Stuffed, Rolled, and Wrapped, Philippine Style

Philippine cuisine is Southeast Asia's most under-appreciated (except by Filipinos); it's probably for this reason that Salcedo Market, a once-a-week outdoor affair in Makati, Manila's business district, is so little known. Were Salcedo - a juried collection of stalls offering a bounty of Philippine regional (and some international) foods - located in Singapore or Bangkok or Saigon it be known to Southeast Asia-bound globe-trotting foodies. Instead it's bounty is left to the purvey of mostly locals, expats, and the occasional tourist.

On this day Dave and I've come to Salcedo in search of neither lechon nor piaya (though we'll end up sampling plenty of each), but for bangus relleno: grilled milkfish, boned and stuffed with a mixture that includes its own chopped meat. Dave was lucky enough to nab some on a solo jaunt to Salcedo in February (while I lay in our hotel room, felled by the flu) and I've been waiting for a chance to partake.

Alas, by the time we make our way to the front of the queue the relleno is sold out, and we're obliged to settle for milkfish stuffed merely with chopped vegetables. Yet as we soon find out, we're isn't 'settling' at all, for this version of grilled fish is a delicious dish in its own right.

Dead simple to prepare, the dish starts with a mix of chopped red onions, green chilies, and tomatoes seasoned with dark soy, and kalamansi juice.

The steps in the assembly line behind the grill fall in this order: the boned, butterflied fish is laid flat, skin side down, on a piece of banana leaf laid on top of a piece of tin foil.

It's rubbed with coarse salt and kalamansi juice,

and spread with a generous mound of vegetables drained of their soy and kalamansi sauce.

The fish is rolled tightly in its tin foil packet, but the head end is left open so that a ladel of sauce can be spooned in. Once the packet is completely sealed it spends about 15 minutes or so over the coals, the fish cooking away in all that lovely citrus-soy juice.

The fish emerges from the packet moist, fragrant, and bit piquant from chilies and kalamansi, and the vegetables are perfectly cooked, the onions having lost their harshness, the tomatoes still holding a bit of shape, and the chilies toothsome. A little extra uncooked sauce on the side makes for a nice dipping sauce.

Hot-off-the-barbie fish bundles in hand, we stake out a position at one of Salcedo's crowded picnic tables and dig in.

Salcedo Market Stuffed and Grilled Fish

Most any firm-fleshed fish would do for the this recipe; at home we've used red snapper and mackerel. A completely boned, butterflied fish is ideal, but we've also done well with mostly-boned, backbone-intact specimens. The idea is to create as much space in the belly of the fish as possible, because the more stuffing, the better.

This is not a dish that calls for the tastiest, juiciest, heirloom tomatoes. For this recipe, use firm tomatoes with a bit of tartness - green tomatoes would even work. Chilies should not be overwhelmingly fiery - you don't want to overpower the taste of the fish. We like more heat than most, achieved in this dish by chopping up a few bird chilies and adding them to the leftover raw vegetables-dipping sauce. We also found a bit of chopped coriander to be a nice addition.

If it's not grilling weather bake the fish in the oven, at around 220C or 400F for 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of your fish.

3-4 medium firm tomatoes, chopped

1 medium red onion (or 6 or so red shallots), chopped

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

7 or 8 long green chilies, chopped

2 1/2 Tbsp DARK soy

3 Tbsp kalamansi juice (susbstite lime juice or 3/4 lime juice and 1/4 orange juice)

1/2 tsp sugar

banana leaf (optional)

vegetable oil

1 medium-sized whole firm-fleshed fish, head and tail on - boneless and butterflied or mostly boned and opened as wide as it will go

coarse salt

2 or 4 kalamansi halves, depending on size of fish

bird chilies or other very hot chilies, chopped (optional)

1/2 bunch cilantro, finely chopped (optional)

additional kalamansi or lime (optional)

1. Mix together the tomatoes, onion, garlic, mild chilies, sugar, soy, and kalamansi juice and allow to sit for 14 minutes. Taste for saltiness and tartness, add soy and/or kalamansi or sugar if necessary.

2. Spread a piece of tin foil (doubled over, if not heavy-duty) big enough to enclose the fish on your countertop, shiny side up. Place banana leaf, if using, cut to width of body of fish in middle of foil. (If not using banana leaf, very thinly coat tin foil with cooking oil.

3. Place the fish on the foil or leaf (skin side down, if butterflied) and rub its flesh with salt; follow with kalamansi juice. If fish is butterflied, mound filling (drained and juice reserved or spooned from bowl with a strainer) over fish almost to edges. If the fish isn't butterflied, fill it with as much drained stuffing as it will hold without gaping open too wide.

4. Wrap the fish tightly on all but the head end. Hold the package upright and pour in a generous spoonful or two of sauce. Close the head end tightly.

