Escabeche na Galunggong (Pinoy Redtail Scadfish in Sweet and Sour Sauce)

The first time I had this dish was at my Pinoy friends house Shantall :) she made a delicious Escabeche using a delicious Silver Pomfret. So let me explain what it is in the first place.To Filipinos (this is just based on my observation) "Escabeche" is a deep-fried fish, in a sweet and sour sauce that can be either thin like a water consistency or thick like gravy with colorful strips of vegetables.

The fish can either be simmered in the sauce with no thickener in which it will lose it's crisp but absorb it really well, and the other is have a crispy fried fish and pour a thickened version of the sauce so you have a crispy fried fish glazed and coated in a sweet and sour sauce. (see the notes at the end of this for details) I however chose to make it with thickener this time. I got the idea from "Overseas Pinoy" (I love that blog) however the recipe I'm using is Shantalls recipe I simply used the technique I saw at overseas pinoy's which was to pour a thickened version of the sauce over fried fish and served immediately

Ingredients:
-2-3 lbs Redtail Scad fish (deep-fried or pan-fried)
-salt to season fish
-1/2 red bell pepper thinly sliced
-1/2 green bell pepper thinly sliced
-1 carrot cut into match sticks
-2 stalks celery cut thin diagnolly into thin strips (optional)
-1/2 onion thinly sliced
-2 inches of peeled ginger root cut into thin rounds or thinly julienned (if you like to eat the ginger root thinly julienne it if not then cut it into rounds)
-4 cloves garlic minced
-1/4 cup soy sauce (more or less to taste)
-1/4 cup white vinegar (more or less to taste)
-1/2 cup dark brown sugar (more or less to taste)
-salt to taste
-1 1/2 cups water
-1- 2 tablespoons cornstarch diluted in 1/4- 1/2 cup water
-chopped cilantro or scallions to garnish (optional)

Directions:
(1) Have your fish well cleaned (scaled, gutted, black layer of inside skin removed, wash well pat dry), season both the inside and outside liberally with salt, set aside for 15 minutes.

(2) Meanwhile in a bowl, combine soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, and 1 1/2 cups water set aside. Chop all your vegetables and set aside your garlic, ginger, and onion seperately.
(3) Set wok to high heat, when it smokes add your oil, and heat it until a chop-stick or piece wooden utinsil bubbles when dipped into it. Add your fish in batches and deep-fry your red tail scad fish, on one side 5 minutes then flip on the other side 5 minutes (please be careful it will splatter)
drain out and set aside in paper towels, when done with all the batches transfer to a deep dish.
(4) Carefully pour oil out of wok into a large bowl to cool, or strain it into a glass jar (be careful I am impatients and do it while hot, however you can leave the oil there to cool and then discard it I honestly re-use it to fry fish after straining)

(5) Now heat oil in a large deep- pan or wok, sautee ginger, garlic, and onion.
add soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar mixture bring to a rolling boil, add veggies let it break into a rolling boil again, then add cornstarch solution when thickened
pour over the fried fish the whole sauce and veggies and garnish with fresh chopped cilantro
(6) Ready to serve with rice. Serve immediately if you like it crispy :)
VERY IMPORTANT PLEASE NOTE:
This can be done with any fish you like, it goes especially well with any variety of Pomfret (black or silver pomfret), Grouper (called Lapu-lapu sometimes), Redsnapper, Tilapia, almost any large white fleshed fish deep-fried whole or meaty medium sized fish (in this case I used six scadfish) to make your life easier you can buy a fish and have the store deep-fry it for you then bring it home and whip up the sauce, it is also good for leftover fried fish. Also in addition this may not be very traditional or how it's normally done but one could use fish filets, salt & pepper them, flour them and deep-fry arrange them in a platter and pour this delicious sauce over them :)

NOTES ON OPTIONS (I'm repeating myself but this is for those who didn't read it in the intro) :
My Pinoy bestie Shantall makes this dish with Silver Pomfret (also called Pompano), when she makes "Escabeche" she uses no thickener, the sauce is runny and light, and she adds the fish into the boiling sauce and let's it cook an additional 5 minutes in the sauce, 3 minutes into cooking the fried fish in the sauce she adds the vegetables 2 minutes then turns off. This produces a more flavorful fish but get's rid of the crunchy texture of the fried fish. Both are good the choices :)

Also another note (yes I haven't shut up yet lol) in my Spaniard/ Cuban culture side for us fish cooked in "Escabeche" means the fish is salted, floured and fried in olive oil, then preserved in a mixture of the oil, vinegar, herbs, salt and spices. Usually sardines and smaller fish are prepared this way. See my post for "Sardinas en Escabeche" if interested :)

Fried Starbutterfish

This is as simple as it can get when preparing fish in my opinion, it's simple, just salt, pepper, and deep-fry fish and serve with a dipping sauce and other sides.

I discovered the delicious Starbutterfish when I visited my friend Shantall, her mother often prepares this fish in a variety of way's, one of them is how I will show you here.

Starbutterfish is also known as "Harvestfish" or just "butterfish", they resemble the "Pomfret" type fish except hte Starbutterfish are smaller.

