The Happy Home Cook: Pompano with Chili and Pineapple

The Happy Home Cook features cherished recipes of Filipino dishes from well-known foodies and contributors. If you have a recipe that you are proud of and would like to share, please send it along with a photo of the dish, your two-sentence bio and your picture to submissions@positivelyfilipino.com.

Pompano with Chili and Pineapple (Photo by Francis Abraham of Paradigm)

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 whole pompano, about 1 kilo, cleaned

Oil for deep frying

Cooking for sautéing

5 cloves garlic, chopped

4 finger chilies, chopped

4. tbsp.. fish sauce

1 tbsp. sugar

1 tbsp. tamarind water (recipe below)

1 cup cubed fresh pinapple

Procedure

1.     Clean the fish well and pat dry. In a frying pan, deep-fry the fish until golden brown. Set aside to drain on paper towels.

2.     Make the sauce: Put a little of the oil into the saucepan. Sauté the garlic and chilies. Add the fish sauce, sugar and tamarind water. Boil until the mixture thickens then add the pineapple. Simmer for 1 minute.

3.     Place the fish on a platter, pour sauce over the fish and garnish with chilies carved into flowers. Serve hot.

Cooking Lesson

1.     Before frying, score the fish lightly in a diamond pattern. This will ensure that the fish will not only cook through but will also have an attractive design.

2.     Fry the fish in very hot oil to make it crunchy outside and soft inside.

3.     To make tamarind water: Pour warm water (about ¼ cup) over 3 peeled tamarind fruits. Soak to soften pulp, and mash the fruit to loosen pulp. Strain and discard the seed casings and seeds. Tamarind water keeps indefinitely in the refrigerator. 

First published in “Cooking Lessons” by Beth Romualdez

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Beth Romualdez

“An active founding member of the International Wine and Food Society Manila Ladies Branch, Beth is a food and beverage consultant and cooking teacher, who established Bon Appetit Culinary Studio-the country’s first gourmet cooking school for Rustan’s.

Her passion for food and cooking has given her an extensive culinary education. She has taken professional courses at the Culinary Institute of America; and honed her skills in Italian cooking, Balinese and Indonesian, Thai, Lao and Vietnamese cooking and Asian fusion at various cooking schools around the world.

Beth owned and operated a franchise in the United States and has provided food and beverage consultancy services to a major country club. She also set-up the Gallery of Culinary Arts and gave private lessons for cooking enthusiasts and professionals in the U.S. and Manila.

Beth is a founding member of the Slow Food Manila Convivium.” – Cooking Lessons