RELLENONG BANGUS (STUFFED MILKFISH)P

Dagupan City once promoted 100 ways to cook Bangus but for me the best Bangus dish is still Rellenong Bangus (or Relyenong Bangus)> Here’s the recipe I use.

Ingredients

I medium sized Bangus (more or less 800 gramns)
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
3 teaspoons Calamansi juice
1/8 teaspoon Pepper
Dash of Salt
1/4 cup water
2 Tablespoons cooking oil
2 cloves, crushed gralic
1 onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup tomatoes, finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
18 teaspoon pepper
1 Tablespoon Butter
1/3 cup chopped raisins
1/3 cup peas, drained
1/4 cup carrots, diced finely
1 eggs, beaten
1/ cup flour 1/2 cup cooking oil

Procedure

1. Clean Fish. Pound to soften.
2. Slit back to open and remove backbone. Scrape meat with a spoon. Keep skin 1 piece.
3. Soak skin with calamansi juice, soy sauce and pepper. Set aside.
4. Boil bangus meat with ppinch of salt and 1/4 cup water, into color changes. Set Aside. Drain and remove bones.
5. Saute garlic, tomatoes and onions in hot oil. Add bangus meat and season. Cook 5 minutes. Remove from fire.
6. Add in butter, peas, raisins, carrots and eggs. Mix thoroughly/
7. Stuff bangus skin with the mixture and sew opening.
8. Dredge in four and fry or bake until brown.

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CRAB OMELET OR TORTANG ALIMASAG

Crab Omelet is one my favorite omelet dish. With crab meat available in the groceries, it’s easier to prepare now. My mom used to prepare this by boiling the crabs and flaking the crab meat. The top shell is saved for filling in the crab meat. Anyway, this recipe is just plain crab omelet or tortang alimasag. A very simple dish.

Ingredients
1 cup flaked crab meat (you can buy this at the frozen section of the grocery)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon constarch
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon refined salt
2 tablespoons oil
1/4 cup shredded onions
6 cloves garlic, crushed
2 peeled potatoes, finely diced
1/4 cup shredded celery
5 eggs

Directions
1. Beat eggs slightly and season with salt and pepper.
2. Beat all ingredients together. Set aside.
4. Heat wok then add oil.
5. Fry potatoes and set aside.
6. Saute garlic until brown then add vegetables, then add crab meat, salt, soy sauce, pepper and cornstarch. Set Aside to cool.
8. Heat non-stock frying pan in preparation for the omelet.
9. Pour in beaten eggs and cook. You will know the egg has cooked enough to proceed when the egg whites have actually turned white, the bottom is set and the top is a bit creamy.
10. When the crispy transparent egg edges start to pull away from the pan, this is the time to add the crab mixture.
11. Put your crab mixture in the omelet on one side only, in a half moon shape so it is easy to fold. Leave a little space around the omelet so the crab mixture won’t spill out of the sides.
12. Then fold the omelet in half. Use your spatula to left the omelet gently out of your pan and let it slide to a plate.

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BAKED MALIPUTO FISH

How many of you have eaten the Maliputo fish? I thought I knew all the fish species in the country since I grew up in Cebu, where most of our dishes were seafood. The other night, my husband brought over Maliputo, since he came from Batangas. His staff gave him one whole fish.

My husband baked the Maliputo without adding salt , pepper , herbs and other spices. He just added chopped onions and tomatoes inside the fish. The taste is divine. It had a slight salty and sweet taste. I asked my husband “are you sure this is a fresh water fish and you didn’t place salt?” My husband said that Maliputo is a fresh water fish found only in Taal Lake.

I knew I was missing something. My husband showed me his book, “The Mysteries of Taal” by Thomas Hardgrove written in 1991.

In the book , it talks about Lake Taal’s fish including Maliputo.

….include the yellowfin jack, a “freshwater species of mackerel, locally called maliputo. One of maliputo’s scientific name is Carnax Ignobilis.

The maliputpo migrate from the lake via the Pansipit Rover to spawn, or lay eggs in the sea, then return to Taal. I have seen Maliputo almost 1 m long at restaurants along the Pansipit River.

Gourmets and Manila restaurants pay a high price for the tasty maliputo (US $10.00 per kilogram in early 1989).

Pauly does not consider maliputo a mackerel. “True mackerel belong like tina to the Scombridae family, ” he wrote. “They do not occur in fresh or even brackish, water…Maliputo corresponds to a fish of the family Carangidae, i.e. a horse mackerel, (not a a mackerel) , or jack, or cavalla or pampano.

The marine biologist thinks the early Spaniards confused carangids such as maliputo with tuna.:

So there goes the answer to my question on the salty taste of the Maliputo

Maliputo is comparable in taste and texture to other white-fleshed marine fish like lapu-lapu, pompano and maya-maya. This is usually served in high-brow restaurants and hotels steamed-cook and garnished with various herbs and spices. Caught alive, caranx are much sought after by the Japanese and Chinese restaurants here and abroad, making it another export winner for the country.

