Thanks to an unfailing grocery budget, I don’t splurge on seafood very often. So you’d think that when I did, the seafood, tilapia in this case, would be the star of the show. And while it is extremely delicious – baked simply with lime zest and butter – it was the out-of-this-world orange cashew rice that had me craving more.
An unusual combination (don’t be skeptical!), this rice is so unbelievably delicious that even my mainstream willing-to-eat-hot-dogs-for-every-meal-husband was begging me to make it again the next night. Basmati rice simmers in orange juice, zest and water and is then tossed with roasted cashews, freshly diced red and yellow peppers, green onions and sweet mandarin orange segments. It is light and fresh and so tasty, it left me wondering why I’ve never simmered rice in orange juice before! While it was wonderful served with delicate fish, it would also be fantastic with any sort of lean meat, chicken or pork, or simply served as a vegetarian weeknight meal.
A delightfully healthy and refreshing meal, both components are bound to be making a comeback. Meanwhile, I’ll continue to dream about this rice every day until we make it again. It’s really that good.
One Year Ago: Baked Kettle Corn {The Loaded Version}
Two Years Ago: Chocolate Truffle Cookies
Three Years Ago: Skillet Chicken Pasta with Broccoli and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Orange Cashew Rice and Baked Tilapia
Printable Version with Picture
Printable Version
*Note: If you don’t have basmati rice on hand, you can try substituting long grain white rice since it has the same basic rice-to-liquid ratio. Also, if your cashews are untoasted/unroasted, simply scatter them in a skillet and toast them for a few minutes on the stovetop for a few minutes until golden.
*Serves 4
INGREDIENTS:
For the rice:
1 cup water
1 cup orange juice
2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt to taste
1 cup basmati rice
1/2 cup roasted cashew pieces
1/4 cup chopped yellow peppers
1/4 cup chopped red peppers
3 green onions, minced
1 (8-ounce) can mandarin orange segments, drained well
For the tilapia:
4 (6 to 8 ounce each) tilapia fillets
Salt and black pepper
1 lime, finely grated zest and juice
2 tablespoons butter, cut into 4 pieces
DIRECTIONS:
For the rice, in a 2-quart saucepan, bring the water, orange juice, orange zest, olive oil and salt to a boil. Stir in the rice. Cover the saucepan and lower the heat to a gentle simmer, simmering the rice for 25-30 minutes, until the rice is cooked through and the liquid has totally evaporated. Let stand, covered, off the heat for 5-10 minutes. Scrape the rice into a large bowl. Add the cashew pieces, peppers and green onions. Season with salt and pepper and add the drained orange segments to the rice, folding them in gently to prevent the oranges from breaking.
For the tilapia, while the rice simmers, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and coat a 9-10 inch cast iron pan with nonstick cooking spray. Rinse the tilapia and pat dry. Place the fish in the cast iron pan in a single layer. Season each fillet on both sides with salt and pepper. Sprinkle lime zest over the fish and drizzle with lime juice. Place a pat of butter on each fillet. Bake in the oven for 8-12 minutes until cooked through. Serve rice and fish immediately, spooning pan juices over fish, if desired.
Recipe Source: rice adapted slightly from The Whole Foods Market Cookbook, tilapia from Bobby Deen
{ 30 comments… read them below or add one }
Ooh, it does sound good – pinned it! I haven’t cooked fish very often, but I am starting to try it a bit more.
To Erin I would say go for the fish. It’s very easy – and there are plenty of varieties. To you, Mel, I say that you have sold this recipe very well. Orange juice with rice – never thought of it. Will do it now though. Tilapia is not my favorite inexpensive fish, that would be catfish. But, what the heck, no one’s holding a gun to my head!!!
So, I pulled some tilapia out of the freezer an hour ago and thought to myself, hmm, I really wish I had a recipe to make this with asian flavors, maybe some rice to go with it. SERIOUSLY. I love you! Will report back on the result, although I could probably write it now…this looks delicious
Hubby got a big bag of tilapia at Walmart last night and requested to have it for dinner tonight so I am trying this recipe with wildrice since that is all I got.:)
This sounds awesome!
How perfect! I was looking for a simple, yummy side dish for some chicken for tonight’s dinner- this was great! I used the juice from one orange and it gave the rice just a bit of sweetness, but not an overwhelming citrus taste. I used orange pepper instead of red, dried minced onion instead of green, and long-grain white rice because it’s what was in the pantry! I skipped the mandarins because my better half doesn’t like fruit in his dinner (but I bet they would’ve been delicious!) . Served with Asian-marinated baked chicken. Yum!
Sounds wonderful! One of my favorite chinese dishes is chicken with cashews. Not only are they my favorite nut, but I like to save all the cashews in the dish and eat them with nothing but the rice. Yum!
