Pinangat Na Isda

I don’t know how to explain the word “pinangat”.  But this is fish that is simmered in its own juice. 

We make this dish with very small fishes that look like Angel Fish or “Silver Dollar Fish” called “dalangat” or “sapsap”, cooked with calamansi juice with very little water or none at all. 

Oh, I miss those little fishes and this dish that I liked so much.  They are a little trouble to eat because of the small bones but it’s worth the effort.  I don’t know how many times I suffered from some bones stuck in my throat but it never made me shy away from them.

You’ll never find dalangat fish (much smaller than sapsap) here in the States, not even frozen.  And they have to be very fresh when you buy them at the market that you look for the foamy looking slime that covers them.  That assures the freshness of the fish. 

Sometimes they were cooked with just chopped tomatoes and chopped onions with calamansi with a little salt and sometimes just plain calamansi and salt and allowed to simmer for a just a minute or two.  I prefer it cooked without the tomatoes and onions. I put some of the juice on my rice then dip it in Patis and calamansi, I ate so much that I couldn’t breath.

I tried the same recipe or procedure with Swai fish because it has a delicate texture.  It turned out very good.  Not comparable but still very good.  

These are small, self-caught Whiting fishes that I cooked with the juice of a few calamansi from my tree.  The flavor is good but still cannot compare to the real thing, the small fishes that I talked about above.  Nevertheless, it really satisfied the cravings and my taste buds are quieted down.  I ate them all by myself, of course with plenty of rice, and a platito of calamansi juice with patis but not in one sitting.

Procedure:

Layer the cleaned fishes in a non-corrosive pan. Sprinkle some salt (about 1/2 tsp) on them. Add 3 to 4 tablespoon of lemon juice or calamansi juice and about 1/2 cup water. Allow to boil then turn the heat down to low as soon as it boils. Cover and simmer for a few minutes until the fish are done, about 5 minutes making sure the fish don’t stick at the bottom. Taste and adjust the salt.