The Best Fish Dish Ever: Bangus Sardines

                    We love Bangus. We always buy a lot of fresh Bangus from Pangasinan. On top of that, we also love Bangus Spanish Sardines, that is why we always buy a box of it from our favorite store in the province. We sell it and we keep some for our own consumption. Due to the quarantine, we were not able to go home for a long time so we decided to make Bangus Sardines on our own.

                    Since it is just for our own consumption, we skipped the preservation process. We came up with 2 flavors, Bangus Sardines in Spicy Sauce and Bangus Sardines in Salt and Oil Sauce.

 

 Bangus Sardines

Ingredients:

water

rock salt

2 large bangus, cleaned, scales intact

1/4 cup bay leaves

1 large carrot, peeled and cut into florets

1 head garlic, peeled and crushed

1/4 cup green olives, pitted

1/4 cup pickles

1 tablespoon peppercorns

2 cups olive oil

 

For Spicy Sauce just add:

12 chili peppers

2 tablespoon gochugaru powder

Procedure:

1. Combine 6 cups cold water and 3/4 cup rock salt. Stir until salt is dissolved. Soak sliced Bangus for about 30 minutes. Drain well.

2. In a pressure cooker, layer bay leaves, carrots, and garlic to cover the bottom of the cooker. Arrange fish in a single layer over the vegetable and spices.

3. Add green olives, sliced sweet pickles, peppercorns. (Add chili peppers and gochugaru powder for spicy sauce)

4. Season with 1 tablespoon rock salt.

5. Add olive oil over the fish.

6. Add enough water to fully cover the fish at about 1 inch.

7. Close and lock the lid of the pressure cooker. Cook over medium heat until the valve begins to whistle.

8. Lower heat and continue to cook for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and release the pressure.

9. Transfer into airtight containers or microwavable containers.

                    We also sell the Homemade Bangus Sardines for just 100 pesos per microwavable container. It is also a versatile dish. We sometimes use it to make pasta or to simply eat it with some lettuce salad or tomato and onion salad.

                    It is also our favorite breakfast dish, it is best eaten with spiced sunny side up egg. We love making it as well for family getaways since it can be prepared in advance.

                    And of course, it is also meant as a gift to family and friends. We usually prepare it as a pasalubong from the province or as a simple gift during the holidays.