Pinatisang bangus (milkfish soup with fish sauce)
November 19, 2009 • Hello. I am currently out of the country and unable to respond to comments and e-mails. Rest assured, however, that future posts have been scheduled so new recipes will go live almost everyday during my absence. I'll be back soon with lots of stories and photos. Ciao for now! ~ ConnieMy fifteen-minute fish soup made with boneless bangus belly fillets, shallots, tomatoes, garlic and onion leaves. It went into the kids’ school lunch boxes.

There is much confusion about the nature of shallots as the name is often interchanged with scallions. In Southeast Asian cooking, shallots refer to small red onions; scallions are the onion leaves. In Filipino cooking, shallots are sibuyas Tagalog (Allium ascalonicum) which would make them “authentic” shallots as being one of the two species of the Allium plant that are considered true shallots.
Shallots are not absolutely necessary for this soup dish as sweet white onions will work just as well. But whole peeled shallots in the soup adds a more interesting texture and appearance to it.
Ingredients :
750 g. of bangus belly fillets
8 shallots
half a head of garlic
2-3 tomatoes
8 to 10 c. of fish broth
patis (fish sauce)
pepper
a bunch of onion leaves
2-3 tbsps. of cooking oil
Cooking procedure :
Crush and peel the garlic. Peel the shallots. Dice the tomatoes. Cut the onion leaves into one-inch lengths.
Cut the bangus belly fillets into serving size pieces. How large or how small depends entirely on you. I normally cut each fillet into four portions.
Heat the cooking oil in a pot. Saute the garlic, shallots and tomatoes for a couple of minutes or until the tomatoes start to soften and render color. Pour in the fish broth. Season with patis. Bring to the boil. Add the bangus belly fillets, allow to broth to boil again, lower the heat and simmer for about three minutes. That’s really all it takes to cook the fish. Most people add the fish to the pot before pouring in the liquid but when you’re cooking fillets as thin as bangus belly, that’s a sure way of overcooking the fish. I like my fish to cook almost as soon as it goes into the pot so that there is less chance that the meat will fall apart.
Add the onion leaves to the pot. Sprinkle with pepper. Stir gently and simmer for about 30 seconds longer.
Serve hot.
Updated on 10-4-08
Comments
11 Responses to “Pinatisang bangus (milkfish soup with fish sauce)”If you want your own pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
Stay updated!
View the archive
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Oct | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 29 | 30 | |||||
Longganisa and egg breakfast, a new twist
Christmas jello
Beef and broccoli leaves
Myra’s chicken adobo
Paksiw na lechon manok
Appetizers
Asian
Birthdays & Parties
breakfast club
cakes
cheese
Chinese
chocolate
Christmas & New Year
Cooking for one
Daddy cooks!
Filipino
Italian Job
muffins & cupcakes
omelet
pasta
salads
School lunchbox
spring rolls
Superb soups
Conversations
- sheric on 'Cheese, tomato and basil toasties': Hi Ms. Connie, like it very much…yummy, i also try...
- Camille on 'Maja Maiz': Hi Ms. Connie… I really like your website I always visit it everytime na...
- ana on 'Buttery cupcakes': thank you, miss connie… this is really a big help..
- ana on 'Buttery cupcakes': hi miss connie… i love your recipes. they are just easy to follow, esp for...
- lemon on 'Make your own fish (and chicken) nuggets': ahaha. Perfect trick for a daughter who loves...

how do you manage to make your kids eat meals like this in school? my kids complain about cold food even if their lunchboxes are rge expensive japanese ones that claim to keep food hpt.
They have fully padded/insulated Coleman lunch bags so the food stays hot until lunch time.
My son will be having his lunch in school this coming school year. Where did you buy your Coleman lunch bag? Can you feature your the lunch bags
for us to see.
hi connie! i like your soup galore entries! totally love it! i’m gonna make the miso soup soon as i find the ingredients. and i’ll try this pinatisan. maiba naman sa sinigang na bangus.
Connie, gusto kong lutuin ito pero bangus belly is hardly ever available here. What other fish fillet would come close kaya? Seabass maybe, or halibut? Tilapia?
Suzie, why not? But you know, there is an old entry with photos of them. Just can’t remember which one.
Beng, we’re having lots of soups these days so stay tuned for more.
Jet, any fish will do, I suppose. What I’d really recommend is fish head. Salmon or tuna head. Yummy. LOL
love this one,bangus belly is expensive here so i just buy the whole one. though lately i’m just broiling fish at low setting
like tilapia,and bangus with soy sauce ,vinegar , garlic ,
black pepper and salt.frying it the makes the whole house smell fish.it’s not the same but it is still great.
…..it is still winter temp here and can’t do it outside.i also cooked shrimp with gata and with eggplant and green beans
at the same time but can’t eat it.i’m going to the philippines
next month i’ll check the resto you have tested,the husband is not going …lakwatsa lang
is the pinatisang bangus belly same as pinangat?
no.
Hello Ms. Connie,
Does the food kept in Coleman lunch bag will really stays hot until lunch time? Bcoz I’ve bought one insulated lunch bag the brand is Biokips, the saleslady said food will stay hot for 9 hrs. but it’s nonesense. By lunch time, my food was so cold already. And I don’t like to eat cold food especially if my baon is rice & viand
Yes, Cristy, the food stays hot until lunchtime according to my kids.