There is a particular kind of mid-trip slump that hits about night four. The novelty has worn off. The snags-and-onion roll has been done. The chops have been done. The kids are getting restless. What you need is something fresh, something with a bit of zing, something that hits like a proper restaurant feed without the washing-up.
Fish tacos. On the hotplate. Twenty minutes. Done.
This is the camp dinner that swings the whole trip back to good. Crispy hotplate-cooked barramundi, smoky charred corn straight off the steel, crunchy purple slaw with a squeeze of lime, all piled into warm flour tortillas. It is loud, colourful, a bit messy, and it tastes like a holiday. The whole spread plates up for four on twenty bucks worth of fish, and the only thing you wash up is the hotplate.
What you need
Ingredients (serves 4)
- 600 g barramundi fillets, skin off (any firm white fish works — flathead, ling, snapper or even frozen basa)
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp salt + a few cracks of black pepper
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 2 tbsp olive oil for the hotplate
- 2 corn cobs (or a 420 g tin of corn kernels, drained)
- 1/4 small purple cabbage, finely shredded (about 2 packed cups)
- 1/4 small white cabbage, finely shredded (about 2 packed cups)
- 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 small bunch fresh coriander, leaves picked
- 2 limes — one juiced, one cut into wedges for serving
- 12 small soft flour tortillas (Mission or Old El Paso — both stock at Coles and Woolies)
Chipotle lime crema
- 1/2 cup sour cream (or thick Greek yoghurt)
- 2 tbsp whole-egg mayo
- 1 tbsp chipotle in adobo, finely chopped (or 1 tsp smoked paprika + a dash of hot sauce if you cannot find chipotle)
- Juice of half a lime
- Pinch of salt
Gear
- Steel camp hotplate (the flat solid kind, not a grill grate) on your fire pit, gas burner or caravan cooktop
- Long tongs and a flat metal spatula
- One mixing bowl for the slaw, one small bowl or mug for the crema
- Sharp knife and cutting board
- Sheet of foil to keep the tortillas warm
How to make it
- Make the slaw first. Toss the shredded purple and white cabbage, sliced red onion and most of the coriander leaves in a bowl. Squeeze over the juice of one lime, add a good pinch of salt, and toss with your hands. Set aside — the salt and lime will soften it slightly while you cook.
- Whisk the crema. In a small bowl or enamel mug, stir together the sour cream, mayo, chopped chipotle, lime juice and salt. Taste and adjust. Set aside.
- Season the fish. Pat the barra fillets dry with a paper towel. Cut into pieces about the length of your thumb. Mix the smoked paprika, cumin, garlic powder, salt, pepper and flour in a bowl, then toss the fish pieces through until evenly coated.
- Char the corn. Get your hotplate hot — really hot, you want it smoking lightly. If using fresh corn, slice the kernels off the cobs first. Tip the kernels onto the dry hotplate and spread them out. Leave them undisturbed for 2–3 minutes until the bottoms blacken in spots, then toss and char another minute. Scrape off into a bowl.
- Cook the fish. Drizzle the olive oil onto the hot plate. Lay the seasoned fish pieces down in a single layer with space between them. Cook 2–3 minutes per side until the outside is deeply golden and a fork flakes the centre cleanly. Slide off onto a plate.
- Warm the tortillas. Wipe the hotplate quickly with a paper towel, drop the heat right down, and warm the tortillas one at a time for 15 seconds a side until soft and lightly toasted in spots. Stack them under foil to stay warm.
- Build the tacos. Lay out three tortillas per person. Spoon over a generous pile of slaw, top with two or three pieces of fish, a heaped spoonful of charred corn, a zigzag drizzle of crema and a scatter of remaining coriander.
- Serve immediately with the lime wedges on the side and a cold beer.
Camp tips
- Prep at home. Mix the spice blend into a small zip-lock bag and pre-make the crema in a sealed jar before you leave. Both keep in the Engel for a week. On-the-night cooking drops to fifteen minutes flat.
- Frozen fish works fine. Basa, hoki and frozen barra portions are cheap and travel-friendly. Thaw overnight in the fridge and pat dry hard before seasoning so they crisp instead of steaming.
- No chipotle? No drama. A tablespoon of any smoky BBQ sauce stirred through the sour cream and mayo with a squeeze of lime does the same job.
- Leftovers make brilliant lunch. Flake any spare fish into the slaw and stuff into a fresh tortilla cold the next morning. Drive-day lunch sorted.
- Pair with a crisp lager or a margarita. If you have a slab of XXXX Gold and a lime, you are halfway to the second.
If you cook a lot of hotplate dinners on the road, the right setup makes everything easier — a stable kitchen, a clean gas burner and a hotplate you can lift hot. Browse our camping and hiking gear and 4WD touring gear collections to kit out your camp kitchen properly. A good feed earns itself back the first time.
