Fried Fish With Miswa Noodles

Posted byNoriePosted inRecipe, SeafoodTags:

I was working at the computer figuring what to cook for dinner when I tasted in my mind a dish I have not had in over 50 years.  It was a fish dish that I had when I was just married.  My former mother-in-law cooked this in the weekends when we visited them when I was just married to her son. I never had it or had seen it at other family meals and my own family never cooked it either. 

She used a flounder-like fish (flat fish) common in Manila called Tampalan and she chose the best and freshest fish because she was a fish merchant at a large market in Manila.

I remembered the taste and how it looked so I went from taste memory and tried it.  It was absolutely the same taste as I had eaten before.

I did not have flounder on hand so I thought I would try Pompano and it was superb and I think it is better than a flounder would be.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 Whole Pompano scaled, gilled and gutted but with skin and head left on  
  • ½ onion minced (about 1/2 cup)
  • 1 large clove garlic smashed and minced
  • 4 thin slices ginger root julienned
  • About 1/2 cup miswa noodles broken up in shorter pieces, about 2 1/2 inches long
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • Salt and pepper
  • Cooking Oil

 PROCEDURE:

Slit the fish in one to two places diagonally on both sides.  Salt the fish generously with kosher or sea salt and let stand for a few minutes.

Heat ¼” deep oil in a skillet or frying pan.  Wipe off the salt and dry the fish with paper towels.  Fry the fish until brown on both sides on low-medium heat until brown-crisp. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

Take some of the oil out from the frying pan except 1 TBS or use another skillet and add 1 TBS of the used oil.  Heat the oil then sauté the ginger and garlic for a few seconds in low-medium heat then add the onions and sauté until the onions are soft and translucent.

Add the water wait until it boils and then drop in the misua noodles.  Cook the misua for a minute or two then add the fish.  Add black pepper and adjust your salt seasoning to your taste.  Simmer for a minute while spooning some of the juice and noodles over the top of the fish. Transfer to a plate and serve with rice.

Make sure you taste it first before adding more salt because the fish has already been salted and the misua noodles also have salt.

This is not a dry dish but has a little water in it but you can add more water if you like it a little soupier to spoon on your rice at the table.