I love tacos! Any kind, any day. A few years ago, I lived in Tampa Florida, and there is a magical place called The Taco Bus. This particular Taco Bus is not actually a bus, it started as a small taco truck and now has like four or five permanent locations. Why? Because their tacos are the f$#%&ing best! They also have at least five vegan taco options! Win! Not only that, but they are open 24/7. At this magical time, in this magical place, I worked right around the corner from one of the locations. Lunch time? Tacos. Three in the morning? Tacos. It was the greatest. I have really been missing the wizardry at the Taco Bus lately, and we were supposed to head down there this weekend, and the Hurricane Hermine hit north Florida this past weekend. Not only did I not get my amazing various vegan tacos, but we didn’t have power for days. So sad. The second our power came back on, I set out to make the perfect vegan taco. I hate to toot my own horn, but I think I nailed it.
Now obviously I have not had a fish taco possibly ever, but I have always liked the idea. I loved fish when I was a kid, I think it creeped me out a lot less than eating meat, and I like the salty sea like flavor. When I became a vegetarian a million years ago, that was the only thing I really missed. It quickly became no big deal, but I still love the flavor of seaweed! I wanted something that paired really well with a light fishy flavor, and I thought avocados and mangoes were the way to go!
These tacos are everything I have been dreaming of. Taco Bus will always hold a special place in my heart, but until I can get down there, these are insanely satisfying. Crispy “fish”, sweet and spicy mango salsa, velvety avocado cream. All the things you need in life! I hope these tacos bring you as much happiness as they did for my family!
Tools I used:
Hamilton Beach 12-Cup Stack and Snap Food Processor (70725A)
Good Cook Set Of 3 Non-Stick Cookie Sheet
Hölm Limes and Lemon Squeezer – Manual Hand Held Orange Lime and Lemons Citrus Juicer – Lemon Water Maker – Fruit Wedge and Salad Dressing Tool – Orange Slice Presser – Iced Tea Lemonade Press
Vegan Fish Tacos with Mango salsa and avocado cream
- Prep Time: 45m
- Cook Time: 20m
- Total Time: 1h 10m
- Yield: 10 Tacos
- Category:Entree
INGREDIENTS
Fish tofu
- 1 pkg Extra firm tofu
- 2 c Panko bread crumbs
- 3 tbsp. Kelp powder ( I got mine at Whole Foods, but probably available at any health food store)
- 3 tsp. Fresh dill
- 1 tsp. Old Bay
- 2 tsp. Garlic powder
- 2 tsp. Salt
- 1 dash Black pepper
- 1/2 c All purpose flour
- 1 c Almond milk
- 1 tsp. Lime juice
Mango salsa
- 1 Mango (Make sure it is ripe)
- 1/2 of a jalapeno
- 2 tbsp. Lime juice
- 1/4 of a red onion
- 1 pinch Salt
- 1/4 c Cilantro
Avocado Cream
- 1 Avocado
- 1/4 c Almond milk
- 3 tbsp. Cilantro
- Juice of half a lime
- 1 1/2 tsp. Salt
INSTRUCTIONS
- Drained your tofu, and slice into sticks. Place on paper towels, and cover with more paper towels. Set something heavy on top, and let dry out a bit while you prep everything else.
- Make your mango salsa by cutting up all the ingredients into small pieces and stir together. Taste to see if it needs more seasoning. Make sure to wash your hands after touching the jalapeno!! Set aside.
- Make the bread crumb mixture, by adding the bread crumbs, kelp powder, dill, Old Bay, salt, pepper and garlic powder to a food processor and pulse a few times just to combine. Be careful not to process for too long, you don’t want it to get too fine. Set aside.
- Make the avocado cream. Combine all ingredients in the food processor and puree. You can just wipe out your food processor from the bread crumbs to make it easier on yourself! Set in fridge.
- Now that the tofu has been drying for a while you can bread them. Preheat the oven to 450. Set up a breading station with three bowls. One with the 1 cup of almond milk and the tsp. of lime juice to make a buttermilk, another with the bread crumb mixture, and another with the half cup of flour. Take a tofu stick, dip it in the vegan buttermilk, the flour, back into the buttermilk and then into the bread crumb mixture. Place on a prepared baking sheet sprayed with non stick spray. Repeat process with all the tofu sticks! Bake at 450 for about 15 minutes or until crispy and brown, Be careful not to burn, if your oven runs high.
- Warm up tortillas, place a few pieces of “fish” inside and top with mango salsa and avocado cream!
Wendy
Very tasty recipe! Even the non vegans enjoyed it!