Date Night Dinner Menu in 30 minutes, ‘VietMex’ style.
A Vietnamese Mexican inspired menu I cooked for an easy date night dinner that takes 30 minutes. I made an aguachile served with prawn crackers paired with paloma cocktails to start and then beer battered fish tacos with some riesling and Vietnamese beer.
I’ve broken out the ingredients and method by dish/drink in case you want to only make one portion of this menu, otherwise combine if you’re making the whole menu.
This menu and recipe is in partnership with Dan Murphy's, who is now on Door Dash, so you can get your favourite drinks delivered to your door.
Serves- 2
Ingredients- 20+
Cooking Time- 30 minutes
Skill Level- Easy
Ingredients
Aguachile
10 prawns, peeled deveined and halved. I used banana prawns.
Juice of 2-3 limes
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
Half of a cucumber, roughly chopped
1 red birdseye chilli or green jalapeno
1-2 stalks of coriander
1 stalk of spring onion
3 teaspoons of fish sauce
Pinch of salt
15 Prawn crackers
Beer Batted Fish Tacos
300g of rock ling fish, sliced into 3cm pieces
¾ cup of rice flour
¾ cup of tapioca flour
1 tsp of baking powder
1 teaspoon of turmeric
1 teaspoon of curry powder
Generous pinch of salt and white pepper
½ cup of beer, plus extra if the mixture is too thick. You can substitute with soda water.
1 cup of vegetable oil
Taco toppings
½ red onion, finely sliced
1 stalk coriander finely chopped
1 red birdseye chilli, finely sliced
2 limes, halved
2 tablespoons of Vietnamese pickles, optional as I make these and always have a jar in my fridge to add to meals.
8 corn tortillas, warmed just before serving
Paloma Cocktails
For 1 cocktail. Double for 2 etc.
1 lime
Salt for rimming the glasses. A mixture of flaky and Himalayan sea salt gives a nice texture.
1 cup of ice
30ml of tequila. I used Casamigos Reposado.
1 bottle of grapefruit soda. I use Capi Grapefruit Soda.
Drinks ordered from Dan Murphy’s via Doordash
Casamigos Reposado Tequila Bottle
Capi All Natural Grapefruit Soda Bottle
Nam Nam Alley Premium Lager Cans
Rieslingfreak No. 34 Riesling Bottle
Method
Aguachile
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Place prawns into a bowl with the juice of 2-3 limes until they are fully submerged in the juice. Cover and place in the fridge for 15 minutes whilst you prep the sauce.
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Place chillies, garlic fish sauce, salt, lime juice, coriander, cucumber, spring onion into a blender and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed but it should be a good mix of punchy, sour, spicy and salty.
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Remove prawns from the fridge and check to see if they have cured and are ready. The flesh should have turned from translucent to a whitish opaque, almost the same colour when they cook. Drain the lime juice and squeeze out any excess liquid from the prawns.
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Pour over the sauce and mix to allow the prawns to absorb the sauce. (P.S. If you are cooking this whole menu, you will have some extra sauce which I reserved to use as a salsa for the tacos below).
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To cook the prawn crackers, simply place onto a plate spaced out and cook in your microwave for about 40 seconds or until fully puffed up. The traditional method is to fry them in oil for 30 seconds but I find the microwave method a more convenient method when you’re strapped for time.
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To serve, place the prawns and sauce into a shallow bowl and garnish with the red onion, coriander and fresh chilli slices. Enjoy with some Paloma cocktails (Ingredients above, method below).
Fish Tacos
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Place all of the dry batter ingredients (rice flour, tapioca flour, baking powder turmeric, curry, salt and pepper) into a bowl and mix to combine with a whisk. Pour in the beer and whisk until the batter is smooth. Your batter should be a thick pancake batter consistency. Add more beer if your batter is too thick. Add a bit more flour if it’s too runny. You can also fry a test piece first and then adjust your batter to your liking.
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Heat your oil in a pot until an inserted chopstick begins to bubble.
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Dip the fish pieces into the batter and place into the oil to fry for about 3 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer onto a plate lined with a paper towel to drain excess oil. Serve immediately in tortillas with your choice of toppings. Also, if you made the above aguachile, use the leftover sauce as a salsa for the taco toppings. Enjoy with the same/leftover beer you used for the batter or a glass of chilled riesling.
Paloma Cocktail
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Rim the glass with lime juice and salt.
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Fill the glass with ice.
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Pour over tequila and top with grapefruit soda.
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Squeeze the lime juice from the lime you used to rim the glass and throw into the drink as a garnish.
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Serve and enjoy immediately.
Watch the Process