Vegan Baja Inspired ‘Fish’ Tacos

Over lockdown, we got very into making our own vegan ‘fish’ and chips. It’s not something we’d ever thought about making for ourselves before, as it always seemed like such a faff! We were also able to get a delicious vegan fish and chips from a local chippy here in Bristol. However, we had a few cans of banana blossom that my mum had given me sitting around in the cupboard, and a lot of free time on our hands, so we decided to have a go it making some for ourselves.

If you don’t know what banana blossom is, it’s actually the flower that grows at the end of a cluster of bananas. It has a really flakey texture, which makes it the perfect plant-based replacement for fish. After successfully making it into some ‘fish’ for our vegan fish and chips, we knew it would be super delicious in a Mexican Baja inspired taco too.

This taco is very simple, with only a few key components, as the banana blossom ‘fish’ is really the centrepiece of this dish. It’s marinated in lemon, vinegar and nori flakes which helps to give it those fishy flavours of the sea. The batter is light and crispy, so when you bite into it, you get the lovely delicious batter, followed by the flakey banana blossom ‘fish’. We think you’re going to absolutely love it!

We’ve added some lightly pickled red onion and chilli, a homemade vegan sour cream and some pico de gallo. These tangy, fresh flavours really compliment the banana blossom ‘fish’, which tastes incredible when served in an authentic corn tortilla! You could make these as a light lunch or as part of a bigger Mexican feast. They look super fresh and colourful and could be a real showstopper for a dinner party when lined up in a row and brought out on a platter for everyone to help themselves to!

The banana blossom pieces can be a bit fragile, so be extra careful when removing them from the tin. If they fall apart, don’t worry! You can just group the pieces together in a little stack, then the nori sheet wrapped around keeps everything together when they’re dipped in the batter and fried.

Print Recipe

Vegan Baja Inspires ‘Fish’ Tacos

Inspired by our trip to Mexico and our love for vegan fish and chips, we created this delicious vegan Baja inspired fish taco using banana blossom along with some delicious toppings!

Prep Time: 5 minutes mins

Cook Time: 1 hour hr

Total Time: 1 hour hr 5 minutes mins

Servings: 8 tacos

Calories: 200kcal

Ingredients

Quick Pickled Red Onion & Chilli

• 1/4 red onion, sliced
• 1/2 small red chilli, thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1/4 lemon, juiced
• 2 tbsp water

Banana Blossom ‘Fish’ Marinade

• 1 tin banana blossom, 400g
• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tbsp nori flakes, we used 2 nori sheets and cut them up finely

Pico De Gallo

• 10 cherry tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1 small white onion, finely chopped
• 1/3 packed cup coriander, finely chopped
• 1/2 red chilli, finely sliced
• 1/2 lime, juiced
• 1/2 tsp salt

Sour Cream

• 1/3 cup vegan creme frachie, we use oatly
• 1/4 lemon, juiced

Banana Blossom ‘Fish’ Batter

• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 8 nori half-sheets

Extras

• vegetable oil
• corn tortillas
• coriander
• lime wedges

Method

• Start by making the quick pickled red onion and chilli. Add the red onion, red chilli, white wine vinegar, lemon and water to a bowl, stir, then leave to one side whilst you prepare the rest of the components.
• Drain the liquid from your tin of banana blossom, then carefully remove the banana blossom pieces, making sure they don’t fall apart too much. Place them into a bowl and add the white wine vinegar, lemon, salt, water and nori flakes. Stir so everything combines and the marinade is covering the banana blossom, then leave to one side to marinate.
• Now make the Pico de Gallo by adding the cherry tomatoes, white onion, coriander, red chilli, lime and salt to a bowl, then mix it all together. Next, make the sour cream by mixing vegan Oatly creme fraiche and lemon together.
• Make the batter by adding flour, water, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt to a shallow bowl. Then stir together. Get your bowl of banana blossom, then shape or cut the pieces (depending on how many you have in your tin) into 8 individual parcels.
• Now heat up some vegetable oil in a small saucepan, making sure the oil is 5ml deep. Whilst it’s heating up, carefully wrap each banana blossom parcel in a sheet of nori, softening the nori sheets with the banana blossom marinade as you go, as it becomes easier to wrap. Dip the parcels into the batter, then once the oil is hot, shallow fry the nori wrapped and battered banana blossom parcels one at a time. Fry on one side for 30 seconds – 1 minute, then flip and fry for a further minute. When each piece is golden and cripsy, remove from the pan and place on some kitchen roll to absorb the excess oil. Complete until all your ‘fish’ parcels have been fried.
• Get your corn tortilla, and add all the components together to create your Baja inspired vegan fish tacos.

Notes

*Calories are estimated per taco

If you gave this a go, we’d love to know how you got on! Write a comment, like, or share this recipe with your friends.