I made the Zuppa Toscana soup from Olive Garden tonight and made a fresh loaf of bread to go with it. We are stuffed but this is going on my list for sure!
That looks amazing! I’m always looking for different things to do with fish. So I can’t wait to try this. And it feels like ions since I popped in on you
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it’s on the stove/in the oven as i type and, mmmmm, one little taste of the rice while it’s cooling and i’m sold! i also love the way the browning butter over top of the fish is smelling
thanks for another fabulous recipe.
YUM! My family will love everything about this recipe! We love tilapia- it’s so mild and flaky. I can’t wait to try this recipe, Mel!
This looks so good. I make all your rice recipes over and over. Keep them coming, I all too often run out of ideas, and this really helps. Thanks!
Tilapia is on our menu for the week and now I can give it a little facelift. Thanks for always pulling through for me!
This look so good!
Looks fabulous, love all these delightful flavor treats! And your photos are very enticing!
This meal sounds divine! I can’t wait to try both of these recipes.
This rice looks seriously yummy. Will be trying it this week with my favorite tilapia recipe! Love your site! Thanks!
This looks amazing … I’m making it tonight. Any tips about preparing the rice in a rice cooker as opposed to on the stove? Love your site!!
Mel, I made this for dinner tonight and it is soooooo delicious! It left us completely satisfied without that heavy feeling. It’s such a light and tasty dinner! Loved the tilapia and LOVED the rice. Wow….such great flavor. I’ll be making this again very soon! Thanks once again for a knockout recipe!
My mouth is truly watering! I have to try this.
Diana – I don’t have a rice cooker so I can’t really offer any advice on using it for this recipe. Sorry! Hope it turned out for you.
@Diana – I made this in the rice cooker and it worked great. I just added all the ingredients that Mel listed here and added additional water to get me to the “line” in my rice cooker. I should point out that I used brown basmati rice (from Trader Joe’s) – super tasty.
Mel – I loved this recipe. So fresh tasting. The fish tasted great with just lime, butter, salt and pepper. The only other change I made to the method aside from using the rice cooker was that I sauteed the peppers (and added broccoli) before adding to the rice. I’m trying to get more fish into our regular rotation and the family loves tilapia, so I’ll be making this alot. Thanks so much!
Tried this last night and my 4 year old couldn’t get enough fish. My husband eyed the rice a little skeptically, but really enjoyed it. I thought it all was delicious (restaurant quality as my husband would say) and very easy to make. Thanks for sharing.
This sounds so good, Mel! We have a budget in our house too, so I’m always drawn to recipes involving affordable seafood, such as tilapia. I think I might try this recipe out this weekend; it’s something my boyfriend would enjoy too. He’s leaving on Monday for business for a week, something he doesn’t do too often, so this would be a great send off meal.
My boyfriend and I made a half recipe for this for dinner last night (since we didn’t think leftover fish would keep too well). It turned out AMAZING! I am a disaster at making rice, but this recipe turned out totally perfect – fluffy and really flavorful (love the idea of using orange juice for some of the cooking liquid!). And the fish was tasty and moist – we used cod because the grocery did not have tilapia. Thanks for sharing a fantastic recipe!
More LOVELY food! Had to use dorade (sea bream) as it’s easily obtained here in Geneva (Switzerland) and it was gorgeous! Wish we’d had the rosemary bread to go with it but we might have had to sleep at the table. Thanks for such wonderful, easy to follow recipes. I’m having trouble deciding which recipe to try next as they’re all looking really good at the moment. May just have to pull a Julia (from the Julia & Julia movie) and try one every day for as long as it takes. You keep posting & I’ll keep trying!
This was a great dish. I bought some Alaskan salmon that was on a great sale, and it went lovely with it as well. My mother-in-law was in town visiting, and she has a very particular diet to consider. She was able to eat it and actually ate it every day she was with us, raving about the rice flavors. The prep was pretty fast – I chopped/prepped the ingredients earlier in the day, then cooked the rice and fish and was still able to have it on the table early enough to eat with our toddlers before their bedtime.
Made this tonight and seriously LOVED IT! It came together fast and was one of the best dinners I’ve had in a while. Thanks, Mel!
Tilapia is fed testosterone, growth hormones, “poop”.(waste runoff from poultry and livestock) by dumping animal wastes into the ponds. it is low in omega-3 oils.The skin is sold for the manufacture of beauty products. The head and meat scraps are sold as fish oil. The scales are sold for collagen injections. how much of a price do you pay for eating unhealthy foods to save some money in the long run.
I made this last night and it was FABULOUS! Seriously, I am not a huge Tilapia fan…but this combination was sublime! THanks for another amazing recipe
This has become a family favorite! Thanks for the amazing recipe.
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