Tilapia with Spiced Mustard Sauce

This dish gets it yellow-orange color, not from the mustard, but from ground turmeric.  If you have never used turmeric, let me give you a little background on it.  Turmeric is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae. It is native to tropical South Asia and needs temperatures between 20°C and 30°C, and a considerable amount of annual rainfall to thrive.  It has become the key ingredient for many Indian, Persian, Thai and Malay dishes, not only in curry, but also in masak lemak, rendang, and many more.  In non-South Asian recipes, turmeric is sometimes used as an agent to impart a rich, custard-like yellow color.  And don't forget it's possible health benefits.  Turmeric is currently being investigated for possible benefits in Alzheimer's disease, cancer, arthritis, and other clinical disorders.

Not such a bad little plant huh?  This recipe was good.  I don't know how often I would make it, but it was worth trying, for sure.  Actually, I believe that this mustard sauce would work much better on a nice piece of salmon. I liked the flavor that the comes from the combination of the mustard and turmeric.  And knowing it's health benefits...well, makes me want to use the ingredient more and more!  And a fillet of tilapia with this sauce on it...only 105 calories and 0grams of fat!!  Can't beat that.  Now, if you didn't have turmeric and didn't want to buy it just for this dish, you could substitute ground ginger.  You aren't going to get the color, and the flavor will be a bit different, but, it's something you can use instead in a pinch.

Tilapia with Spiced Mustard Sauce
Ingredients:
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon honey
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 (4 oz) Tilapia fillets
Cooking spray

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Spray a baking dish or pan with cooking spray.  Rinse the fillets and pat dry.

Combine the first 6 ingredients together in a small bowl, mix well.  Rub the mustard sauce over both sides of the fillets and place in prepared pan.  Bake for 12-14 minutes or until the fish is cooked through.  Serve and enjoy!

(Nutritional Info - 1 fillet:  105 calories; 0g fat; 2g carbohydrates; 0mg cholesterol; 120mg sodium; 21g protein)