How to Cook the Best Pangat Na Salay-Salay Sa Calamansi Recipe (Stewed Fish)

Salay- Salay, also known as yellow scad or yellow stripe trevally, is a small fish usually caught in the shore or shoreline. The seafood's name also refers to its yellow or gold stripe along the side of the fish. 

Pangat is a Filipino well-known dish in the Philippines usually served at home with fish sauce, salt, rice, and other side dishes. 

Many Filipinos love these kinds of dishes because it presents the seafood’s natural and fresh taste as the dish's main protein. 

Salay- Salay is one of the featured dish proteins because of its denser meat and unique taste. 

We featured this best Pangat Na Salay-Salay sa Calamansi for you to have more insights about the protein and the ways of cooking, variations, and how to make this outstanding dish.

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What is Best Pangat na Salay-Salay Sa Calamansi

Pinangat  is a Filipino term that originated from the word Pangat which means in the English language is "to cook in a broth." It also refers to Pinangat na isda, a southern Luzon cuisine consisting of its main ingredient cooked with tomatoes and sour broth. 

There is a lot of protein uses in cooking an isda recipe. Filipinos always love to incorporate every dish flavor and taste to present its different herbs and spices they used in making a particular dish. 

Salay is an all-time favorite of elders in Filipino culture, especially those near the seashore. 

They use different flavoring agents such as kamias, tomatoes, green mangoes, tamarind, and even sea salt. This ingredient empowers and highlights the fresh and natural taste of the main protein used in this traditional dish. 

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Ways to cook

Traditional dishes like our menu may cook in many ways, including the three methods: The Clay pot, Instant pot, and Stove. These ways of cooking are very much helpful to discuss for those who are first time trying to cook the featured dish. 

Clay pot

It is the most authentic and old way of cooking this dish. Wherein, you would put all the ingredients inside the clay pot, rest it in a coal burner, then let it cook. Before, clay pots are the equipment used by many Filipinos to cook their recipes since there are no frying pans, multi-cooker, rice cooker, slow cooker, and pressure cooker. 

Cooking in this way helps the dish to retain its freshness and delicate taste. Using a clay pot method incorporates the dish very well. But as the modern era approaches, different cooking equipment comes, and clay pots are barely or not used at all. 

But in some regions in the Philippines, they still used clay pots in cooking different cuisines that represent their culture and traditions. 

Instant pot

Instant pot cooking is another perfect way to cook this dish because of cooking the featured dish. You have to place all the ingredients in the multi-cooker, add some water, and season it well. Then set the cooking time and wait for the seafood to cook perfectly. 

It is the easiest way to cook this dish because you don’t need to put a lot of effort when cooking. Through the use of multi-cooker, you could cook and do other choirs at the same time. 

Stovetop

This method of cooking is also the most common way to cook the featured dish. You have to put a casserole or pot on the burner, then place all the ingredients inside the casserole. Afterward, season it, add water, and set the heat on the burner to medium-high heat. Wait for the dish to boil and check if the cook on the seafood is perfect.

It is a bit similar to cooking in clay pots. But instead of clay pots, you could use a casserole when you try cooking the featured dish. 

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Other Delicious Variants and Recipes

The featured dish has so many variants to discover and explore. So, we looked over it to show some of the delicate variations of the dish featured here. 

Pinangat na Salay-Salay Sa Calamansi at Kamias

This variant is a famous version of this dish. It is one of the most commonly used as a sour-agent to the featured dish. You could add this ingredient depending upon the sour flavor you desire to incorporate in the dish. 

Kamias is a great substitute for tomato and tamarind to give acidic or sour flavor to the food. It is applicable to use in other Filipino recipes because of its flavor. It could also make it either as relish or pickle to serve as a side dish.  

Sa Mangga

Another variation of this dish is with Mangga. If you are a mango lover, this version of the featured dish is suitable for your taste buds. In the featured dish, green or unripe mango is the other souring agent used. 