5. Grill, turning 3 times, 15-20 minutes (depending on size of fish) or bake 15-20 minutes at 400F (220C), turning once.

6. Optional: While the fish is cooking stir chopped cilantro and/or chopped hot chilies into leftover sauce.

7. Serve with rice (the fish is also tasty with a nice crusty baguette!), dipping sauce and kalamansi or lime wedges on the side.

Comments

[Marvin]

Thanks so much for this post! Stuffed bangus is one of my favorites that my mom makes. I've always wanted to try and make it myself, but the process of taking the meat out and then restuffing seemed so difficult. Your version looks much easier and just as tasty!

[renato]

Yum! The first picture makes me want to have rellenong bangus this early in the morning (and yes I've had them for breakfast, mostly leftover from parties the night before.)

[MyF]

Hi, you have very nice photos & I like your site! Keep it up!

[juls]

yummm... we do this at home too! our variation on this one is this:

marinate the bangus in dark soy sauce (silver swan, kikkoman), kalamansi juice, garlic and onions

lay the marinated bangus (milkfish) on the foil butterflied belly up

season the white marinated meat with black pepper

then, place a row of sliced white onions on one side of the belly and tomatoes on the other side (last time, we tried pimientoes and it tasted great)

fold the fish and wrap the foil around it

grill until so desired

yummm... goes well with sinamak (bacolod's spiced vinegar)

you ought to make your own sinamak: empty bottle + chillies + peppercorns + ginger + garlic + pour cane/palm vinegar on top.... let it ferment... enjoy!

[Nate]

Robyn,

Absolutely amazing. Thanks for the recipe. Wonder if it'll work with trout?

[cd3]

Nate- yes trout would work, we often use it as a bangus substitute here in South America, although you would have to grill it longer as trout tends to be a lot meatier.

[danney]

When is the best day to visit Salcedo Market? Is it open everyday? I'm from the Philippines but live here in Los Angeles. I always go on vacation in the Philippines

[Robyn]

Marvin - you're welcome. I love bangus too -- but wouldn't want to attempt deboning it myself.

Renato - fish for breakfast is not a problem. In fact, there's not much that I wouldn't eat for breakfast, as long as it is tasty!

MyF - thanks and welcome!

Juls - we've got some cane and palm vinegar ... I may give that sinamak a try!

Nate - I would definately do it with trout.

cd3 - thanks for stepping in. I was busy stuffing my mouth in Penang for a few days. ;-)

danney - Salcedo is Saturday only, from about 7a-2:30. A lot of stuff is starting to sell out by noon, though. Go hungry - you can spend an entire morning eating there!

[ADB]

There's a variation on the lechon at the Salcedo Market where the pig is prepared in such a way as to resemble peking duck. it's butterflied, roasted, fried and eaten wrapped in a pancake with hoisin and spring onions and if you close your eyes, it's as if you're eating one and the same. And you're right about going hungry and spend the whole day eating-- exactly what i did last time i was in manila and it was one of the highlights of my two week trip.

[joey]

Thanks for this lovely post! I am a resident of Makati and I go to Salcedo market as often as I can :) I haven't tried the particular rellenong bangus/stuffed bangus there but I will now (bangus is one of my favorite fish...have you tried it smoked? Tinapang bangus)!

It was so nice to see this post today :)

[Robyn]

ADB - I've heard about prichon, and mentioned it in our Wall Street Journal Asia article on lechon, but didn't get around to it at Salcedo ... after sampling both the Cebuano and Luzon versions of the pig, a few bud-bud, some tsokolate, more than a few piaya, and this fish, I just didn't have room (if you can imagine that). Next time! ;-)

Joey - I hesitate to hold up my Philippine food recommendations to the scrutiny of Filipinos ... hopefully you'll find this version up to snuff. We certainly enjoyed it.

[corrine]

cd3, salcedo mkt is open only every saturday I think from 7 am to 2 pm

[Bubbles Dela Cruz]

Hello there.
Could anyone help me find the organizer of the Salcedo Market? because we want to ask the organizer to put one in our place. Thanks a lot.

[Aurora AbudeSchaefrer]

Hello Kababayans & Phil. friends,
Like most Filipinos living outside the Phil., we in Germany/Europe hope for ready to eat Phil. foodstuffs. It is a fact that
our Phil. cuisine is different from other
Asians, because of our multi-cultural heritage. Hence we have different taste. "Bangus" of course and "Bagoong Alamang, Daing, Phil. Mangoes, Pili Nuts are definitely ours. Leyte is currently processing "Boneless Bangus", hopingly they can export soon, inasmuch as the current supply do not reach us here. I read at the Google search : Eastern Visayas Click rdc8.ph about this with the assistance of
a Japanese Investor.
Well, if we can buy our ethnic food outside
the Phil., this will also help our poor
"Kababayans" there. Everybody will be happy.
Best wishes!!!