Bangus sa Tausi (Milkfish with Black Beans)

Along with sarciado and sweet-and-sour, cooking bangus in tausi is another way to rejuvenate leftover fried fish to serve as another dish for another meal.

When I do my weekly grocery shopping, I usually make use of our nearby Asian supermarket’s service of frying fish for free. This extra service is heaven-sent, very convenient and pain-free. The red mark of hot-oil splatter from the pork chops I pan-fried for dinner the other night still sits angrily on my left cheek! So yesterday, I had three bangus cleaned, gutted, sliced and fried while I browsed the store for this and that.With the already fried fish steaks nicely wrapped in foil when I left the store, all I had to prepare for dinner was the oriental vegetable dish, chopsuey, that I paired with the fish. And what a good tandem it was! But probably because I am used to quantity cooking at work or maybe because I am not as good a cook as I presumed to be, I always seem to miscalculate my family’s appetite. Everyone was stuffed to their gills and still one whole bangus left. Good thing, mother salvaged it with this bangus sa tausi recipe and was thus enjoyed by me today at lunch.

Makes 4 Servings

1 whole bangus, cleaned, scaled and cut into 4-5 steaks
2/3 cup black beans, cooked
1 tomato, diced
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tsp fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup water
vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a wide pan. Fry fish slices until golden brown on both sides. Set aside.
In a skillet, heat oil. Saute onions and garlic until translucent.
Add tomatoes. Continue to saute until tomatoes become tender.
Add black beans.
Pour water in. Allow to simmer for around 2-4 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Add browned fish steaks. Cover and continue to simmer for 4-7 minutes, with the sauce slightly reduced.

TIPS:
1) If using fermented black beans, rinse before adding to tomato-onion mixture as they are usually packed in brine and thus salty.
2) I used the leftover bangus that were fried crispy but we are assuming in this recipe that freshly-fried fish is being used. Brown fish only and do not cook through.
3) Check out tilapia with black bean sauce in the archive for another delicious fish recipe.