A major scientific breakthrough in aquaculture has been achieved here in the National Fisheries Biological Center (NFBC), a research and extension facility of the Department of Agriculture – Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources. They were able to develop a method of inducing natural spawning in the matured fish which are very difficult to handle owing to its sensitive nature. The lack of scales in the fish makes it very sensitive to hormonal injection and the slightest removal from the water may also cause sudden death.

Perhaps in the near future, we will be able to have plentiful supply of this tasty fish. The price of Maliputo is pegged at 500 pesos a kilo. Such a rare fish to have on our table. Be careful. Some people sell fake maliputo. The Talakitok is similar to the Maliputo except they are caught in marine waters.

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LAPU-LAPU (GROUPER) ESCABECHE (SWEET AND SOUR SAUCE)

The lapu-lapu is always a special dish. Childhood memories of our family dinner involves a feast of lapu-lapu topped with sweet and sour sauce known escabeche. Escabeche has a slight ginger taste to it unlike the Chinese version of sweet and sour sauce. I am not sure if this is a Cebuano version of the sweet and sour sauce because I have not tasted it here in Manila.




Here is how I prepare it:

1. Clean the Lapu-lapu (around 1 kilo), slice diagonally along the fish, then rub salt on it and inside the fish cavity

2. Deep fat fry. (An alternative cooking method is to rub olive oil around the fish, then wrap with foil to grill it ) . Drain in paper towels. Set aside.

3. Prepare the sweet and sour sauce.

1 cup water
3 tablespoons vinegar
6 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons tomato ketchup
1/2 teaspoon salt
a slice of ginger, julienne

1/2 head garlic, minced
2 medium-sized onions, cut into 8 pieces
1/2 cup pineapple tidbits
1 carrot, julienne
1 red pepper, julienne
4 green onions, sliced (leave some for garnishing)
2 tomatoes, cut in wedges
2 tablespoons cornstarch, diluted with 2-3 tablespoons water

1. Combine the first 6 ingredients.
2. Thicken with cornstarch mixture (2 tablespoons cornstarch, diluted with 2-3 tablespoons water)
3. Add tomatoes, onions, carrot, tomatoes, garlic, red pepper and the other ingredients. Place pineapple tidbits last
4. Boil once. Make sure the sauce is slightly thickened and not runny.
5. Pour the sauce on fried lapu-lapu (prepared in number 1) and serve immediately. Don’t pour the sauce on the fish if you are not ready to eat it. The crispiness of the fish will be gone. You can always set aside the sauce and serve it once everyone is ready to eat.

6. Garnish with green onions.

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SPICY SHRIMP GAMBAS (SHRIMPS IN GARLIC)

There are many ways to cook Shrimps and the easiest is to saute the shrimps in garlic. This style of cooking is Gambas. Others add tomato sauce and other vegetables like carrots or red bell pepper. I prefer the toasted garlic taste on my shrimps.

Ingredients
500 grams medium-sized shrimps, in shell
2 tablespoons, rock salt
1/4 cup Olive Oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
Tabasco or hot sauce
salt and pepper to taste
1 Sliced green chili
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
5 tablespoons olive oil



Procedure
1. Toss shrimps and rock salt together.

2. Heat heavy frying pan with 1/4 cup olive oil until hot. Sauté garlic until almost brown. Set aside one teaspoon toasted garlic for garnishing.

3. Drop the shrimps and continue stirring to keep from sticking to the pan.

4. Cook 1 minute then add 4 tablespoons olive oil.

5. Cook 3 more minutes. Season with tabasco sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Set Aside.

6. Mix parsley and sliced green chili with 1 tablespoon olive oil

6. Transfer to a platter. Serve with Shrimp with the oil from kawali. Sprinkle with toasted garlic and green sili.

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CRAB WITH CHLOROHYLL’S SHIRATAKI NOODLES

Tomorrow is Chinese New Year. Will you cook? I am busy preparing for a special dish and after learning “Crab with Chlorophyll’s Shirataki Noodles” at a cooking demo in the Maya Kitchen, I decided to give it a try for tomorrow’s dinner.

What is unique about this dish is the use of Shirataki noodles instead of the usual “sotanghon” noodles.

Shirataki noodles provide an alternative to traditional pasta, delivering a similar taste and texture to standard noodles with only a fraction of the carbs and calories. Shirataki noodles, made primarily of yam flour, also grant some additional health benefits. According to a University of Connecticut study, published in October 2008 in the “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,” researchers found that glucomannan helps lower bad LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, and fasting blood sugar, while also aiding in weight loss.

This is the perfect noodle for me instead of the high carbs pasta.

