At a certain point, we cycle through the same meatless meals every month or two. Specifically, our fish entrees. We have only so many salmon, white fish, shrimp, and fish tacos to go around. I love them all, but adding this cornmeal fried cod rice bowl, gives me more time between the last salmon dinner and the next.
I went out to lunch at a place called Fieldtrip and ordered a fish rice bowl. It was a cornmeal fried white fish, over rice and a side of collard greens. I loved it, well I loved the idea of it. Overall, it was a great bowl, however they did not cook their collard greens long enough. They were way too tough. I thought I could do better than this, so I gave it a try.
Making the Cornmeal Fried Cod Rice Bowl
I love frying with cornmeal. To be honest, this is based off this one experience, haha. The fried exterior had the perfect crunch. Cod makes a perfect white fish to fry because I find that it stays together a lot better than other white fish. We like to use it in most of our taco recipes.
To make this bowl, all you need is a fresh pot of rice, collard greens, cornmeal fried cod fillets, and tartar sauce. I knew I could make a better batch of collard greens, so I used my recipe. It’s a family favorite on Thanksgiving.
While I made this bowl on a weeknight, I’d recommend starting a little earlier or plan to prep things ahead of time. Specifically, plan to cut, wash, and cook your collard greens. The fish is pretty easy (make this last) and the rice pretty much cooks itself. While I love a fresh spoonful of collard greens, making these ahead of time will give you some free time to focus on the rest of dinner.
To make this bowl keep this recipe in mind: Collard Greens.
Cornmeal Fried Cod Rice Bowl
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Southern
Ingredients
Pickled Red Onions
- 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 medium red onion, sliced into strips
Collard Greens
- Use our collard greens recipe.
Tartar Sauce
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 5 tbsp white onion, chopped
- 1/4 cup sweet pickles (bread and butter), chopped
- 2 tbsp dill pickles, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
Fried Cod
- 1lb cod, cut into 4-5 filets
- 1/2 cup cornmeal
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 tsp lemon pepper spice
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp parsley
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 egg
- Vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
- For this bowl, make a pot of rice, collard greens (see link above for recipe), and start pickling those red onions.
Pickled Red Onions
- Combine red wine vinegar, sugar, and salt in a container with a lid (preferably a jar like a 16oz mason jar). Stir the mixture really well, or screw the lid on and shake, shake, shake.
- Carefully drop in the red onion slices and push them down to submerge in the liquid.
- Cover and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight (preferred).
Tartar Sauce
- Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Mix well.
- Cover and chill in the fridge.
Cornmeal Fried Cod
- Pour vegetable oil in a cast iron skillet about two inches, and heat over medium-high heat.
- In a shallow bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, lemon pepper, salt, parsley, and black pepper. Mix altogether.
- In another shallow bowl, crack and lightly scramble the egg.
- Working one filet at a time, dip into the egg, shake off excess, and dip into the cornmeal mixture. Generously cover the filet in the cornmeal mixture. Set aside on a plate and repeat with remaining filets.
- Once oil is hot, place filets in oil. Fry for about 3 minutes or until golden. Flip and fry for another 2-3 minutes.
- After frying, place filets on a paper towel lined plate and let oil drain.
- To arrange the bowls, fill bottom quarter with rice, top with collard greens, then cod, top cod with tartar sauce and pickled onions.
