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CASA Veneracion

Connie Veneracion's Modern Filipino Cooking

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You are here: Home / Modern Filipino / Lunch / Dinner / Tilapia Escabeche

Tilapia Escabeche

In this tilapia escabeche recipe, two whole fish were fried until golden and crisp, smothered with julienned vegetables and doused with sweet sour sauce.
Tilapia escabeche in serving bowl
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Modern Filipino
Keyword: Sweet Sour Sauce, Tilapia
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Marinating time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours 35 minutes
Servings: 4 people
Author: Connie Veneracion

Ingredients

  • 2 whole tilapia (about 1.2 kilograms total weight) cleaned and gutted
  • 2 tablespoons rock salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground black pepper

Vegetable topping

  • 1 onion
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 2 stalks lemongrass white portion only
  • 1 one-inch knob ginger
  • 1 small carrot
  • 1 bell pepper

Sweet sour sauce

  • ¼ cup vinegar
  • ½ cup white sugar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons tomato sauce
  • 2 teaspoons corn starch dispersed in two tablespoons water

To cook tilapia escabeche

  • cooking oil
  • ¼ teaspoon table salt
  • 2 pinches ground black pepper
  • 2 stalks lemongrass white and green portions
  • 1 one-inch knob ginger lightly pounded
  • 2 cloves garlic lightly pounded
  • 2 tablespoons corn starch

To garnish

  • 2 tablespoons thinly sliced scallions

Instructions

Season the fish

  • Rinse the tilapia and pat dry with paper towels.
  • Score both sides of the fish.
  • Rub the salt and pepper evenly over the entire surface of both fish.
  • Place the fish in a covered container and leave to marinate in the fridge for two hours.

Prep the vegetables

  • Peel and thinly slice the onion.
  • Peel and mince the garlic.
  • Peel off and discard the tough outer stalks of the lemongrass then thinly slice the tender portion.
  • Peel and julienne the ginger and carrot.
  • Cut the bell pepper into halves, scoop out and discard the seeds. Julienne the deseeded bell pepper.

Make the sweet sour sauce

  • Stir the vinegar, sugar, salt and tomato sauce in a sauce pan.
  • Heat the mixture, stirring often, until the sugar is completely dissolved.
    Making sweet sour sauce
  • Pour in the starch solution and cook, stirring, until the sauce is thick and no longer cloudy.

Cook the vegetables

  • Heat a tablespoon of cooking oil in a frying pan.
  • Saute the sliced lemongrass, garlic and ginger until aromatic.
  • Add the onion, carrot and bell pepper.
    Sauteeing julienned vegetables
  • Cook the vegetables just until done (see notes after the recipe). Scoop out and set aside.

Fry the tilapia

  • Take the fish out of the fridge and dry with paper towels once more.
  • Lighly pound the white portions of the lemongrass before tying each into a knot.
  • Stuff the cavity of each tilapia with a knotted lemongrass stalk, and half of the garlic and ginger.
  • In a thick-bottomed frying pan, heat enough cooking oil to reach a depth of two inches.
  • Lightly coat the tilapia with corn starch; shake off the excess.
    Frying tilapia in a cast iron pan
  • Fry the tilapia, turning them over for even cooking, until golden and crisp.

Assemble the tilapia escabeche

  • Arrange the fried tilapia in shallow bowls.
  • Drizzle sweet sour sauce over the fish.
  • Top with the vegetables and sliced scallions.

Cook’s Notes

It is best not to overcook the vegetables. 
Please don’t overcook the fish either. You want the outside to be golden and crisp but the inside should remain moist.
Tilapia escabeche topped with julienned vegetables and thinly sliced scallions
Do you like seriously Asian food?Check out Devour.Asia!

If you cooked this dish (or made this drink) and you want to share your masterpiece, please use your own photos and write the cooking steps in your own words.

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01/04/2021 : See more in Lunch / Dinner Main Courses Modern Filipino, Tilapia

About Connie Veneracion

Hello and welcome! I'm a retired lawyer and columnist, wife for 29 years, mom of two, and a passionate cook. What is this blog about? Recipes for dishes we have cooked at home since 2003.

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