Relyenong Bangus

Relyenong bangus is a popular Filipino dish where BONELESS fried milkfish is stuffed with savoury filling made with milkfish, soy sauce, calamansi. onion, garlic, carrot, green peas raisins, egg, oyster sauce, salt and pepper. Who wouldn’t want a level up bangus which is boneless and is more delicious, right? Best served with a lot of hot steaming rice.

RELYENONG BANGUS

Relyeno, rilyeno and relleno — both are the same thing. The term relyeno is associated with dishes in which meat, fish, crab or vegetables are used were stuffed or were used as a stuffing/filling. Some of the relyeno dishes famous in the Philippines are relyenong talong, tahong and alimasag.

Relyenong bangus is the most famous type of relyeno dish. Bangus or milkfish, is most popular due to its super thorny nature. Their fish bones also have a unique spiky look which makes it look scary. I remember my lola always having a cat beside us while we’re eating bangus. She believes in the superstition that when one accidentally swallowed a fish bone, a cat’s paw should scratch the part and then the fish bone will suddenly disappear. (I don’t really know why but it works everytime!)

News Flash: We still have our cats but we already know how to debone bangus in an efficient way!

For a lot of people who cant really tolerate the fish bones of bangus, daing na bangus and boneless bangus are now becoming more common.  But if you have extra time to spend in the kitchen, try to make relyenong bangus! The bangus flesh is boneless and is highly flavored. The skin is also one of the best parts in this dish. Give this recipe a try and pair it with a lot of rice!

THREE WAYS TO REMOVE THE BANGUS FLESH

I made my very first relyenong bangus with my groupmates during my past internship. That relyenong bangus was may be the most unforgettable one for me for some reasons. After some years of learning and practicing, I have mastered removing the flesh of the bangus, which is the most important step in making relyenong bangus.

• The traditional way: A slit is made at either the back of the belly of the fish. The bones are removed, the filling is prepared, and then placed back into the fish. To seal, the slit is sewn using a thread to make sure that the contents would not burst during cooking.

• The modern way: Instead of a slit in the belly, fish flesh is removed through its neck. A spatula or chopstick is used  and the fish is squeezed and twisted to pull the flesh carefully outside the fish. In this way, there is no way the stuffing would go out when fried no matter how much you stuff it in since the whole skin of the body is intact.

• The badass way: A slit is made through the belly, bones are removed, filling is prepared, filling is placed back in. No sewing done, just hard praying for a miracle that the contents would not burst. This is how we prepared our relyenong bangus back during internship and that was the funniest relyenong bangus I’ve ever seen. Do not use this technique.

HOW TO MAKE RELYENONG BANGUS

Making relyenong bangus is actually fascinating rather than intimidating. Once the certain preparations for the fish are done, the last thing to do is to fry the fish.

To start, clean your bangus. Make sure to remove the scales and the fins. To make sure that the fish skin is fully cleaned, it must be smooth. The next thing to do is to break the spine near the tail. Doing this will avoid allergic reaction to some people.

Next, we are going to separate the fish skin and the flesh. I used the second and the most efficient technique disscussed above in pulling the fish flesh from the skin. The skin and flesh are separated without any cut on the fish’s skin. Marinate the skin in a mixture of soy sauce ang calamansi juice, just to give it a nice umami flavor.

Now, lets prepare the filling. Boil all the flesh you got from the bangus. Flake them and saute with the rest of the filling ingredients. You can choose whatever ingredient you want to include (but not too much–just enough to fill the bangus skin). Similar to what you do in a pork sisig, pour beaten eggs in the filling while stirring. Feed your fish using the filling you made and then coat with flour.

All preparations are done and all that’s left to do is frying. Aside from frying, you can also opt to bake or grill them for less oil. Since the bangus filling is already cooked, the relyenong bangus is done once the skin becomes crispy and golden brown. This may take you around 3 to 5 minutes on each side. Slice the bangus into ready-to-eat pieces. Serve with hot steaming rice and your favorite dipping sauce. Enjoy!

Paano Magluto ng Relyenong Bangus

MGA SANGKAP:

• 2 piraso ng bangus (natanggalan ng hasang at lamang loob)
• 2 kutsarang soy sauce
• 3 piraso Kalamansi
• 1 sibuyas (hiniwa)
• 3 butil ng bawang (hiniwa ng maliliit)
• 1 maliit na carrot (hiniwa ng maliliit)
• ¼ tasa ng green peas
• ¼ tasa ng raisins
• 1 itlog (binati)
• asin at paminta
• 30 grams ng oyster sauce
• mantika

PAANO LUTUIN:

1. Linisin ang bangus at alisin ang mga hasang at lamang loob. Baliin ang buto malapit sa buntot. Ipasok ang spatula sa panga ng isda para maihiwalay ang balat sa laman ng isda. Hilahin ng dahan dahan ang laman. Panatilihing magkadikit ang ulo at balat.
2. I-marinate ang balat at ulo sa toyo at calamansi juice. Isantabi.
3. Pakuluan ang laman ng isda ng limang minuto. Nitnitin ito at tanggalin ang mga tinik.
4. Magpainit ng mantika. Igisa ang sibuyas at bawang ng ilang minuto saka isama ang laman ng isda. Sunod na ilagay ang carrots, green peas, raisins at igisa ng ilang minuto. Ilagay ang oyster sauce at budburan ng asin at paminta. Patayin ang apoy. Ilagay ang binating itlog habang hinahalo. Ilipat ang filling sa isang platito.
5. Ilagay ang filling sa loob ng isda. Budburan ito ng harina pagkatapos.
6. Magpainit ng mantika gamit ang katamtamang apoy. Iprito ang bangus hanggang maging crispy at golden brown ang balat. Baliktarin para maluto ang kabilang side.
7. Ilipat ang relyenong bangus sa serving plate. Hiwain sa serving pieces.
8. Ihain ang relyenong bangus kasama ng mainit na kanin. Enjoy!