Inun-unan

No oil and no browning at all: raw fish into cold vinegar, and the pan is never stirred.

Fish. Not vegetarian — contains fish.

Ingredients

• 800 g firm fish, in steaks
• 200 ml cane vinegar
• 200 ml water
• 1 large thumb ginger, in thick slices
• 1 whole head of garlic, crushed
• 2 onions, in thick rings
• 4 siling haba, left whole
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper

Method

1. NOTHING IS FRIED HERE AND NOTHING IS BROWNED. There is no oil in the list and that is not an omission -- this is a vinegar braise, and the whole character is clean and sharp rather than rich.
2. Lay the ginger, garlic and onion over the base of a wide pan. Settle the fish on top in one layer.
3. Pour the vinegar and water around, not over, and add the salt, pepper and whole chillies.
4. BRING IT TO A BOIL UNCOVERED AND DO NOT STIR, now or at any point. Boiling off the first raw edge of the vinegar takes about 3 minutes, and a stirred pan breaks the fish into the liquid.
5. Cover, drop to a bare simmer, and give it 15 minutes.
6. Take it off and leave it 30 minutes before eating, or overnight. It is better cold the next day, which is the point of preserving fish in vinegar in the first place.

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