SINANGLAY is a Bicolano dish that has fish wrapped in pechay or gabi leaves and cooked in coconut milk with minced onion and ginger, diced tomatoes and chopped shrimps. It is a very flavorful dish which I recently ‘discovered’ when I was searching for new ways to cook fish for my husband Raff. He had a stroke last year and is in the process of recovery, and since I personally take care of his needs, I am also the one who cooks and prepares his meals, so everything has to be delicious but healthy and nutritious at the same time. This is why I keep searching for new recipes to try. I google, flip the pages of cookbooks and food magazines, ask my elder sisters and my chef-friends and do my own experiments in the kitchen.
The sinanglay happens to be one of my best recipe finds. I first tried it with hasa-hasa and it turned out to be so good I decided to try doing the sauce with lightly grilled tanigue steak. It works! Perhaps if I wrap the tanigue steak with pechay and then cook it in the sauce like regular hasa-hasa, it would also work. That will have to wait till the next time because I prefer grilling fish on a cooktop grill pan, as grilling gives the fish a lightly smoky flavor that makes the fish even more delectable.
This is the recipe. Let me know how it turns out when you try it in your own kitchen.
For the tanigue steak:
2 pcs. tanigue steak slices
2-3 pcs. calamansi, juiced and seeds removed
salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. olive oil
extra olive oil for grilling
1. Season tanigue steaks with calamansi juice, salt, pepper, garlic and 1 Tbsp. olive oil.
2. Brush cooktop grill pan with olive oil, heat up, then grill fish steaks. Position tanigue fillet at an angle, grill for 5 minutes, then turn to the other angle to form diamond-shaped grill marks. Cook for another 3 minutes. Flip fish over and do the same to effect diamond-shaped grill marks.
3. Arrange on a plate, and spoon sinanglay sauce generously over the fish steaks.
For the sinanglay sauce:
1-2 Tbsps. vegetable oil
3-4 slices ginger, peeled and minced
1 pc. small red onion, minced
3 pcs. native tomatoes, deseeded and diced
1/3 cup peeled and chopped shrimps
1-1/2 cups coconut milk
1 tsp. ground turmeric
salt, pepper and patis (fish sauce) to taste
liquid seasoning to taste
1. Heat oil in pan. Sauté ginger, onion, tomatoes and shrimps until cooked.
2. Mix ground turmeric into the coconut milk. Pour into the sautéed mixture.
3. Season with salt, pepper and fish sauce. Sprinkle with a little liquid seasoning.
4. Let boil, then lower flame to a simmer.
5. Ladle or spoon sauce over the fish steaks and serve with hot, freshly cooked rice.
