Let's start the year with something healthy here on Yummy Sunday with this recipe I tried from the Foodie Magazine Vol. 1 No. 5 issue.
Fillet of Lapu-Lapu with Fresh Pine-Chili Relish
{serves 8}
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 kilograms lapu-lapu fillet (about 100 grams per piece), cleaned, sliced, and seasoned with calamansi, salt, and pepper
- all-purpose flour, for frying.
- tamarind butter jus
- pineapple-chili relish
Ingredients (Tamarind Butter Jus):
- 2 tablespoons onion, minced
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 cups chicken broth or stock
- 1 tablespoon sampaloc sinigang mix
- salt and pepper to taste
Ingredients (Pineapple - Chili Relish):
- 1 cup ripe pineapples, diced
- 1 piece red bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 1 piece red chili pepper, minced
- juice from one lemon
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- salt to taste
How to Cook:
- Dredge the seasoned lapu-lapu fillets in flour. Pan-fry both sides in oil or butter over medium flame until golden brown. Drain and set aside. Keep warm.
- To serve, arrange the lapu-lapu fillets on a serving platter and top each with the tamarind butter jus and pineapple-chili relish.
- For the Tamarind Butter Jus - In a preheated pan, saute onion in butter. Add chicken broth or stock and stir. Gently boil until liquid is reduced by half. Add sinigang powder. Stir and season with salt and pepper. Strain sauce and reheat before serving.
- For the Pineapple-Chili Relish - In a bowl, combine all ingredients and chill.
I wasn't able to get lapu-lapu fillet, so for this dish, I used talakitok. Actually, I asked brother to buy the tail part of the talakitok, but the store owner cut the fish into steaks - I hoped to take home the whole fish cut so I can fillet it. Well, nothing to do but to just go with it, afterall, the taste won't change.
This was a very easy dish to make, but of course, not all people are into pineapple in their ulam. As for me, I really liked it - the fusion of tamarind and pineapple really worked with the fish, and I really hoped I made more of that tamarind jus because it tasted good in rice. The dish was actually a combination of sinigang and sweet & sour, a good way of presenting fish.
*** Jenn ***
I come from a family who loves cooking and eating. I never had any formal training in cooking and that I taught myself how to cook based on the handed down recipes, but I could say that I can cook good food. In 2008, I started documenting my food trips for my