Here is how to prepare.


Ingredients (the quantities is based on taste preference and so these are just merely a guide)

1 kilo to 5 kilos crabs
salt
pepper
Leeks
ginger juice (you can make ginger by following these instructions)
ginger
onions
Oyster sauce
water
Chinese rice wine
coconut oil
sesame oil

On Shirataki noodles
Shirataki noodles (Can be bought at Salcedo market in Manila at 100 pesos/roughly 200 grams or at Japanese grocery stores)

Once removed from their packaging, shirataki noodles may have a slimy texture and a strong, beany even fishy odor. Washing the noodles in cold running water helps remove the smell. After rinsing, dry the noodles thoroughly with paper towels. To further improve the texture, heat the noodles in the microwave for one minute and then dry them once again with paper towels. Taking the time to eliminate the extra moisture will greatly improve the noodles’ texture.

Procedure
1. You can choose to buy the crabs live and quietly put it to sleep or have it done at the market.
2. Season and marinade with salt and pepper, ginger juice, rice wine.
3. Prepare a wok. Heat it up.
4. Add oil.
5. Saute ginger, onions , leeks.
6. Add in the crab and cover it.
7. When crab is half cooked, take it out of the wok and set aside.
8. Add in boiled shirataki noodles.
9. Cook the shirataki and then put inside a hot pot.
10. Saute the crabs and add hot sesame oil.

The quality of the crab will determine the success of the dish.

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Lent meal ideas- Crabcakes with Aioli Dill Sauce

For most Catholics, the Lent seafood diet is strictly observed. Some kids will find seafood dishes unpalatable so I will be sharing some seafood meal ideas from the Maya Kitchen (where I attend monthly demos) who invited experts from Mida Food Distributors Inc., The Seafood Specialist. They shared their knowledge on the proper way to select, clean, store and cook fish, squids, crabs and shellfish. Most often, when I shop at the groceries, I see frozen seafoods but never know how to cook them. One of my favorite is crab meat. I usually prepare it ala Tortang Alimango. This time, there is a variation called the Crabcakes with Aioli Dill Sauce.

Ingredients:
2 eggs
Fresh Parsley
Worcestershire Sauce
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 piece lemon & zest
salt & pepper
1 lb Blue Swimming Crab Lump Meat
½ cup normal breadcrumbs
2 cups panko breadcrumbs
half stick butter

for Aioli:

1 piece garlic clove
Sea salt
Black Pepper
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
around 600 ml extra virgin olive oil
Lemon Juice & zest
Fresh Dill

Method:
1. Beat eggs in a bowl and add parsley, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, mayonnaise, lemon juice and seasoning. Mix well.
2. Gently fold in crabmeat and normal breadcrumbs until mixture is no longer moist.
3. Gently make 6-8 balls out of the mixture then flatten into thick patties.
4. Lightly coat the patties in panko breadcrumbs and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5. Fry in butter until golden brown. Squeeze lemon when done.
For Aioli:
1. Smash garlic and salt in a large bowl (or pestle and mortar).
2. Combine with egg yolk and mustard. Mix together.
3. Start adding the olive oil little by little, whisking continuously.
4. Add the lemon juice/zest, and dill.
5. Season to taste.

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U.S. LENTIL SOUP WITH PORK CRACKLINGS

I know some of you miss Chicharon or Pork Cracklings. Here is a recipe from Chef Jill Sandique where she featured a soup recipe using lentils and pork cracklings. This recipe is not about pork cracklings though. The US Dry Bean Council (DBC) and USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council (DPLC) wants to change the way people see the humble peas and beans as just side dishes or add-sons. Peas and beans can actually be healthy main ingredients of yummy dishes. It is one reasons that the DBC and DPLC partnered with Chef Sandique.

Chef Jill believes that US dry peas, lentils and chickpeas are protein-rich and packed with fiber and carry antioxidants and high amounts of folate.

Chef Jill shows one way of preparing US Lentils as a main ingredient:

Ingredients
1/2 cup bacon, chopped
2 tablespoons canola or olive oil, optional
2 tablespoons minced garlic
3/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped tomato
100 grams pork, cubed
100 grams shrimp, peeled and chopped
pork, chicken or shrimp stock (water may do) as needed
1 pack U. S. lentils, about 400 grams
2 to 4 cups spinach, washed and trimmed
salt and pepper to taste

To serve
Pork Cracklings
olive oil
red wine vinegar

Method
1. In a pot, cook bacon until slightly golden. Add oil if necessary.

2. Add the garlic, onion and tomato. Saute well. Add pork then shrimps.

3. Pour in stock or water. Bring in to boil then simmer for 10 minutes.

4. Add the lentils. Cook until done. Add the spinach and cook just until wilted. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a service.

5. Serve hot with pork cracklings, olive and red wine vinegar.

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