Rellenong Bangus (Stuffed Milkfish)

     I wasn't a fish eater, but when I turned 14 I had to be one because during the Lenten Season we had to fast and that meant to abstain from any food product that was pleasurable, and one of those is meat. But this dish is not something that isn't pleasurable at all, in fact it is a special dish. Not because the ingredients are expensive, but because of it's tedious preparation. It's like a fish version of embotido, but the skin is left as intact as possible to stuff the fish. So you would need the help of a fish monger to clean, debone and remove the meat with the skin intact.

     However, I would just prefer to sew to skin together so that we can clean the fish more thoroughly. This version is low-fat so I will skip the traditional way of frying the fish before stuffing and using eggs as a binder. We also had some leftover Sinigang na Bangus (Sour milkfish soup), so I didn't need to add any extenders (i.e. potato). With all that and it being steamed, this will have a more delicate and fresh bangus flavor.

Ingredients:

  1 medium-sized bangus (about 1 lb), deboned
  leftover sinigang na bangus (about 1 lb)
  1 carrot, diced
  3 onions, diced
  1/2 cup raisins
  1/4 cup pickled relish
  1/3 cup bread crumbs
  1 tbsp soy sauce
  1 calamansi or 1 tbsp lemon juice
  salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Instructions:

1.  Using a spoon, scrape meat from the skin of the clean and deboned fish.

2. Marinate the skin in soy sauce and calamansi. Set aside.

3.  Remove the skin from the leftover sinigang, flake (I just mushed between my fingers) and remove any remaining bones. Save the broth. Cook the fresh fish meat in the sinigang broth, drain and let cool. Flake and remove any remaining bones. Mix all the meat together.

4. Add the carrots, onions, pickle relish and raisins. Mix well. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the breadcrumbs until it's dry enough to form into balls, add more if the mixture is too wet.

5. Stuff the skin with the mixture and sew as you go.

6.  Roll the rest of the mixture in aluminum foil. Seal the edges.

7. Steam for 30 or more minutes.

8. Let it cool and serve. Enjoy!

Low Fat Pie Crust for Apple Pie

     Did you know that a  traditional single pie crust has at least 180 calories per serving? With 105 calories from fat (11.7 g)? And that's the pie crust ALONE, leave the filling, whipped cream, crumbed topping or top crust. Amazing right? Sometimes we don't even care about the crust at all and yet we get this much calories.

     So I'm on a search for that fat free pie crust. After searching the web most people replace it with low-fat/fat free butter, but we don't have that; others use nuts or almonds which are 'healthy' fats but still fat nonetheless; and there are those who replace the oil with fruits. Hmmm now that i'll definitely try. But no one seems to use pizza dough (for deep dish pies and not pie pizza), so I thought I should give it a try. Pizza dough uses a small amount of oil, rises so you get more crust and easier to work with.

     I made apple pie or deep dish apple pizza with this recipe and as you can see it's too thick. Next time I'll divide the dough by 3 rather than 2. The verdict? It tasted quite good and of course it was bready rather than crusty, but it worked well with the apple filling since I added cinnamon. I made a double crust and it was more of a stuffed sweet bread, but it made my dad and aunt happy since it was softer and easier to chew. So not only is it low fat, it's elderly-friendly too!

Ingredients:

  2 1/4 tsp instant yeast

  4 tbsp sugar

  1 tsp salt

  2 tbsp cooking oil

  3 tsp cinnamon

  1 1/2 cups warm water

  3 1/2 cups flour

Cooking Instructions:

1. Dissolve yeast, sugar in warm water. Let it sit for 10 mins.

2. Stir in salt, oil and cinnamon.

3. Add in 2 1/2 cups of flour and mix.

4. Knead adding remaining flour until dough is no longer sticky.

5. Transfer to a clean greased container, cover and let it sit in a warm place until it doubles in size (30 mins-1 hour).

6. Punch down and let it rest for a minute before use.

7. Divide into 2 if you want it thick, or 3 if thin. Form into desired shape.

8. Pre-bake for 5-10 mins, then add the fillings or topping.

9. Bake at 450 F until set.

Serves: 24 (single crust)

Calories: 86

  

ANALYSIS:

• definitely low fat

POSSIBLE MODIFICATIONS:

• For gluten-free baking, replace flour with whole wheat or other gluten-free flour
• Use other spices as it suits your filling