First of all, this dish was supposed to be milkfish. But then, there's no milkfish so my husband bought blue mackerel scad in short, galunggong, and even shorter, GG. Second of all, this was supposed to be asado. But it somehow ended up tasting like fish version of bistek (beef steak). I blame it to the darkness. Literally. It was dark when I cooked. Although I know I did something wrong with the recipe but it's really extremely challenging to cook in the dark.
At around 11AM, there was a power outage at our place. It's as if the power company is tempting us all to get out of our houses. I cook our lunch during this time so I had no choice but to continue cooking. In the dark. Without enough ventilation.
So, now that I have set the expectation, you now know that this dish was done purely out of love for my family. O don't want them to starve so I cooked despite the circumstances. lol
Nah, it's really just that my success in the kitchen is hit or miss. This time, I missed my target but accidentlly hit the jackpot. I loved the outcome. There's really no special prep done here, asside from being cooked in the dark. But other than that, it's just like how you would prepare a typical bistek tagalog, only with fish.
Fish
Soy sauce
calamansi (10-12 pcs)
White Onion (sliced)
garlic (minced)
salt & peper to taste
Oil (for deep frying and sauteing)
After cleaning the fish, marinate in half a cup of soy sauce and squeezed calamansi. Let sit for an hour or overnight in the fridge. I forgot to do this last night so I marinated it for an hour.
After an hour, deep fry fish until it reaches your desired crispiness. Set the marinade aside.
On a different pan, saute garlic until golden brown. Add the white onion. Cook until it turns transparent. Remove from pan and set aside.
Pour in the marinade. Let it heat for less than a minute. Then add the fish. Cover and simmer for 2-3 minutes on low heat.
After 3 minutes, add the garlic and onion. Serve with rice.
Now I know how my mom felt when she was cooking back then. In the 90's there used to be lots of instances of blackouts. Now I know all our meals were cooked out of pure love. That's why all of those mom-cooked dishes tasted really good.
Pardon the photo of the finished product. It was shot through the dark.
