Little Tummy Yummies: Tilapia Cakes with Avacado Tomatillo Sauce

Today's recipe was submitted by Jennifer and her daughter Sara. This is a super yummy twist to fish. It is especially good to make when having company so your little one can partake in the same thing as the group. Although I do not recommend the sauce for your little one, my husband and I LOVED the sauce, especially with a little brown rice too. Have fun with this one and thank you to Jennifer for submitting your recipe.

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Ingredients (Sauce) I do not recommend the sauce for your little one, it is a bit spicy:

4 garlic cloves, peeled
1 tomatillo husked and quartered (about 3 oz) -- (I used tomatillo sauce since I already had it on hand)
1/2 medium vidalia or other sweet onion, quartered
1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded (I left this out)
Cooking Spray
9 T chopped ripe peeled avocado (about one small avocado)
1/4 C fresh cilantro leaves
1 T fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp salt

Ingredients (Cakes):

2 cups bread crumbs divided
1/2 C finely chopped vidalia or other sweet onion
1/2 C finely chopped red bell pepper
1/2 C finely chopped and sauteed zucchini or yellow squash
2 T fresh cilantro
2 T capers, drained
2 T fat free mayonnaise
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
14 oz chopped skinless tilapia
2 large egg whites
1 tsp butter

Steps:

Preheat broiler
Sauce: Combine first 4 ingredients on jelly-roll pan coated w/ cooking spray. Broil 12 minutes or until blackened, stirring once. Cool slightly. Place tomatillo mixture in blender, add remaining sauce ingredients and blend until smooth. Cover and chill. (alternatively, I used tomatillo sauce and omitted the jalapeno, so I sauteed the onion, garlic and tomatillo sauce until browned and then followed the rest of the steps)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Cakes: Combine 1 C bread crumbs, with onion and next 9 ingredients (through egg white) - stir until well blended. Divide tiliapia mixture into 12 patties, dredge in 1 C remaining bread crumbs.
Melt butter in non stick skillet, cook cakes 2 min each side, then bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes or until done.
Serve warm over brown rice---I do NOT advice the sauce for your little ones, that is for mom and dad to enjoy :) I gave Little Joy plain avocado to go with her cakes

Yield: 12 cakes (approximately 216 calories per cake)

Storage: Refrigerator for 3 days; fish does not normal refrigerate well, but this seemed to do fine when reheated. Just be sure to reheat on a low power level.

Timing: 12 months; be sure to watch them closely if they do not have many teeth.

Changes for next time: If I make this again, I will nearly puree the fish. Although I tried to chop it small, the chunks were too big and made the cakes fall apart.

Difficulty: 5 out of 5; this is relatively time consuming especially since your sauce needs to chill. Its a fun change of pace though and a great meal if you are having company!!!

Epicutie Rating: Somewhat Yummy--see right side of page for descriptions

Yummy in the Tummy for Little Sara (whose mommy submitted this recipe)

Little Joy gobbled up several bites and then wanted nothing to do with the cakes after that, even the next day. We have been struggling with her exerting her will at the table, so I am not surprised. She has been trying to reject favorite foods too. We do not allow her to do that, but it means sometimes she only has a bite or two of some foods. All in all I believe she liked it somewhat.