TIKIN X’IC (Dry fish from the Yucatan peninsula)

My friend, James, gave me this recipe, and it’s absolutely delicious. He is quite the taco master.
The star of this is the fish, which you should ideally cook wrapped in banana leaves (if you can get your hands on them) and the homemade achiote paste.
Shop all things Mexican here.
James is the most passionate person I know about food, and if I ever need advice on Mexican food, he’s the person I go to.
This is a damn tasty taco.

You can watch how to make them here. I forced James to sit down with me, which took a good hour, to tell me how to make them.

Recipe, makes enough for 2-3 tacos;

SOUR ORANGE JUICE SUBSTITUTE
2 tbsp orange juice
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp grapefruit juice
1 tbsp white vinegar

ACHIOTE PASTE
2 tbsp annatto seed
1/2 tsp coriander seed
1/2 tsp cumin seed
1 clove
2 tsp oregano (Mexican if possible)
4 garlic cloves
7 tbsp your sour orange juice substitute

MAIN RECIPE (the entire taco)
Your homemade achiote paste (full batch)
500g tilapia fillet or other white (boneless fish) - would feed 3-4
Banana leaf, heated over open flame or grill until pliable (or parchment paper)
Anything you want to serve it with - I used corn tortillas, but you could serve with rice

Method

1. Mix all ingredients in a small bowl for the sour orange juice

2. For the achiote paste, grind the ingredients one at a time (top to bottom) until as fine as possible, in a pestle and mortar or spice grinder. Add the sour orange juice and mix until you have a chunky paste.

3. Slice your white fish until you have 6-8 2cm wide fillets

4. Lay your fish on a baking sheet, lined with banana leaves or parchment, and rub the achiote paste into the fillets, then wrap in banana leaf or parchment paper

5. Put banana leaf parcel seam side down on a baking tray - if using

6. Preheat the oven to 200°C

7. When oven is preheated, bake the fish for 15-18 mins, or until flakey

8. Serve with a spicy salsa, avocado or guacamole & rice (check carousel pics for how I finished mine off)

9. I made courgette salsa by chopping up a courgette, blitzing with lime juice, tajin and a splash of water, then mashing it with avocado. I put this beneath the fish. (full ingredients in the notes below)

Notes + Variations:

I used my homemade courgette salsa, which is basically a watered down guacamole, as the base, but you could use guacamole.
Recipe:
1/4 courgette
1/4 lime juice
1/4 avocado
3/4 tsp tajin
Drop of water