Lunch boxes will never go out of style: what's for Tuesday?

The Filipinomomblog has launched their lunchbox meme, and I would like to unveil what my twin daughters had for baon this Tuesday. Thin as they are, am thankful that my eight-year old twins are not picky eaters. In fact, I'm training their taste buds this early by tagging them along with me on my food trips. Some of their favorite foods are pizza, tocino, sinigang and dishes with malunggay leaves in them.

Another all-time favorite of theirs is pork and beans. They can subsist on a big can during those times when Mom or the nanny is too lazy to cook. Their main course for the lunch box today is what I would call the "pork and beans" casserole. It's good ol' pork and beans given a tasty twist by adding real chunks of meat and cubed potatoes. How to do this? First, I sauteed pork bits with garlic and onions, added a little water and simmered till it was cooked. Then I poured the can of pork and beans, and seasoned with salt and sugar. After which, I added the cubed potatoes and simmered again till potatoes were cooked.

The other things in the lunch box: rice, mixed veggies, Fuji apple and pineapple juice... good enough for my little daughters with the hearty appetite :)

Adobo with Buko Juice

The Adobo Book: Traditional & Jazzed-Up Recipes by Rey Gamboa Alejandro & Nancy Reyes-Lumen is an excellent book on the many variations of our national food. It's interesting how the making of the dish varies by regions and families. Some people have even made their own brilliant inventions with the basic adobo premise.

I'll be trying more recipes from the book, but in the meantime , here's one on pork adobo in buko juice written by Achie Diaz De Rivera. Note that this adobo doesn't use soy sauce. From my own experience, it would be well-advised to season it well. Don't think taste of the juice was recognizable in the final product, though using buko juice is healthy indeed. I would try using pineapple juice too. BUt they'd already call it pork asado in some parts.

How to do:

In a wok, place together one kilo pork spare ribs or belly, minced garlic, 1 tsp. pepper, bay leaf, a tsp. dried oregano and half a nut of the buko juice. Bring to a boil and, without stirring, let simmer over low heat until liquid disappears. Add 1/2 cup oil and toast to golden brown. Scrape the bottom of the wok to loosen the sticking bits and pieces. Remove the excess oil and add the remaining buko juice. Continue cooking until thick gravy is formed.

Serves 4-6.

Highlanders Brown Rice Tea

Don't know if it goes with age, but I've lately turned a convert for anything herbal or "natural." I've tried using Carica shampoo for my hair, papaya soap and also the Zen Zest line - all of which have brought positive results. One good thing I also subscribe to is Highlanders Brown Rice Tea which is made from - you guessed it - a combination of brown rice and ginseng. It claims to be an all-natural beverage adapted from what has been used by ancient Tibetans to fight the cold up in the mountains.

I have to admit I had to resort to drinking this when I worked on shifts and sleeping sometimes proved to be difficult. Wasn't really that comfortable taking melatonin, another over-the-counter sleep-inducing medicine.A cup before bedtime was enough to calm me down (like chamomile), and no getting up to empty the bladder too! The only drawback to this tea is the price, it costs about twenty five pesos per tea bag. Still, that's much cheaper than having your cuppa at Starbucks or any of those stylish chains.

What brown rice tea claims to bring about: (from its official literature)

- better sleep & stress relief
- greater stamina
- reduced night urination
- stimulation of appetite
- improved digestion
- relieves constipation
- better blood circulation
- detoxification
- improved complexion
-regulation of blood pressure
- reduce tummy bulge

Beef Gyudon, Home Version

Beef gyudon is what we usually order in Japanese fastfood chains like Yoshinoya and Rai-rai Ken. But did you know it's easy-peasy to make it at home? Except for the mirin and the sake, most of it is already in your pantry at home. Just remember to order super-thinly sliced beef too from your butcher. In Japan, they usually eat gyudon with beni-shoga) but that can be bought at the Japanese grocery too.

These days, I'll try to make pork gyudon too - I think that would be equally delish.

Recipe below is from local chef Heny Sison (she who's made famous with her fabulous cakes). I happened to have been invited by Abenson to attend her cooking class at her spacious cooking school in Makati. So it was a lazy Sunday afternoon of learning all about Japanese cooking ~ again!

