Prepare a deep-fried Sea Bass, a restaurant-quality dish that punches all the right flavors.
Sea bass is one of the many fish species cultured in Southeast Asia due to its high market value and demand. In the Philippines, Asian sea bass is commonly known as “Apahap” and it lives in freshwater, brackish and marine habitats.
It was only in the 90s when the fish had a breakthrough in the market. Later on, sea bass’ juicy textured flesh and attractive silver skin have appealed to the international and local fine dining plate.
Although it has a fancy background, Filipinos have found a way to make pang-masa dishes out of this fish and one of these is the deep-fried sea bass with tanglad and wansoy.
Cook like the finest chef in town with these steps:
Deep Fried Seabass with Tanglad and Wansoy
Ingredients
1 whole Sarangani Bay Sea bass, cleaned, gutted and scaled
3 stalks lemongrass, shredded
2 cups oil for deep frying
2 tbsp garlic cloves minced
1 tbsp ginger, minced
1 long red chili finely chopped
2 stalks spring onions, finely sliced
1 tbsp Gin
1 tbsp Fish sauce
3 tbsp Brown sugar
1/4 cup water
3 tbsp Rice vinegar
1/4 tsp white pepper ground
1/2 cup Wansoy to garnish
Procedure
1. Pat dry your fish thoroughly. Stuff lemongrass inside the fish. With a sharp knife, make a couple of slits into the flesh of the fish on both sides. Make sure not to cut all the way down to the bone.
2. Heat oil in your wok to 180°C (350°F). Deep fry the fish until it is golden brown and cooked through. Remove fish from the oil and place on wire rack to drain while you prepare the sauce.
3. Place 1 tablespoon of your deep frying oil in a medium size saucepan and add garlic, ginger, and chili and spring onion. Fry until fragrant.
4. Add gin, soy sauce, fish sauce, brown sugar, water, rice vinegar, and white pepper to the pan. Stir well and bring to a boil. As soon as it reaches boiling point, remove immediately from the heat.
5. Place fried fish on to a serving platter and scatter with half teh coriander. Pour the sauce over the fish and garnish with the remaining coriander and lemongrass.
Serve with steamed rice.
