Tulingan is a type of tuna fish, also known as "bullet tuna," that many people love to work with as a protein. It is a saltwater fish that you would find in the Philippine sea.
It has a great texture and wonderful taste that makes a certain fish dish special as you used it as the main protein of it, like in the dish called Sinaing na Tulingan. The dish originated in the coastal town of Batangas, Philippines.
Are you getting hungry? If you are not a seafood lover, yet you are a huge fan of fish. It's either boiled or steamed, but you want to try another cook on your beloved fish? Don't worry. We look for this dish, a unique and original dish from the Philippines- the Best Sinaing na Tulingan.
So, take a closer look at the brief explanation about the featured dish.
What is Best Sinaing na Tulingan
Sinaing na Tulingan, also known as a braised fish, originated from Batangueño. It is the most popular way to have the featured fish. It is traditionally and commonly cooked in a clay pot layered with pork fat, native spices, dried bilimbi, or sour tropical fruit and aromatics.
Tulingan is one of the most popular fish in the Philippines' seafood palette. When dealing with this fish, you have to remove all the innards, including its gills, internal organs, and tail.
You have to slit both sides of the Tulingan and press it against the sides with the hands' palms to flatten and soften the fish's flesh. Wash it thoroughly under running water until you remove all the fish's blood, and the water runs clear. Then you could rub the fish in and out with salt.
In the featured dish's cooking process, arrange the pork fat at the saucepan's bottom along with dried kamias or bilimbi. You could then put the fish above the pork fat and dried kamias side by side.
Add all the remaining ingredients. Slowly cook it on a very low heat to cook the fish. Simmer it for about 2-3 hours until the cooked on the fish is perfect and wonderful.
Ways to Cook
Fish has a great texture and taste when you cook it perfectly. So, we look for some ways to cook the fish right, and those are:
Pressure Cooker
It is one of the perfect ways to cook the Tulingan dish. Since the featured dish requires a slow cooking process, a pressure cooker is a suitable cooking tool to use. This cooking method allows you to cook and simmer the fish until it reaches the perfect cook you expect from the fish before you serve.
Instant pot
This way of cooking is far more convenient and easier to use. You only have to use a multi-cooker, which allows you to use one pot and set the cooking time in it. Unlike the pressure cooker, a multi-cooker is the perfect way since you don't need to check on the dish's cook from time to time.
Stovetop
It is the most popular way of cooking methods commonly used in the dish. You could use a casserole or a clay pot, put it at the burner's top, and then start cooking. It is the traditional way many Filipinos recommended rather than cooking using a multi-cooker or pressure cooker.
Fried
This way, however, gives a good impression of the featured dish. If you are not fond of this dish, you could try frying it. But many Filipinos fry the cold cooked and serve it with fried rice.
Other Delicious Variants and Recipe
The featured dish is a simple yet unique dish with a lot of variations. Thus, we would give you some of the variations we searched to elevate and cook the dish and turn it into an amazing dish.
Batangas Style
It is the traditional and most popular version of the featured fish dish. Most Filipinos love to cook. They cooked it in a clay pot and wrapped it in banana leaves. They used pork fat and dried kamias or sour tropical fruit (bilimbi) to make the dish tastier and delicious. They used vinegar as the souring agent of the dish.
Sinaing Na Tulingan sa Gata
Another way of cooking the featured dish is in Gata or coconut milk. It is also one of the most popular ways of cooking the dish aside from the original version.
Making this version is the same method, process, and preparation as the original version. The difference is you would use coconut milk as an added ingredient to the featured dish to make it more appealing, delicious, and creamy.
The coconut milk serves as the ingredient to balance the dish's salty and sour taste and make it creamier, elevating the recipe to an authentic variant of the featured recipe. Coconut milk is an ingredient used in various ways, especially in savory recipes like the featured dish.
Pangat
It is also the traditional way of cooking the recipe. It is closely similar to our dish but uses some different spices that give flavor to the featured dish. It is a Laguna style of cooking. Instead of calling it Sinaing, they called it Pangat or Pinangat.
They used a small to medium size tulingan cooked in kamias or sour tropical fruit until dry. You could usually cook the fish for at least 45 to one hour or until the liquid or the sauce of the dish evaporates. Then they add green pepper (green chili) and leeks and cook it for another one to two minutes.
Kamias is an ingredient used as a souring agent to a certain dish like the featured fish dish.
With Pechay
In this variation of the featured dish, aside from Kamias, you could put pechay on the dish. If you are a vegetable lover, adding pechay or other vegetables in the featured would make you happy. In this version, while you are cooking the dish, you could add pechay to it. It would give more flavors and taste.
Pechay is also popularly known as Chinese cabbage. It is a healthy ingredient that helps you to balance the dish's taste. Its bland flavors adapt the taste of the featured dish, which makes it more delicious. And of course, it gives additional color to the dish, which makes it more presentable.
