Fish Escabeche

I chose this recipe since it's Holy Week and for Catholics all over the world, it's time to make a little sacrifice and abstain from meat in all our meals, especially on Good Friday.





Ingredients

Fish - red snapper, either whole or fillet of mackerel (actually, any frying fish will do nicely)
Oil for frying
Salt
Calamansi juice (or lemon or lime juice)
Green and red bell peppers, cut julienne style
Ginger, cut julienne style
Extra ginger (pounded)
Onion - sliced
Garlic - sliced or pounded
Pineapple juice
Pineapple chunks
Sugar
Tomato Sauce or tomato catsup
Vinegar
Cornstarch to thicken the sauce



Instructions

Rub salt on fish (outside and inside after splitting the abdomen and taking the guts out). Fry in hot oil. Set aside.

Pound extra ginger, add a little bit of water and squeeze the juice out. Collect juice. Set aside.

To make the sweet and sour sauce:

In another frying pan, heat oil, then add sliced onions and pounded garlic, stir fry. When the onion has become transparent and the garlic pieces become brown, add the strips of ginger and the green and red bell peppers. Stir fry. Add pineapple juice and tomato sauce or catsup for coloring. If you desire a sweeter sauce, add sugar; for more sour taste, add vinegar. Add pineapple chunks. And don't forget the ginger juice. This is really the secret of a good sweet sour sauce. the zesty taste of ginger. Thicken with a little bit of cornstarch. Simmer for about 3-4 minutes.

You can now pour this over the fried fish and serve. However, I prefer the fish to be cooked a little bit in the sauce so it could absorb the flavor. To do this, put the fish into the simmering sauce and simmer for another 3-4 minutes.

Serve hot.