Sweet & Sour Hammour (Lapu-Lapu/Grouper)

Admittedly, I used to cook with ready mixes specially sauces that I have no idea of cooking and one of these is the sweet and sour. Why? It is convenient to use, saves me time and effort in my food preparation and in just a snap of a finger, Alas! The food is ready to serve. But, as I read the package, it offered a lot of preservatives which made me think if continued usage will be good for me and my family’s health. It made me think twice, it is a matter of convenience over risking health. Until one day, a good friend of mine Vivian has taught me of a very easy way of cooking sweet and sour sauce. At first I thought that it is difficult to prepare but as I go and put my hands on it, I realized that it was not. I am so grateful to my friend for teaching me her recipe and now I am sharing this to everyone.

 

Ingredients:
2 medium size hammour fish (Lapu-Lapu/Grouper) scaled and cleaned
50 grams carrots (julienne)
½ green bell pepper (julienne)
1 tbsp. Ginger (thin slices)
1 small onion (sliced)
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
¼ cup tomato sauce
½ cup water
1 tbsp. vinegar
5 tbsp. sugar
½ tsp. corn starch mix in 1/3 cup water
Iodized salt
½ tsp. ground pepper (sauce)
½ tsp. ground pepper (fish)
Cooking oil

 

Procedure:

Frying:

 Rub in iodized salt and ground pepper to fish. Set aside for 30 minutes. Heat oil in frying pan, fry fish.

 

Sauce:

1. Heat oil in a sauce pan, fry ginger until a little bit brown. Sauté garlic and onion with the ginger. Add carrots, bell pepper and ground pepper. Stir for a minute.
2. Add water, vinegar, tomato sauce and sugar. Continue to stir until bubbly.
3. Add corn starch, simmer for another minute.

 In a serving dish, top the sweet and sour sauce over fried fish.

 

 Tips:

• Adjust the color of the sauce by putting more tomato sauce to meet your desired color. 
• Taste the sauce from when cooking to check if you still have to adjust other ingredients.