With Malunggay
Like the Chinese Cabbage recipe, Malunggay or Moringa is one of the great vegetables you could add to the dish. It gives a bit of a bitter taste, which complements the featured dish taste and flavor.
Malunggay or Moringa is a healthy vegetable used in various ways. Many Filipinos love to put it in many recipes because it contains many health benefits.
With Tamarind juice
In this version, instead of using Kamias or bilimbi as a souring agent, they used tamarind juice as the substitute. It is one of the great souring agents to use.
Tamarind is an edible fruit pulp. When it is a hard green pulp, it is perfect to use it as a souring agent because of its taste. You could often use it as a component in many savory recipes. Many professional chefs used it to add and give more flavor and taste to the featured dish in their culinary recipe.
Trivia
Have you heard that the tail of the Tulingan is poisonous? You heard it right! It is because the tail contains toxins that may cause allergic reactions to some people. So, discarding and removing the tail by pulling and twisting it out is essential.
The Tulingan fish is not available all year round in some parts of the country. That is why you may not find Tulingan in a certain period.
The featured dish is a heritage cuisine of many Batangueno mothers who pass the recipes on to their children even to their grandchildren today.
You could also use the Tulingan in various ways, depending on your desired cook.
Tulingan has various health benefits, including essential nutrients like potassium, magnesium, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin A, B6, B12, and iron.
It also contains a special elastin component, which helps to keep your skin radiant and youthful. So, adding this dish to your daily diet might improve the said benefit.
Tips
Tips are an important aspect when you are cooking a sensitive protein like the Tulingan recipe. Hence, we look for some steps for you to cook and pull off the dish perfectly.
- Clean the Tulingan correctly and remove the tails as well.
- You could also use fresh or dried bilimbi.
- Ensure that you place the pork fat at the bottom of the pot or casserole.
- Put enough water to cover the fish.
- You could put banana leaves to hold the fish.
- When you place the fish, make sure that it goes from side to side to cook the fish evenly.
- Apply the salt evenly to both sides of the fish.
- You could also add fish sauce as a substitute flavoring agent to the dish.
- The longer you cook the braised fish, the better it gets.
- When you use tamarind juice as a substitute souring agent, you have to boil 100 grams of tamarind in one and a half cups of water and strain it.
Troubleshooting
We look for some ideas to save your dish when you make some errors when preparing and cooking the dish. Here are some of those ideas:
- You could add more water to the dish when it tastes very sour or very salty.
- Add more souring agent and pinch of salt when it tastes bland and plain.
- Use a toothpick to check if the cooked on the fish is perfect or raw.
Best Serve With
Serving the finest fish dish like this traditional dish is perfect. Hence, we take a look for some dishes that surprisingly complement the fish dish.
- Hot-steamed rice - is one of the dishes that make the featured dish stand out. It allows the fish to incorporate its taste into the rice dish.
- Fried rice- is a rice dish perfect for our menu to serve during breakfast. The fried rice taste compliments the taste of the featured dish.
- Java Rice- is a perfect rice dish that has a unique taste that complements the featured dish flavor.
- Camaron Rebosado - is a perfect partner to serve along with the featured dish.
- Pork Belly Chicharron - is a dish that would give the featured fish dish a wonderful combination since it has a sour and savory taste, which complements the Chicharron's saltiness.
- Banana Pudding - is a delicate and sweet dessert that is great to eat with the dish since its flavor complimented the taste of the featured dish.
- Sweetened Saba Banana - is another wonderful dessert perfect for eating along with the featured dish.
- Alpahor na Kamote - is another dessert dish that is often perfect for serving with the featured dish.
- Pineapple juice - is one of the perfect sweet beverages that make the featured dish stand out.
- Grilled pork belly is another dish perfect to match the fish dish and serve it. Its taste gives a knockout combination in your taste buds.
- Inihaw na pusit - is a seafood dish that is perfect for serving with the featured dish.
- Coffee- is a beverage. Many Filipinos love to partner with fried rice and our menu.
- Fish sauce- is a common condiment used and served along with the featured fish dish.
Conclusion
Our menu is another special seafood dish that you would proudly serve on every occasion because of the amazing taste and powerful flavors.
That is why no wonder why many Filipinos love to recreate and execute this dish. Many people would love and present a fish dish because of its authentic ingredients and cooking process.
Creating a heritage dish from Batangas is promising! Why don't you try and cook it for your loved ones? Happy cooking!
For more delicious recipe, visit Eat Like Pinoy!
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb Tulingan bullet tuna
- ½ cup Vinegar
- ½ tablespoon Salt
- 2 thumbs Ginger julienned
- ½ teaspoon Cracked black pepper
- 1 cup Water
- 4 pcs Long green chilies
- 1 tablespoon Cooking oil
Instructions
- Clean the fish by removing the innards, gills and tail. Then put in a casserole.
- Put-in ginger and green chilies. Then pour water and vinegar, and season with salt and pepper.
- Cook for about 35 minutes. Then add cooking oil and simmer for another 5 minutes.
- Serve while hot. Enjoy!