For your big bowl of beef gyudon, you'll need:

500 grams white onions
1 cup white wine, or sake
1/2 cup water
500 grams thinly-sliced beef
3/4 cup soy sauce
3/4 cup mirin
4 tbsps. sugar
600 grams cooked rice
pickled ginger or beni shoga, to taste


1. Slice the onions thinly.
2. In a medium-size saucepan, mix sake and water. Bring to a boil. Add the beef slices and simmer for a few minutes. Add 3/4 cup soy sauce, 3/4 cup mirin and 4 tbsps. sugar. Simmer for 3 minutes.
3. Add onions and again simmer until onions are transparent and soft.
4. Prepare hot cooked rice in bowls and add gyudon with the sauce on top. garnish with sweet vinegared ginger.

Baked Fish Fillet with Kesong Puti (Native Philippine White Cheese)

Here's a tried-and-tested fish fillet recipe I got from the Good Housekeeping (Philippines) Cookbook, Volume 4. Cooked this to commemorate Valentine's Day 2008 with the boyfriend..and even though he wasn't here, my officemates loved it. Must have been the cheese. Glad to use kesong puti on this dish, I normally just slather it in my hot pan de sal.

The original recipe called for snapper fillets, but I just used creamy dory since it seems so common in the grocery these days. No problem with that.

You will need:

1/2 kilo fish fillet, trimmed and sliced into four
pepper
100 grans kesong puti
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsps. oil
2 large tomatoes, sliced
1 small zucchini, thinly sliced

For the Wasabi Cream topping:

1/4 cup wasabi powder
1/4 cup water
1 cup cream 2 tsps. honey

How to Do:

Place fish fillet on a tray and season with pepper. Put kesong puti on top and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Bake for 15 minutes in a preheated 530F oven.

Prepare vegetables. In a pan, saute sliced tomatoes and zucchini. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Make the wasabi cream by dissolving wasabi powder in water. Add cream and honey. Cook over low heat for 10 minutes.

Serve fish with wasabi cream on top and vegetables on the side.

Rating: simple pero effect! :)

A pandan kaya recipe, at last!

I love pandan kaya jam, originally from Singapore and Malaysia. Unfortunately, they're not so common in the Philippines as peanut butter or even matamis na bao or coconut jam. That's why I was glad when I attended a cooking event recently, spearheaded by "gourmetician" Chef Lisa Leong. One very funny lady. And some of the recipes she taught was making pandan cake in the recipe cooker and another called MCT Pandan Kaya. MCT is a brand imported from Singapore and is now available in the Tang City chain of restaurants in Manila.

Here's how to make the MCT Pandan Kaya. At least we'll have an idea how kaya is made:


You will need -

5 large eggs
120 g. warm MCT milk (hot water mixed in 1 sachet MCT powder)
1 tbsp. potato starch (mixed into 2 tbsp. pandan water)
130 g. fine sugar
100 g. hot water mixed in 3 tbsp. concentrated pandan stock
3 pandan leaves (knotted)
4 tbsp. COCOS Pandan coconut oil


1. Stir and whip eggs lightly. Add warm MCT milk and cornstarch solution.

2. Heat saucepan, add fine sugar, hot water and pandan stock. Bring to boil until sugar has well dissolved. Add in pandan coconut oil.

3. Remove pan from heat, whisk syrup mixture into MCT egg mixture quickly. Strain through a sieve. Pour pandan egg mixture back into a double boiler pot and continue to stir. Mix for 5 to 6 minutes.

4. Cover and steam over medium low heat for 6 minutes until slightly set. Continue stirring for every 5 minutes until mixture thickens.

5. When kaya is ready, discard the pandan leaves. Bottle kaya in jars and refrigerate.

- Thanks to Team Asia for the recipe

Sweet Baked Tilapia

Tilapia is my favorite fish, next to the bangus.During a visit to the Legaspi Sunday Market, I chanced upon the stall of Fishda, a start-up company which supplies one of the top barbecue restaurants on my list, Ineng's BBQ. Fishda sells and distributes ready-to-cook tilapia fillets. I immediately grabbed some in order to cook my usual fried tilapia with tomatoes in a different way. It was good that Fishda distributed as well recipe leaflets and I wasted no time doing my own version of the Sweet Baked Tilapia.

