Escabecheng Tonto

There are two interesting stories that go with this dish. First is the tonto part. Tonto, literally meaning stupid, is the name of the fish. My husband was in Marikina City yesterday and, since the kids were again hankering for fish (we had catfish and tilapia earlier this week), I asked if he could pass by the Marikina public market to buy some. There is an old lady there from whom we regularly buy our fish whenever we do our marketing in Marikina. So, he did. I was expecting he would buy the usual tilapia or maya-maya but he came home announcing he had two beautiful pieces of tonto. I said, “what?” He smiled and explained that the old lady was trying to sell him a 3-kilo maya-maya which, of course, was too much for us. When he told her so, she suggested tonto. Since we had been buying from her for months, and we trust the quality of the fish she sells, he decided to try the tonto. He had already set his mind on sweet and sour fish for dinner.

Tonto is a medium-sized fleshy fish. The two pieces you see on the photo weighed 1^1/4 kilograms. It is not an oily fish like salmon. The bones are easy enough to spot and pick, hence, it isn’t difficult to eat. Tonto has very fine scales. If you’re planning on deep-frying it, there really is no need to scrape off the scales; they are so fine that they will turn crisp after deep-frying.

That’s the first story.

The second story has to do with the escabeche part of the name. Escabeche, or pickled, is the Filipino counterpart for Chinese sweet and sour dishes. Traditionally, Chinese style sweet and sour sauce is red. Now I’ve been told by a friend who grew up in Marikina that in his hometown, escabeche is cooked with achara (atsara). Interesting, I thought, a paler version of sweet and sour dishes.

So I wanted to try the Marikina-style escabeche. There was just one problem. My husband and kids would look for the thick Chinese style sauce. There was also the fact that my younger daughter and I both have bad colds and a vinegar-based sauce might irritate our throats even more. I thought, something milder… The photo you see is the result of all these considerations.

Ingredients :

2 medium-sized tonto (actually, any fleshy fish will do)
salt and pepper
about 2-3 c. of cooking oil (depending on the size of your fish and the size of the skillet) for deep frying
1 carrot, julienned
3 stalks of celery, cut diagonally into 1″ lengths
1 onion, halved and sliced thinly
1 tsp. of finely minced garlic
1 tsp. of finely chopped ginger
3/4 c. of freshly-squeezed kalamansi (native lemon) juice, or lemon juice
1 c. cup of water
1 tsp. of salt
3/4 c. (or more, depending on your taste) of light brown sugar
1 tbsp. of tapioca or corn starch

Cooking procedure :

Wash and clean the fish. Score (means to make slashes across the body) the fish and season with salt and pepper inside and out.

Heat a heavy skillet or wok. Pour in the cooking oil and heat until smoking. Over very high heat, deep fry the fish one at a time if your skillet or wok cannot hold both of them at the same time. Cook until the outside is golden and quite crisp. Turn the fish over to cook both sides evenly. Drain on paper towels and arrange on a serving platter. Keep warm.

Make the sauce. Mix together the kalamansi or lemon juice, sugar, salt and starch.

In a small saucepan, place 2 tbsps. of the hot oil from the skillet. Reheat. Saute the garlic and ginger until fragrant. Add the carrot and celery and cook over high heat, stirring, for about 45 seconds. Add the sliced onion and cook for another 20 seconds. Pour in the kalamansi mixture and cook, stirring, until thick and clear.

Ladle the sauce and vegetables over the fried fish and serve at once.