Escabeche Recipe

Despite its name, Escabeche is more Chinese than Spanish if you consider the ingredients. The dish is mainly fish cooked in sweet-and-sour sauce. Of course, the ingredients and preparation have been “Filipinized” all through the years.

Ingredients:

– ½ kilo of fish (make sure to get the fleshy parts)
– 1 teaspoon of garlic, roughly chopped
– 1 ½ to 2 cups of cooking oil
– Few slices of ginger
– 1 carrot, sliced
– 1 bell pepper, sliced
– 1 teaspoon of garlic, minced
– 1 tomato, sliced into eights
– 1 teaspoon of garlic, minced
– 1 onion, sliced into eights
– Ginger, cut into matchstick pieces
– Salt

For the sweet-and-sour sauce:

– ½ carrot piece, thinly sliced or diced
– 1 small piece of ginger, thinly sliced
– 1 bell pepper, julienned
– 1 tomato, diced
– 6 tablespoons of sugar
– 3 tablespoons of vinegar
– 1 teaspoon of salt
– ½ teaspoon of hot chili sauce
– 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
– 1 tablespoon of cornstarch
– 1 cup of water
– Sesame seed oil

How to Cook:

1. Rub the skin and flesh of the fish with garlic, salt and ginger.

2. Heat cooking oil in a skillet. When it starts to smoke, fry the fish over high heat until it turns golden brown. Remove from the oil afterwards and let it rest on paper towels to remove excess grease.

3. For the sweet-and-sour sauce, mix together the sugar, water, vinegar, chili sauce, salt, tomato paste and starch in a saucepan. Cook in medium heat until the mixture becomes thick.

4. On a separate pan, heat a teaspoon of oil then add the carrots. Stir for one minute then add the onion, bell pepper, ginger, tomato and garlic. Stir this for 15 seconds then pour in the sweet-and-sour sauce. Bring to a boil then turn off the stove. Add some drops of sesame oil then pour over the fried fish. Serve.