I bought the fish because it is affordable (I bought it at "Seafood City" I must say though I hate that they don't update their website much, the specials from Christmas and New Years are still up), I like the taste, and it's easy to prepare, it was already gutted, cleaned, and fins and tail removed when I bought, just a quick rinse, and more cleaning of the inside just to make sure.

Main Ingredients:
-8 Starbutterfish (cleaned, gutted, etc.)
-salt to taste
-black pepper to taste
-oil to deep-fry (enough to submerge fish)
Dipping Sauce Ingredientes:
-fresh calamansi juice (I didn't have calamansi so I used limes you can use lemon to I guess)
-soy sauce in equal amount to calamansi juice, or less to taste but no more than equal amount.

or other dipping sauce Ingredients:
-white vinegar (preferably cane or coconut vinegar)
-soy sauce or patis (if using fish sauce, use very little just to change color slightly of the vinegar)

Directions:
(1)Heat wok until it throws a small whif of mist (this is called "wok hei" or the "breat hof the wok") then add oil and let it heat for about 5-10 minutes.

(2)Meanwhile salt and pepper the fish well, then add to the hot oil in batches until crisp on both sides about 3-4 minutes on each side, remove and drain on paper towels.

(3)Mix dipping sauce ingredients whichever you choose to make.

(4)Serve preferably with steamed white jasmine rice, cooked vegetables, and pickled vegetables because the acidity of the pickled vegetables go very well with this meal, "Bittermelon Salad" is great with this, or any other pickled veggies, I went I guess "non" traditional, and served it with the Mexican pickled Jalapeños and carrot with pickled onion and oregano a long with some steamed Cauliflower with a soy sauce vinegar dip, very delicious and healthy.

P.S.

(1)What I like about this fish is that when fried the bones are so sensetive that most become edible like when you buy canned sardines with soft bones, the center sometimes stays firm but is easily removable, so it's a good fish for those afrain of choking on spines.

(2)You can do this with other fish you may like I'm sure.

(3)Ha ha I don't know what one would call this fish in Spanish maybe "Pez Mantequilla"? ha ha that sounds silly.

Ginataang Hipon (Shrimp in Coconut Milk)

This is a Filipino recipe. How did I learn it you ask, well I have a very kind and nice Filipino friend which I visit frequently. Her mother always makes very simple yet flavorful dishes.

A couple weeks ago when I visited on a Sunday her mother had made this delicous dish called, "Ginataang Hipon" it had shrimp and vegetables in a coconut milk based sauce.

I loved it so much, because I love coconut milk, seafood, and vegetables it was served with Jasmine Rice and I adore rice, so this was basically just a dish full of things I love. I liked the meal so much I insisted on her telling me how she makes it and here it is a couple weeks later I tried it at home and it was delicous, it was all verbally dictated to me but I memorized it.

Ingredients:
-3/4's to 1 lbs. shrimp (any kind)
-1/2 a Kombucha Squash/ Calabaza peeled and cut into cubes (You can use any orange fleshed squash think)
-2-3 cups of string beans (cleaned, trimmed)
-1 bunch of spinach (very well washed coarsley chopped)
-1 can of coconut milk (which is about 2 cups or 2 cups and 1/2?)
-2 inch chunk of ginger, peeled, and sliced into thin rounds
-3-4 cloves garlic peeled and crushed whole or thinly sliced
-water (I'll tell you how much later)
-salt to taste
-ground black pepper to taste
-1 generous pinch of monosodium glutamine (MSG also branded as "Ajinamoto" optional)
Directions:
(1)Here's some options, you can add the shrimp whole with everything just washed, or you can make an opening on the back remove the black line which is crap, and it's feet and head. But leave the shell attached to give the sauce flavor. Or you can peel them but your sauce won't be as tasty the shells give it good shrimp flavor.

(2)In a large pot add calabaza cubed, add the string beans and ginger as well as garlic, cover with water about enough to submerge about half of it, add a little salt and pepper, mix well. Bring to a boil on high, cover and simmer about 10-20 minutes on low heat until calabaza is tender and string beans to.
(3)Pour in coconut milk, stir, higher heat, bring it to a bubble/boil add a pinch of MSG, now add shrimp and fold in spinach and everything, when shrimp changes to cooked color and spinach wilts a bit it is done.
(4)Taste it add more salt if needed or pepper. DO NOT OVER DO THE MSG BECAUSE IT OVER POWERS IF OVERDONE. Leave uncovered for a bit so shrimp doesn't overcook until cooled. Also it may not seem that thick but once cooled it will thicken plenty, it is all personal preferance but I love it just the way it is.
(5)Serve over steamed plain white rice (preferably Jasmine because it's so fragrant and tasty)

See super simple and delicous, takes less than 30 minutes and you can cook rice at the same time and it will be done quickly. Also don't let coconut milk boil for to long it will become greasy and oily because it will start to seperate. I've seen other variations of this dish online but this one is very healthy and tasty.

I don't consider coconut fat to be unhealthy as some think, go do some research/ homework on it, if you believe it to be harmful, and research the "coconut oil controversy."

P.S. I'm sorry I had no Kombucha Squash so I ended up using acorn squash, and I had no string beans so I used green beans, but it was roughly the same.