There are 2 food blogs that I follow all the time. Both had articles about Paksiw na Isda's history, recipe, and how it is cooked and called from different regions. Surprisingly, both writers of the blogs included veggies like eggplant and ampalaya in their Visayan version. Oh no, no, no, no.... (sigh). First and foremost, the only Paksiw that many bisaya easily recognize would be the lechon paksiw, not pork (its called Humba), not fish (its called Inun-unan). Second, Paksiw, or rather Inun-unan is cooked with no vegetables (that would be Paksiw Tagalog or Kapampangan) except for some edible leaves to hold the fish while it slowly simmers away in local vinegar , salt, and spices (yes, NO WATER). For this blog, I used what's available from my backyard, which are young mango leaves. Ahhh, the smell wafting from my clay pot was priceless. I suggest you invest in at least 1 clay pot or palayok.
Ingredients:
Procedure:
Ingredients:
- any local fish (scaled, gutted, sliced into halves, and seasoned with salt and pepper)
- any local vinegar (store-bought ones are okay, too, but won't smell as good)
- crushed garlic (lots and lots of it. i.e. for a dozen medium sized fish, use 1 big head of garlic)
- sliced onions (lots and lots of it, maybe 2-3 bulbs)
- crushed ginger (lots and lots, like maybe a third of your palm)
- salt
- black pepper (crushed and corns)
- 1 tbsp of ginamos (fermented fish IF AVAILABLE)
- cayenne peppers (siling espada, optional, or bird's eye chilies if you want to spike it up spicy)
- young mango leaves (1 per piece)
- used cooking oil (oil used to fry pork is preferred)
Procedure:
- Mix everything in a bowl, except for the fish, mango leaves, cayenne peppers, and used cooking oil.
- Adjust the taste to your liking.
- Add the fish and gently mix with your hand for 3 minutes or so.
- Wrap each fish with mango leaves and place in a thick pan or clay pot (include some of the spices if you like).
- Pour all the marinade on top including the cayenne peppers.
- Turn heat on medium and wait for it to boil uncovered.
- When it starts to boil, lower the heat to its lowest and simmer away covered for at least 1 hour or until the marinade is almost gone.
- Pour the used cooking oil before transferring the dish to a plate. Add some of the concentrated oily broth.
- Drizzle more used cooking oil upon serving.
- Enjoy with rice with the broth drizzled on it.