This one was so easy to prepare. I just followed the instructions, popped the tilapia in the turbo oven and after a few minutes, out came a dish that's redolent of fish goodness. Long live tilapia!

Sweet Baked Tilapia

4 large tilapia fillets
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. each basil and thyme
1 tbsp. each lemon juice & melted butter
2 tsp. olive oil

Preheat oven to 450F. Evenly distribute olive oil in the bottom of baking dish and place fillets in it. Combine the remaining ingredients and pour over the fillets. Bake for 7 minutes or until it flakes easily with a fork.

Papaya Lumpia

Here's a tasty alternative to the usual vegetable lumpia or lumpiang togue (bean sprouts.) The ingredients are simple and healthy.. you don't even have to use shrimps! Recipe taken from the DELCA Cookbook: "A Treasury of Plantation Favorites."



You will need the following:

Oil for sauteeing
Minced garlic
Onions, sliced
1/2 cup fried tokwa (tofu), sliced
1/4 cup broth
3 cups shredded green papaya
1/4 cup sweet potato, thinly sliced
lumpia wrappers

Saute garlic and onion. Add tokwa, shredded papaya and sweet potato and allow to cook in broth. When done, set aside mixture and wrap in lumpia wrapper.

Serve with brown sauce if desired:

Combine 1 1/2 cup water, 1/4 cup corn starch, 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup soy sauce. Cook over low heat until thick.

Comfort Soup: Garlic and Cheese Chowder

The recipes we test in the kitchen strictly don't have to be taken from cookbooks. In my case, I try to keep the little leaflets they give away for free inside the fold of magazines and in supermarkets. They were after all tried first in reputable 'test kitchens,' and we never know what gems there may be lurking in the corner.

This recipe for Garlic and Cheese Chowder I found in a leaflet for Alaska, a local milk brand, turned out to be superb! It even contained some trivia about chowder: "The word comes from the French word chaudiere ("pot") which comes from the word chaud. which means 'hot.'

Ingredients:


2 tbsp. butter
2/3 cup sliced garlic
1/4 cup flour
5 1/2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup grated Quickmelt cheese
1 cup Alaska Evaporated Filled Milk
2 tsp. chopped parsley

To make:

Saute garlic in butter. Add in flour and cook for a few seconds. Pour in stock little by little, mixing well to avoid lumos. Bring to a boil and simmer over low heat for 3 minutes. Blend in cheese, milk and parsley and cook for another minute.

Serves 5.

Bangus with tofu and the many ways with milkfish

assorted bangus products, originally uploaded by annalyn.

Bangus (Philippine milkfish) is one of my favorite foods, and so does a great number of people. The Philippines is certainly blessed to have lots of them for propagation and distribution. As a result, they have attained world-class export status. It's a good thing that in the Philippines, we enjoy them in a variety of ways and assorted bangus products are now available in the market.

So aside from the regular fresh bangus, daing na bangus and tinapang bangus we can easily have in the palengke (fresh market), enterprising businessmen have now packaged them into a variety of products to be enjoyed.

At the ongoing Manila Foods and Beverages Expo, I visited a booth called Tita Marina's Homemade Special Pangasinan Bangus. What caught my eye was their brochure showing the immaculate bangus in various incarnations, namely: relleno, tocino bangus, boneless tinapa, shanghai bangus with cheese, bangus sardines, bangus siomai, bangus fish nuggets and a few others.

Even my favorite Chinese restaurants offer a bangus dish with tofu. I don't have any picture now, but I tried this at home and it came out delicious.

Here's my recipe for Bangus with Tofu:

First I have one whole bangus deboned and filleted at my favorite suki in the market.

I set aside the belly portion for cooking the dish and marinate it in a soy sauce, pepper and kalamansi.

I mince lots of garlic and saute it in olive or canola oil. Take care not to burn the garlic or it will spoil the dish.

Take out the garlic and then fry the bangus belly. Season with salt and sugar. Add the bangus marinade and a little more liquid if necessary.

Add the japanese tofu (soft variety) and the garlic bits before turning off the heat. You may also put in mushrooms.

Serve in a plate or sizzling pan if you prefer.

Cooking French: flambeed strawberries with vanilla ice cream

flambeed strawberry, originally uploaded by annalyn.

