Food Without Borders

Milk­fish is a pop­u­lar fish in the Philip­pines. It can be fried, baked, or is often used in clear and sour soups. Stuffed meats are one of the many prepa­ra­tion meth­ods brought over by the Span­ish. This is a deli­cious Fil­ipino dish well worth the work and wait. It is usu­ally made for spe­cial occa­sions  — likes Fies­tas or when spe­cial guests are com­ing to your home. This is the dish which wel­come me to the Philip­pines on my first visit. Again it was served to my fam­ily and friends the year of my wed­ding, as a wel­come. I had the luck of hav­ing my wife’s rel­a­tives here sev­eral times. And guess what?  — sev­eral occa­sions they made this fish for din­ner. No spe­cial occa­sion. My mother-in-law even made sev­eral for us before she left, so we free packed them. We ate them a month later and they were absolutely delicious!

1 whole milk­fish, cleaned
3 gar­lic cloves, minced
1 medium onion diced
black pep­per
2 tbsp. pick­led rel­ish
1 medium car­rot, diced
1/4 cup black raisins
1/4 cup light soy sauce
1 oz. edam cheese
cat­sup
veg­etable oil
3 tbsp. cala­mansi juice
2 tbsp light soy sauce

For the dip:
3tbsp toy­omasi or 1 tbsp. cala­mansi juice and 2 tbsp light soy sauce

The fish should be cleaned and cut along the belly so that it can be stuffed. The cut should  not include the head and tail. They must remain en-tact, so that when the fish is stuffed the fill­ing does not fall out. Make an inci­sion along the back of the fish — just after the head to the end of the fish’s back­bone. Remove the back­bone and remove the meat from the fish’s inside using a fork; set aside.

Mar­i­nate the skin in a mix­ture of 3 tbsp. cala­mansi juice, 2 tbsp light soy sauce and 1/4 tsp ground black pep­per for 20 min­utes. Poach the fish meat for about 10 min­utes on medium heat. Remove from heat and cool. Have a seat and begin remov­ing the small bones con­tained in the poached fish meat.

In a large sauce pan, sauté gar­lic, onion for 3 min­utes on medium. Add the fish meat and 2 tbsp light soy sauce, cook 1 minute. Turn the heat down to low. Add the car­rots and raisins. Sea­son with salt and pep­per to taste. Cook for 10 min­utes.
Add the edam cheese, cook 1 minute. Add the cat­sup and pick­led rel­ish, cook 5 min­utes. Remove from heat and trans­fer meat mix­ture to a bowl to let cool.

Remove skin from mari­nade, drain, and lay on cook­ing sheet.

Stuff the mar­i­nated fish skin from the belly side. Be care­ful not to over­fill since you will sew up the bot­tom.
Sew the milk­fish up using every­day sewing string.. Pre-heat oven to 400F. Spay a cook­ing sheet with flour cook­ing spray. Also spray the fish with the floured cook­ing spray. Bake the fish for 30 min­utes or until golden brown.