Vietnamese Tilapia with Turmeric and Dill

Last weekend, I traveled to Austin, Texas for several days where I ate my fair share of meat. I'll talk more about that in a blog post later this week, because there's a lot to say.

But when I returned from what I'm now referring to as the "Weekend of the Meat Sweats," I knew I need to offset some of that heavy food. So I resolved to eating fish and vegetables for the week, and decided to try this new recipe that my parents had made a week earlier. It was a good call. Not only was it flavorful, it was nice and light. Which was just what I needed.

Vietnamese Tilapia with Turmeric and Dill (serves 4)

Ingredients:
               

1/4 cup sliced shallots

1 TB chopped fresh dill

1 TB minced garlic

1 TB grated peeled fresh ginger

2 TB fish sauce

1 TB dark sesame oil

1 tsp. ground turmeric

1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

4 (6-ounce) tilapia fillets                              

2 TB peanut oil

Cooking spray                               

4 cups vertically sliced sweet onion

1/2 cup torn fresh dill, divided

4 green onions, cut into (2-inch) pieces

1 TB soy sauce 

2 tsp. sugar

1/4 cup unsalted, dry-roasted peanuts, crushed

8 lemon wedges.

Directions:

Combine first eight ingredients, through the black pepper in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Add fish; toss to coat. Cover and chill 2 hours.

Remove fish from marinade; discard marinade and solids. Combine fish and peanut oil in a bowl; toss to coat.

Heat a large heavy skillet over high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion, 1/4 cup dill, and green onions; stir-fry 3 minutes. Add soy sauce and sugar; stir-fry 1 minute. Arrange onion mixture on a platter.

Return pan to high heat. Add half of fish to pan; cook 3 minutes. Turn fish over; cook 1 minute or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Place fish on platter over onion mixture. Repeat procedure with remaining fish. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup dill and peanuts. Serve with lemon wedges.