To continue with our Manila Diamond Hotel cooking series, here's something that's guaranteed to impress your partner or date and win you loads of beauty points. Recipe provided by MDH's Le Bellevue Restaurant:

Pick out 400 grams of strawberry. Clean and remove the leaves and keep dry.

Gather approximately 15 grams of peppercorn. Blanch in boiling water 20 seconds and set aside.

Also gather four leaves of basil. Clean and cut into strips with scissors.

Heat olive oil in skillet.

Add brown sugar and make a light caramel.

Saute strawberries with butter. Add green peppercorn.

Take out one small glass of mango juice. Pour into the pan over strawberries. Simmer for one minute then add basil strips and a little more olive oil. Roll in pan.

Set up the flambeed strawberry in glass. Top with vanilla ice cream and pin toasted ensaymada on side of glass.

Diamond Hotel Japanese cooking class & recipes from Yurakuen restaurant

yurakuen lunch.

I was privileged enough to participate in a cooking class offered every weekend by Diamond Hotel. Appreciated this very much as am a big fan of Japanese food. By now everyone knows that the cuisine is all about purity of taste, the freshness of the ingredients and the beauty of presentation of the prepared food.

For this class, we were able to learn a lot from Chef Junichi Sekiyama and his team from Yurakuen Restaurant. It was very helpful since we were able to learn a lot of cooking techniques and tips on what brands to purchase and where to source Japanese products in Manila.

For example, almost every Pinoy loves tempura, but do you ever wonder how to make the perfect one? Sharing here some treasured recipes from Yurakuen and Chef Sekiyama:

Ebi tempura

Choose one kilo good-quality fresh shrimps. Remove skin while shrimp is raw. Leave tail intact.

Scrape tip of shrimp tail with knife to remove dirty liquid and devein the shrimp.

Make small slices along the shrimp's body so shrimp will not curl when cooked.

Wrap shrimp in a paper towel and gently squeeze out excess liquid. Set aside.

Prepare the ingredients for tempura batter:

In a bowl, mix one cup Japanese tempura flour and 3/4 cup water with ice until lump-free.

Add one egg yolk to add color and texture.

Test heat of the oil by dripping a small amount of the batter into the pan. If batter floats right away, oil is ready; but if the batter hits the bottom of the pan before floating, oil is not hot enough.

Dredge shrimp in flour, then dip in batter.

Fry (preferably in corn oil) until coating turns light yellow.

Remove shrimps from pan and drain oil in paper towel.

To make tempura sauce:

Mix together six parts water, one part kikkoman, one part mirin and 10 grams hondashi. Place one tsp. ground fresh ginger and ground radish on the side.

Mixed Japanese fried rice

Saute chopped garlic in oil until golden brown. Add in chopped white onion and minced carrots.

Set side in one corner of the pan.

In the center of the pan, cook 10 grams of beef until it becomes white.

Add in 10 g. shrimp and squid and mix beef and sauteed vegetables all together.

Season with salt, pepper and Kikkoman soy sauce.

Move again to one side of the pan to makie room for egg.

Cook egg in the middle of the pan and scramble it.

Add steamed rice and mix well.

Season with more salt and pepper, if needed.

Lasang Pinoy 17: Squash Yema

squash yema.

Thanks to Angelo of Eat Matters who is hosting this month's Lasang Pinoy, a Filipino food blogging event with focus on any egg-based recipe, I had to rummage through my best culinary memory for a dish that can truly be considered Egg's a Deal!

The result is this simple but great-tasting yema; not just any yema, mind you, but a squash or pumpkin yema that my veggie-hating kiddos relished with gusto. Kids always love sweets and so entranced were they with the taste that they forgot it's something they wouldn't eat otherwise if the squash was sauteed with other vegetables or simmered in coconut milk.
A yema is a Filipino round-shaped candy of Spanish origin which counts among its main ingredients egg yolk and condensed milk. The mention of yema evokes memories of my childhood since I always happily munched on this sweet treat and/or cooked this in home economics class.

The recipe for the candy I adapted from "Filipino Cuisine," my favorite local cookbook published by Centro Escolar University.

