TILAPIA WITH BLACK BEAN SAUCE

Tilapia is one of my favorite proteins to cook when I'm short on time.  It takes only 5 minutes to defrost in warm water and cooks up super fast. Typically I resort to my oven baked panko crusted tilapia recipe, but this week I decided to change it up.  I found a tasty recipe by FineCooking.com and tried it with a few adaptations. 

Ingredients
Marinade/Sauce
2 T Chinese black bean garlic sauce 
4-6 thin slices of fresh ginger
1 T oyster sauce
1 tsp reduced sodium soy sauce
1/2 tsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp sesame oil

1 lb. tilapia filets (~4 pieces), cut each filet into four chunks
1 T grape seed oil + 1/2 T grape seed oil

optional greens* - baby spinach, romaine lettuce, nappa cabbage, green string beans, etc.

Directions
In a medium-sized bowl, mix all the marinade ingredients together. Set aside 1/4 of the marinade to make some drizzling sauce later. 

Add in the filet chunks and coat well with the marinade. Leave aside for about 20 minutes.




Heat 1 T of oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat. Remove the ginger chunks from the fish. Once the oil starts sizzling, carefully place in all the fish. Cook about 3-5 minutes on each side (depending on the thickness of your fish). 



Meanwhile in a small sauce pan, heat 1/2 T of oil over medium heat. Once it starts sizzling, remove from heat and immediately add in the remaining marinade that was set aside. Add a one or two teaspoons of water and stir well. Drizzle this sauce over the fish. 

I served the fish over a bed of sauteed baby spinach (with a tiny bit of oil and kosher salt). However any greens should go pretty well with this dish. :)

Any of you have a favorite tilapia recipe that you'd like to share?? :D