Easy Fish and Seafood Filipino Recipes

Fish and Seafood are staple food in the Philippines. Early Filipinos have their own native way of cooking but their exposure to Spanish, Chinese and American cuisine have caused them to improve, modify and create new and varied ways of cooking. Filipinos have substitute ingredients that are available in the locality to give the dishes the Filipino touch, taste and flavor.

If you like to try some recipes, here  are some simple and nutritious way to cook fish and seafood. These  recipe are easy to cook, I am not an expert in the kitchen, but I can cook these recipes, if I can cook it, anyone can do it . . . Enjoy!!!

1. Fried Fish Steaks (Fish Sarciado)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 med. sized fish
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp garlic minced
• 1 onion chopped
• 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 green onions chopped

You will also need fish sauce, salt, and cooking oil.

PROCEDURE:

1. In a bowl sprinkle the fish with salt and lemon juice. Let stand about 20 minutes.
2. In frying pan heat oil and fry the fish until light brown on both sides, remove the fish from the frying pan drain on paper towel and transfer to serving dish and set aside.
3. In another pan, sauté, garlic, onions and tomatoes in 2 tbsp. oil until mushy. Add fish sauce and water.
4. Add the fish to simmering sauce, cover and cook for about 2 minutes, turning fish once. This is to let the flavour infuse into the fish.
5. Arrange the fish on a plate and pour the sauce onto the fish, garnished with chopped green onions. Serve with boiled rice.

If you have left over fried fish, this is one way you can recycle, when I was young, we always have this for dinner , my mum don’t like wasting food. Another variation of this dish is to add 1 slightly beaten egg just before turning off the heat.

2. Crabs in Coconut Cream

INGREDIENTS

5- 6 crabs
5 cloves garlic, crushed
1  ginger, size of a thumb, pounded
1 onion, chopped
1-3 pcs of hot chillies
2 cans (400 mls each) of coconut cream
1 small bunch of English spinach, cut into desired size

Salt to taste

PROCEDURE:

• Place crabs in a saucepan. Add garlic, ginger, onion and coconut cream.
• Bring to boil for 10 minutes while stirring constantly.
• Let boil until crabs turn reddish.
• Add English spinach and the chili, cook 2 minutes.
• Season to taste with salt.
  
  

3. Paksiw - Fish Stewed in Vinegar

Paksiw is a native term for pickling fish or meat. It is cooked in vinegar, salt, ginger and a little water. Ginger is an essential ingredients for fish paksiw. It removes the fishy taste of the fish.

Paksiw can also be cooked with vegetables. The best vegetables that goes well with paksiw are bittermelon, eggplant, okra, the long green chili is a must.

Below is a basic Paksiw recipe.

Milkfish stewed in vinegar / Paksiw na Bangus

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 milkfish , cleaned but with scales
• ½ c vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 1 piece ginger, slightly crushed
• 1 tsp salt.
• 2 long green pepper / chili

PROCEDURE:

1. In a saucepan, cover the fish with water and vinegar, add the ginger and sprinkle with salt.
2. Bring to a boil, DO NOT STIR.
3. Let it simmer until the fish is done. Add the chili before turning off the heat.
4. Serve with white boiled rice.

4 Camaron Rebosado (Deep Fried Prawns)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 kilo prawn
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 c all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp white pepper

PROCEDURE;

1. Remove heads and skin of the prawn leaving the tails intact.
2. In a bowl beat eggs until thick, add salt,pepper and flour.
3. Dip each prawn in the mixture and deep fry until golden brown
4. Serve with sweet-sour sauce.

5. Mussel Soup

INGREDIENTS

• 3 cups mussels with shell
• 1 ginger - slice into julienne strips
• 1 onion sliced
• Spinach leaves

PROCEDURE:

• Clean the mussels with water
• In a saucepan , sauté in oil the ginger and  onion, add fish sauce.
• Pour the mussels and then add water until it boils, once the shells are opened, add spinach leaves. Simmer for about 2-3 minutes.
• Add pepper and salt to taste.
• Serve hot

I have added a list of different names of local fishes and shellfishes available in the Philippines. Or if you are using a recipe that calls for a fish which you don't know. I hope this list will be useful.

List of Common Local Fishes

List of common local shellfish

Reference: Philipine Cookery and Household hints by Herminia Villacorta

Comments

dodong on December 06, 2014:

very useful!

Fishy on July 11, 2013:

The talimusak featured in your photo is a large dilis called twakang. Fyi.

ruby maristela on January 09, 2013:

I like their way in cooking. thank you for sharing

gennrie on August 19, 2012:

hmmmmm........... looks delicious

yandhi yudhi d on September 24, 2011:

well, the name of fish in your country is not same with my country ( indonesia ) but its ok....

thanks for your list name...

regard's

yandhi yudhi d

edna of zamboanga city on August 18, 2011:

thanks net for posting filipino recipes...love it

Neth Muena on August 17, 2011:

Thank u...good luck and more power to the Group...god bless us all..amen..love Neth

melodyandes on August 13, 2011:

Oh really? Are these Philippine sea foods? Great knowldege here.

jill of alltrades from Philippines on May 03, 2010:

Hmmmm...yummy!!! All of these are my favorites!

Thanks for sharing MM!

DeBorrah K Ogans on April 26, 2010:

M M Del Rosario, Great Seafood recipes! Looking forward to those Prawns! Thank you for sharing, Peace & Blessings!

David on April 25, 2010:

The crabs in coconut recipe looks delicious, thanks for sharing.

MM Del Rosario (author) from NSW, Australia on April 25, 2010:

Hi Maven,

I never thought about it, I grow up eating and cooking paksiw but never question why, I don't have to remove the scales. We never eat the scales, I don't know if it adds flavour?

Hmmm. . . I will do a bit of experiment and I will try to cook it without the scales and see if there is any difference.

Thanks for dropping by and regards. MM

Larry Conners from Northern Arizona on April 25, 2010:

Interesting recipes from the Philippines...My favorite is the deep fried prawns...

Question: Why would you ever leave the scales on a fish? The milkfish recipe sounds interesting but leaving the scales on doesn't make sense to me...is there something I'm missing here..?

Thank you for sharing these recipes with us...Larry