How to prepare -
toast 1/2 cup pinipigchop three tablespoons of jackfruit or langkaopen one can of condensed milktake out two tablespoons of butter or margarine from the refrigeratorboil and mash one cup of squash, chopped into piecesprepare six pieces egg yolks by using egg separatorchop two tablespoons peanuts or cashew nutstake out three-fourth cup sugar

For the final countdown -

"Mix pinipig and langka in condensed milk. Set aside.
In another bowl, combine butter, squash, egg yolks and cashew nuts. Add to the pinipig mixture and mix thoroughly. Transfer to a heavy saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly. When thick enough to hold its shape, remove from heat. Cool mixture. Form 1/2 tablespoon mixture into balls and roll in sugar. Wrap each in cellophane."

Cook's Notes:
1. Toast the pinipig enough only so as not to burn.
2. The reason why I shy away from buying squash and thereby cooking pinakbet is that it's so difficult to chop. Save kitchen time by buying chopped squash pieces in the market, but make sure it's freshly prepared.
3. The nuts are optional. I omitted them from my recipe and it was still able to hold its own. You can add more pinipig and more squash though.
4. Make the candy more attractive to kids by buying multi-colored wrapper. Enjoy:)

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Banana Choco Cuppacakes
Originally uploaded by annalyn.

My son, who loves anything with chocolate and also adored the banana cake I brought home over Christmas, loved this muffin variation combining both bananas and chocolate chips. It was my first time to bake this after seeing it on Epicurious and am glad it turned out fine.I especially couldn't resist it when it was hot, hot, hot (fresh from the oven!) and the choco chips melted in my mouth like a piece of heaven. Easy to make and a must-try, especially recommended on those days when you want to offer the kids something other than what's on your neighborhood bakery. Besides, there's nothing like home-made!

How to bake these muffins: (Adapted from Epicurious)

Preheat oven to 350F.

Mix 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 2/3 cup sugar, 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder and 1/4 tsp. salt in a large bowl. Mix 1 cup ripe mashed bananas, 1 large egg, 1/2 cup melted butter and 1/4 cup milk in medium bowl. Stir banana mixture into dry ingredients just until blended, then add chocolate chips.

Put batter unto muffin cups then bake until done, about 35 minutes. Makes 12 delicious muffins.

Paksiw na Pata (Vinegar-Simmered Pork Hocks)

Humba
Originally uploaded by annalyn.

In the Visayan province where I come from, we call it "humba" but in Luzon, they call it "paksiw na pata." Whatever the terminology, this pork dish remains one of the desired-for main courses in the Philippines - one that's fit enough for a fiesta. I would think it's a variation of the adobo, the only difference is in the garnishing such as the addition of the banana leaves in the paksiw.

How I cooked: simmer about 1 kilo pork hocks in 2 to 3 cups of water. When half-tender, remove "dirt" that gathers on top. When water has been reduced, add 1 1/2 cup vinegar, 1/3 cup soy sauce, lotsa garlic, and a few pieces whole black pepper. Let boil until hocks are fork-tender. Season with salt and brown sugar. When almost done, add the banana blossoms which you may or may not remove prior to serving.

I do add hard-boiled eggs as it goes well with the delectable sauce that goes with this dish.

Rellenong Talong: A Variation

Rellenong Talong
Originally uploaded by annalyn.

I like eggplants - whether it eggplant parmesan or good ol' piniritong talong with bagoong. And of course I dig the relleno version: the recipe is the same as tortang giniling except that the ground meat sauteed in onion and garlic sits on a bed of fried eggplant which was cut into two.

I saw a revised recipe in Food Magazine and I thought it was a good idea: you can actually add vegetables like Baguio Beans and carrots for a healthier alternative. What more, the veggies can act as extenders to the ground meat which is getting costlier these days.

Other ingredients you might like to add: potatoes, sweet peas, sausages and red pepper.

When I cooked this dish, I thought it was lacking in eggs and so I promise to do better next time. Talk about kitchen hits and misses:)

Adobong blue marlin in creamy sauce

blue marlin in creamy vinegar sauce
Originally uploaded by annalyn.

In a recent gathering, I made blue marlin a la pobre which consisted of the fish fillets being pan-fried in butter then topped with lots of garlic bits.... if you ask me, a good way to serve food to your guests when you are pressed for time. A chef once told me there's no use really drowning meats and seafood in gravies and sauces because this takes away their natural flavors.

