Ginataang isda

Fish laid in a finished coconut sauce and never stirred, so the pieces stay whole.

Fish. Not vegetarian — contains fish, fish sauce.

Ingredients

• 800 g firm fish steaks, 2 cm thick
• 400 ml coconut milk
• 60 g fresh ginger, in matchsticks
• 1 onion, sliced
• 6 garlic cloves, crushed
• 200 g mustard greens
• 4 long green chillies
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 0.5 teaspoon black pepper

Method

1. LAID IN AND NEVER STIRRED. Fish steaks in a pan of sauce break up the moment a spoon goes near them. So the sauce is made first and finished, the fish is laid on top in one layer, and from then on the pan is TILTED and the sauce spooned over instead of stirred.
2. Salt the fish lightly and leave it 10 minutes, then pat it dry. It firms the flesh slightly and that helps it hold together.
3. Fry the ginger, garlic and onion in the oil, 4 minutes. A lot of ginger here -- it is what keeps a coconut and fish dish from tasting flat.
4. Coconut milk and fish sauce in. Simmer gently uncovered 10 minutes, until it has reduced by about a quarter and thickened a little.
5. Fish laid in in a single layer, pushed down just enough to be half covered. Crowded or stacked, the top pieces steam and the bottom ones overcook.
6. Lid on, lowest heat, 8 minutes. Do not turn the fish. Spoon sauce over it twice during that time.
7. Mustard greens tucked round the pieces and the chillies laid on top. Lid on, 3 minutes more.
8. It is done when the flesh parts at the thickest point under gentle pressure from a spoon. Pepper over it.
9. Serve from the pan with a flat spoon, lifting rather than scooping.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Philippines · All recipes