Bangus (Milkfish) Homemade Sardine Spanish-style

Bangus (Milkfish) Homemade Sardine Spanish-style

Bangus or Milkfish is undeniably a versatile fish, you can cook it in so many ways – fried, grilled, steamed, boiled or with sauces and gravies. It is also use in Spanish-style sardine besides herring (tawilis) or sardinella (tamban).

Photo updated on 12 Apr 2017

Sardine, is my favorite since young I like it fresh from the can and just squeeze with calamansi juice or sautéed with garlic and lots of onions eaten with hot steaming rice, I’m actually salivating now while I am writing this. Homemade sardine is not so popular before and it’s more expensive than those in cans. The famous brand of sardine that I grew up with is the “Ligo” brand. There are other brands available but I prefer this one, I find that their tomato sauce is thicker and tasty. They only have two colors of label, green and red, that tells you that the green label is with tomato sauce alone and the red one is with tomato sauce and chilly meaning it’s spicy. This brand is now also available internationally and if you are a fan of this brand like me good for us.

Recently, during our trip back to the Philippines I’ve seen lots of homemade sardines selling in the supermarket and even at the Atrium of shopping malls there are carts that sell it, and that sight inspires me to make one also. Check Google for simple recipes to try, there’s so many of them and found a simple and seems a good recipe to start.

Bangus Homemade Sardine Spanish-style Recipe

Ingredients
Recipe is adopted from with slight modification: Spanish Style Bangus

• 1 kilo bangus (milk fish) 
• 1/2 cup sliced carrots
•  1/2 cup pickles, slices
• 3 pieces chili peppers (more if you want it spicier)
• 1 head crushed garlic, crushed and peeled
• 1/2 tablespoon whole peppercorn
•  1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup olive oil (adjust if need more)
• 2 tablespoon light soya sauce
• 3 pieces bay leaves (laurel)
•  ¼  cup green olives (optional)
•  ½  cup water

Instructions:

1.   Thoroughly clean but do not remove the scales and slice bangus into serving pieces at least an inch thick. Remove the head and the tail and discard, do not include.

 

2.   In a pressure cooker, arrange bangus in layers. Add the carrots, bay leaves, garlic, pepper corns, pickles and chillies

3.   In a separate bowl, mix all the wet ingredients and the salt.

4.   Pour the mix over the bangus making sure the fish is all covered with liquid, put more olive oil if needed.

5.   Pressure cook at low-medium fire for 45 minutes or until the bangus is cooked.

6.   Let it cool and transfer to a serving plate or if intend to eat later keep it in a tight sealed jar and keep in the fridge.

Note:

You can adjust the amount of ingredients based on the amount of fish that you will cook.