The Happy Home Cook: Beer Boneless Bangus Belly

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Beer Boneless Bangus Belly (Photo by Rene Astudillo)

You don’t have to be a gourmet chef to use wine or beer in your cooking. Recipes that include some alcohol as an ingredient are commonplace in many cuisines worldwide.

This recipe is my take on the Chinese-style beer fish.  My twist? I used boneless Bangus (milkfish) belly popular in the Philippines.  Additionally, I didn’t have light beer on hand (I prepared this recipe in the midst of an Enhanced Community Quarantine because of the Covid-19 pandemic which included a ban on the sale of liquor), so I used a “stronger” kind of Philippine beer called Red Horse.  The results were surprisingly amazing!

So the next time you open up a bottle of beer, save some for your cooking, will you?

Ingredients

2 pieces, Bangus belly

2 small fresh tomatoes, quartered

2 small white onions, peeled and quartered

1 ripe mango, peeled and cut into tiny cubes

3-4 cloves, garlic, peeled and crushed

2-inch ginger, peeled and cut into matchsticks

2 tbsps. soy sauce

2 tbsps. Oyster sauce

4 ounces, beer

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tbsps. Olive oil

Directions

Thoroughly wash the Bangus belly, pat dry with paper towel and rub with salt and pepper to season.  In a small bowl, mix soy sauce, Oyster sauce and beer. Heat a deep frying pan or wok on high heat until smoking. Reduce heat to low and add Olive oil.  When oil is hot, add the fish with skin side down until crispy.  Flip over the fish and add garlic, onions, ginger and tomatoes, spreading them across the pan. Pour over the sauce mixture. Ensure that the fish is fully coated. Continue cooking for another 3-5 minutes.  Turn the heat off.  Carefully transfer the Bangus belly, sauce and ingredients into a serving platter. Add the mango slices to garnish.

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Rene Astudillo

Rene Astudillo is a writer, book author and blogger and has recently retired from more than two decades of nonprofit community work in the Bay Area. He spends his time between California and the Philippines.

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