Mango, especially unripe mango, used to add more flavors to some recipes that needed to have a sour taste. It could serve as a side dish like chutneys and pickles. You could also eat it with bagoong, fish sauce, salt and chilis and many more. 

Sa Sampalok

Tamarind is the most popular ingredient used in many recipes that require a sour taste. And one of those recipes is this dish with Sampalok. 

Instead of using Kalamansi or lemon-lime to give a sour taste to the featured dish, you could use tamarind. It has a way more sour taste and the traditional “pang asim” in Filipino recipes. 

Sa Kamatis 

This variant is also an all-time favorite version of many Filipinos. Like the other variation, you have to add the tomato and all the ingredients and then cook the dish. 

Tomato or Kamatis is a good source of umami and sour flavor to make the dish incredible. It is an ingredient widely used all over the world. You could easily find it in the stores and markets if you decided to create this one.

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Trivia

Have you ever heard about the version of Bicolanos? At first, you would think that it is similar to the classic dish that we featured. But to tell you the truth, they are completely different in terms of taste, appearance, and ways to cook. 

Pinangat na isda is a classic dish cooked in sour broth, and the main protein is fish. On the other hand, the Isda version of Bicolanos is unique. The main protein used in the dish is the Taro leaves. 

The style of Bicolanos is very well known as Laing. It is a vegetable dish cooked in coconut milk (gata) and seasoned with many spices, including chilis. 

Are they entirely different right? Many first-time cooks are mistaken about the two different recipes. Fortunately, you are not one of them. 

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Tips

A simple dish like our menu is not difficult to make. But of course, knowing all the right steps in cooking and preparing it is much better. 

• First things first, you must clean the fish. Remove all the gills and innards of it. Then, rinse it thoroughly. 
• Wash all the ingredients you would put to the dish because you don't need to saute it. 
• Arrange the Salay- Salay side by side to ensure that the cooked fish is in uniform. 
• Prepare all the ingredients and put it above the fish one by one. 
• Don't forget to season it with salt, monosodium glutamate, and black pepper. 
• Put a small amount of oil in the pan or casserole where you would cook your dish. 

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Troubleshooting

Even in a simple dish, you may encounter errors. And if errors occurred, then saving the dish is the last choice you have. So, here are some saving methods for the dish. 

• If this dish turned out to be a Paksiw dish, it has a strong sour taste. Add extra water to it and season it again. Taste the dish if you get rid of the super-strong sour taste. 
• Add extra salt when the flavor is a bit bland in terms of saltiness. 
• If the seafood sticks to the bottom of the pan or casserole, don’t force it to take it away. Gently remove it using a spoon. 

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Best Serve With

Our menu is a dish perfect for serving along with other cuisines. Thus, we provided you a list of dishes that would complement the featured dish. 

• Fish Sauce with Chili- is perfect with this dish and highlights the flavor of it. 
• Cooked Rice- is the perfect combination with the featured dish. It helps the dish to incorporate its sour taste.
• Korean Fried Chicken- is a chicken dish that perfectly complements the taste of this dish.
• Tonkatsu- is another dish perfect with this dish. 
• Pinakbet - is a dish that works well with the featured dish because seafood and vegetables complement each other’s taste. 
• Pineapple juice is a sweet drink perfect with the dish to eliminate the dish's slimy taste. 
• Minatamis na saging - is a popular dessert that complements almost all dishes, particularly with the dish. It eliminates the slimy taste of the seafood after eating the dish. 

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Conclusion

If you are fond of dishes and want to try different cuisines, this particular dish is perfect for you. 

It is a traditional dish elevated by adding varieties of ingredients and souring agents to uplift its acidic side's power. It is one of the most easy-to-do dishes to cook and serve because you would have cooked seafood in a sour broth in just a few minutes. 

If you feel like you want to try this dish, don’t worry because we would give you the list of ingredients, instructions, or steps in cooking and, most importantly, how you could prepare the dish properly to serve it right with your loved ones. 

Check out all the insights about this dish. Explore this simple yet incredible dish! Enjoy cooking. 

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