First, about the temperature. Your safest option is to use a gun ;) The correct temp for shallow frying is between 150 and 190 degrees celsius. So if you have an infrared "gun" (a thermometer which neasures the temp of the surface at which it is pointed), use it to determine the stove setting at which the temperature of the dry (not ptfe coated) pan stabilizes in this interval after longer heating. If you don't have it, use the typical tricks for determining the pan temp, they are described in other questions here on SA.
Important: different stoves heat to different temperatures. Don't let the numbers at the knob to fool it into thinking that a given temp is "medium high" because it has the number 7. My own stove stabilizes at ~180 degrees C at setting 2 (out of 10), with setting 3 pushing 230. On the other hand, the minimum temperature for cooking fish is 50 deg. As stoves rarely go below 80 degrees, there is practically no chance to set your stove to a temperature so low that the fish stays undercooked (but it might need unreasonably long times on very low settings).
As for the spraying: the fat at frying temperature will always spray. You can still reduce your problems. First, the bubble explosions at the lower temperature will be less violent. Second, surface moisture promotes spraying (which is produced by water being instantly turned into steam in the oil). So pat the fish dry with paper before frying it. If this isn't enough, you can also drag it through flour. This will make the crust crisper. As the spraying won't be eliminated completely, don't throw in the pieces. Take a flat spatula with a long handle, place the piece on the working end, step back from the stove and slowly lay the fish into the oil, gradually pulling the spatula from beneath it. The turning should produce less spraying, so using a fork or spoon to press the fish against the spatula isn't a problem (or kitchen pincers, if you have those).
All of the above applies to everything you are shallow frying, not only fish. Only the flour is unsuitable for some vegetables.
It's not the fish absorbing most of the oil, it's the breading. When you cook something starchy in oil, it's going to absorb SOME of the oil. Using high heat minimizes the amount of oil that it will absorb, but it's always going to absorb some. Furthermore, panko has a lot of surface area. Some of the oil is just going to get carried out of the pan on the surface of the breading, which will probably drip or be blotted off later.
Best Answer
Are you sure tilapia steak can be eaten medium rare?
I'm 100% sure that tilapia must not be eaten half cooked. Half cooked fish has a lot of bacterial such as
bacterial bathogens
,parasite
,natural toxin
etc.Please be careful because tilapia isn't a sushi grade fish. All tilapia in japanese cuisine or any cuisine in the world must be fully cooked.
Anyways, assumingly you wanted your tilapia steak to be fully cooked and nicely seared, there's a few ways my mom would do and other chef would usually do.
Usually, my mom would score the the fish and then place it on a large sifter and allow any excess water in the fish to dripped out. At the mean time, this will allow the temperature of the fish to be brought down to room temperature so it will be cooked evenly.
When you are about to cook the fish, tap the surface of the fish with kitchen towel and coat an extremely thin layer of corn starch. The corn starch helps to soak up any "leftover" water you missed out as well as giving the fish a pleasant crisp when fried.
Heat your pan with your oil until you see mild smoke omitting from the pan. Please do not let the pan smoke till you could see grey colored smoke as this shows that the pan is way too hot to cook the fish as fish are often more delicate compared to meat. Alternatively, you can use a wooden chopstick and place it on top of the oil and once you see bubbles at the tip of the chopstick, the temperate of the oil is ready.
Place your fish down and DO NOT FLIP IT. Flipping it would cause the meat to stick to the pan and fall apart. Flip it when you start seeing a brownish shade at the bottom of your fish and do it the same of the other side. Do sear the skin as fish skin are always nice when it's light and crispy.