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!