ingredients still represent Jerk seasoning's complexity, while adding a diverse spin.

Jerk seasoning:
1/3 cup coconut sugar
3 gloves garlic, minced
7 or 8 dried Tepin chilis, ground (more or less depending on your spice tolerance)
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp Kosher salt
1 tsp Szechuan peppercorns, ground
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground Thyme
1 small onion, minced (can use green onions/chives)
2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Coleslaw:
1/4 wedge of small green cabbage
2 Tbsp mayo
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp celery seed
salt and pepper, to taste

Additional:

1 lb. cod fillets
10 6" tortillas (your choice of corn or flour)

Begin by mixing the Jerk seasoning ingredients in a shallow glass dish. Taste and adjust seasonings to your personal preference.

Liberally cover the cod fillets in the Jerk and allow to marinate for at least two hours.

Chop the cabbage into bite sized pieces. Mix the remaining ingredients together with the cabbage. Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours for the flavors to develop.

Heat a griddle pan to high. Cook the cod fillets through, until they begin to flake.

Plate your fish tacos using the warmed tortillas, generous chunks of the Jerk marinated cod, and a healthy forkful of the coleslaw.


This is such an explosion of flavors. The Jerk seasoning covers every tastebud on your tongue with heat, sweet, spice, warmth, salty, and peppery. The coleslaw is very tart and refreshing, a nice addition to the other complex flavors.


Only 10 of the 15 Stage 3 competitors will move to Stage 4, so wish me luck! There will be no voting for this round. The 8 recipes chosen the most times to be made over will move up and Marx Food's opinions will determine the other 2 advancers.

Edited to add: My 2nd choice makeover choice would have been Snippet of Sue's salmon.

13 comments:

Debbi Does Dinner Healthy said...

Glad you made it, hope you do well!!

Sophia Lee said...

Wish you the best, best, super duper best of luck!!!!!!! I have to admit: I hate tacos. But I would eat that jerk fish on Vietnamese baguette with that coleslaw, and call it banh mi. Christina's Banh Mi. Sound good? ;-)

Eden said...

Of course I'm rooting for you and I have confidence you'll rock it!

Jessie said...

Christina, you are so clever! I'm impressed by your use of the Sichuan peppercorns (never would have thought of that!) and the Tepin chilis (a kind I've never heard of before! I'll have to look for them for Peter because he is a chili man). I wish I would vote again this round because I'm drooling over these tacos. Good luck! I have a good feeling about it!

Simply Life said...

congrats on getting to this stage! what a fun challenge and great idea with it!

Biz said...

You had me at: heat, sweet, spice, warmth, salty, and peppery!

They look wonderful - and I don't even like fish! :D

Errign said...

Congrats on getting to Stage 3!

Roz said...

Woo Hoo. Congrats on advancing!!! (I found some coconut sugar a while ago and need to figure out something to do with it. This looks fantastic!) Good luck going forward!!!!

Lawyer Loves Lunch said...

Thanks for choosing to give my chermoula fish tacos a makeover! These look delicious and I love that you used lots of the chiles too! :)

Jenn@slim-shoppin said...

I don't even eat fish that often but this made my mouth water. Holy yum it turned out great!!!

You deserve to go to the next round!

Laura said...

Hunh I actually HAVE cod in my freezer along with SALMON so these are totally in my future. I love those little peppers, so cute!

Christo Gonzales said...

the jerk seasoning is a great idea to twist these tacos...I know these flavors and even though its early I could snarf down a couple of these with my morning coffee.

Anonymous said...

Interesting ingredients for fish tacos, but they sound absolutely delicious. I usually order them out, but you make have given me incentive to try them at home. I bet haddock would work, too.