Sarsiado

Fried fish under a tomato sauce thickened with egg poured in off the heat.

Fish, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains fish, fish sauce.

Ingredients

• 4 whole fish, about 250 g each, scaled and gutted
• 4 tomatoes, chopped
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 onion, sliced
• 6 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 200 ml water
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 0.5 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 spring onions, sliced

Method

1. THE EGG GOES IN OFF THE HEAT, poured in a thin stream and stirred once. On the heat it scrambles into lumps and sits on top of the sauce; off the heat it thickens the sauce into something that clings to the fish. One stir only -- more and you are making egg drop soup.
2. Fry the fish first and lift it out. Salt them inside and out, leave them 10 minutes, then pat dry.
3. Fry in the oil over a medium-high heat, 4 to 5 minutes a side, until the skin is crisp and comes away from the pan cleanly. Lift them onto a plate.
4. Garlic and onion into the same oil, 3 minutes.
5. Tomatoes in, pressed with the back of the spoon, 6 to 8 minutes, until they have completely broken down and gone jammy. This is the base of the sauce and it cannot be hurried.
6. Water and fish sauce in. Simmer 5 minutes.
7. Fish back in, spooned over rather than turned, 3 minutes to warm through.
8. PAN OFF THE HEAT. Wait 20 seconds, then pour the beaten egg round the edges of the pan in a thin stream. Stir once through the sauce, not through the fish.
9. Pepper and spring onion over the top. Serve from the pan.

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