Bangus Relleno Or Stuffed Milkfish

Bangus Relleno or Stuffed Milk Fish

Bangus Relleno (Stuffed Milkfish)

Ingredients:

3 pieces medium-sized Bangus 

6 pieces calamansi, extract the juice

1/2 cup toyo 

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

3 Tablespoon olive oil

1 Tablespoon minced  garlic

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 pieces large tomatoes, chopped

2 pieces large potato cut into small cubes

1 piece large carrot cut into small cubes

1 piece large red bell pepper cut into small cubes

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup pickle relish

2 pieces Knorr chicken cube

Salt and pepper to taste

3 pieces fresh eggs

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour plus extra for dredging

3 pieces barbecue sticks

Cooking oil for frying

Procedure:

Fresh Bangus

Bangus Relleno Ingredients

Bangus Relleno Filling

Stuffing Bangus Relleno

Stuffed Bangus Relleno Before Frying

• Clean the fish very well. Remove the scales. Make a slit at the back to open.

• Remove the intestines and the gills, cut along the big bone along the length of the fish to remove it. Wash away all the blood and dirt in running water. Scrape all the  meat from the skin, be careful not to break it and pick out all the bones using a tweezer. When the fish meat is already  boneless, chop it  finely using your cleaver and set aside. Meanwhile marinate the fish skins in 1/4 cup soy sauce, calamansi juice and ground black pepper then set aside.

• In a large frypan sauté in olive oil the garlic, onions and tomatoes. Add to the frypan the chopped deboned fish meat and cook until there are no more red fish meat visible then season with salt and pepper. Add also the potatoes, carrots, red bell pepper, raisins, pickle relish, 1/4 cup soy sauce and the Knorr chicken cubes. Continue to cook while stirring until the potatoes and other vegetables are tender. Check for seasonings and adjust taste accordingly. Remove the cooked filling from the heat and allow to cool.

• In a big bowl, transfer the cooked filling then add the beaten eggs and mix in the 1 1/2 cups flour. Combine the mixture very well to distribute all the ingredients together to bind. 

• Drain the milkfish skins from its marinade then fill up each milkfish with the prepared filling from tail to head then sew the skins together to bring the shape back to its original using a sewing needle and sewing thread. (This is the older way of preparing rellenong bangus.) The newer version is to ask your fish monger to separate the meat from the skin by using a long spatula  entering the fish from its head opening. The fish monger is usually very good at doing this and she saves you time and effort. In this newer version you have to boil the fish meat to be able to remove the bones by mashing the fish meat so you do not miss the tiny bones.

• This time you can insert barbecue sticks through the mouth of the fish towards the body. This helps to hold the fish together in handling specially in frying them. After doing that you have to dredge the fish skins with flour to ease frying them in hot oil. Fry the prepared rellenong bangus in medium hot heat until the skins are golden brown and the filling inside done. In frying my filled bangus I used the biggest pot cover I have because it is flat, deep enough to hold the frying oil and large enough to accommodate my three medium-sized bangus. 

• Can be served hot or cold with Papaya Atchara and Catsup.

Share and Enjoy!

Bangus Relleno and Papaya Atchara 

Papaya Atchara

Bangus Relleno

BONELESS BANGUS OR MILKFISH

Department of Agriculture:  http//www.da.gov.ph/tips/milkfish.html

                                                    

                      Bangus or milkfish is my favorite fish.

                      It is abundant in the Philippines.

                      Actually, this is our national fish. There

                      are many ways by which this fish can be prepared.

                       Every family has their own style of preparing

                       bangus like plain fried, broiled plain or with stuffing of

                       tomatoes and onions, stewed in vinegar, in sour broth

                       with vegetables and or smoked.  

                     

                      The latest trend about this ever popular fish is to debone

                       it first before cooking it so we don't get those spines

                       into our mouths. Since this is my most favorite local fish I

                       tried my best to learn how to debone it.

                      I watched and learned from fish vendors in Orani, Bataan

                      who are experts in deboning bangus and here's how

                       I debone my bangus.

Procedure:

1.  Wash the fish

2. Split the fish butterfly style

3. Remove the internal organs, gills, blood and slime then wash the

    fish thoroughly

4. Remove the backbone and dorsal fins by means of a sharp knife

5. With the use of forceps, remove the spines at the belly cavity.

    This can be done easily because the spines are superficially

     embedded.

6. Debone

  Make a halfway slit along the flesh of the dorsal and ventral muscles

  with a knife. Remove spines one after the other by inserting the forceps

  between the segments of the dorsal and ventral muscles.

Continue removing the spines in similar manner on the dorsal and ventral

 areas until all spines are removed.

                                                      

From the dorsal portion, there are approximately 44 branching spines

embedded between the muscle segments. Starting from the nape along the lateral line 22 spines are embedded and along the ventral muscles are 24 spines.

Here's some extra tip: In order to remove the spines at the tail area

make sufficient vertical slits along the tail area flesh ad work the knife

to expose the spines like in the photo.

See how those spines are easily visible for me to remove them.

Do the same along the other side of the fillet.        

                                                       Freshly caught fish is harder to debone. It must at least rest to firm the

flesh or put them in ice.

After removing all the spines I use my hand to flatten slightly the flesh and it will look as if nothing happened. It will look okay.

Rub enough salt on the deboned bangus to give it flavor and to  prepare it for cooking.

This is now the finished boneless bangus and it is now ready to be marinated or cooked in whatever way I want. I prefer to make it into Lamayong Boneless Bangus. For every salted half-kilo size bangus I add 1/2 cup vinegar, 1/2 head minced garlic and 1 teaspoon powdered black peppercorns. I marinate the fish in a tightly covered plastic container and store in the refrigerator for at least overnight. The boneless bangus can be fried and serve with chopped tomatoes with chopped onions and mashed salted egg. Delicious!