But I still had blue marlin fillets left and so tried a blue marlin in creamy sauce recipe from The Best of Food Magazine. I revised this a little because I added left-over sour cream from a salad I made which further improved the quality of the sauce. Here goes:

Slice your blue marlin into cubes then saute in garlic and ginger for about two minutes.

Working quickly,mix vinegar, soy sauce and water as you would in adobo and top with a dash of sugar. Add this mixture to pan-fried fish and simmer for 1 minute.

Add sour cream until sauce is thickened and thoroughly cooked. In the absence of sour cream, mix corn starch with hot water.

Serve the creamy fish cubes and top with green onions, if desired.

Candied Yams with Citrus-Pandan Glaze

Candied Yams
Originally uploaded by annalyn.

Sweet potatoes or yams are quite popular in the Philippines. They are known in local parlance as kamote and can be labelled as "poor man's food" because of their availability. However, there's no reason why you cannot add glamor to this edible tuber which are always in season and sold cheap in Philippine markets. As such, I thought it best to feature this recipe for this month's SHF event, billed Pucker Up With Citrus, by uber-energetic host Alice of My Adventures in the Breadbox.

This native dessert is quite easy to prepare. While the yams take centerstage in the recipe, the citrusy glaze takes the limelight as well. Doubled with the irresistible scent of pandan leaves, it is enough to make you think of sweet memories and special occasions when something good was wafting in the kitchen. Well yes, this was sweet indeed.

Candied Yams
From the recipe of Dorothy MJ Ferreria

1 kilo sweet yellow potatoes or yams

Syrup:

1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup butter
Juice & rind of 1 orange
1/2 cup water
1 pandan leaf, stripped
1/4 cup mango, or pineapple, or orange marmalade
Juice of calamansi lime

Garnish:
red kaong or sago

Procedure:

1. Peel and slice sweet potatoes into large chunks.

2. To make the sauce, pour sugar and water in a large saucepan. Place over medium heat and allow to boil until caramelized to a nice golden brown.

Candied Yams cooking
Originally uploaded by annalyn.

3. Working quickly, pour in butter, juice and rind of 1 orange, water, pandan leaf and orange marmalde. Mix well.

4. Add raw potato chunks and continue cooking on low heat, stirring frequently until tender. Add calamansi lime after cooking for a stronger citrus flavor. Garnish with red sago and kaong.

Not your usual sinigang

Not your usual sinigang
Originally uploaded by annalyn.

When you're tired of your usual sinigang, why not do it differently? This popular Filipino dish need not follow the exact recipe, you can actually mix and match the vegetables according to your liking or what's in season. Here's one recipe I found from a Maggi leaflet:

Native Vegetables and Beef Sinigang

Ingredients:

100 g. beef round, sliced thinly
6 cups water
1/2 cup sliced kalabasa
1/2 cup sliced sigarillas
1/2 cup sitaw, cut into 2 inches long
1/2 cup sliced eggplant
1 27g. Maggi Beef Sinigang Flavor Mix
1/2 cup saluyot

Procedure:

1. Boil beef in water and cook until tender or about 20 minutes.

2. Add vegetables one at a time giving 1 minute interval before adding the next kind.

3. Add sinigang mix and bring to a boil.

4. Add saluyot leaves and turn off the heat.

Note: You may also add gabi. Cut into pieces and mash for a creamier, tastier soup.

Deep-Fried Pompano with Tomato Salsa

Deep-Fried Pompano with Tomato Salsa
Originally uploaded by annalyn.

Pompano (or sole) is not commonly sold in Philippine markets.Maybe it's because this fish is quite expensive..whereas your P70 (a little more than a dollar) can yield you three to four pieces of tilapia, this amount can only give you one piece of medium-sized pompano. My suki (favorite vendor) tells me she supplies the fish to restaurants around the metro.

I like my pompano fried to a crunch and so the problem was just finding the dressing or the salad to go with it.Luckily, I found one recipe in Glenda Barretto's Via Mare Seafood Cookbook which was so easy to adapt in my kitchen. Here goes:

1. Season fish with calamansi (or lemon), salt and pepper.Set aside for at least 15 minutes then fry until golden and crispy.

2. Make the salsa. Combine tomatoes, spring onion, red onion, garlic and chopped coriander in a bowl, then add olive oil and toss. Season with 1 tbsp. fish sauce and arrange over th fish or as a side dish.