Fried Galunggong for the First Friday of Lent 2009

Today is the first Friday of lent for the year 2009 and we are having Fried Galunggong. During Friday’s and the whole holy week, Roman Catholics practice the virtue of fasting and abstinence. We fast by eating just one full meal a day while the rest of the meals should be lesser than the usual. It is also a day where one abstains from meat – be it pork, beef, chicken, veal or any other type. During these days, fish and vegetables are often consumed.

I got some Galunggong (Mackerel) from Assi Plaza, a local korean store just north of Chicago. When I arrived home this afternoon, I cleaned and salted the fish then directly placed it in a pan where the hot and impatient cooking oil is waiting. I like this fish crispy fried because of the texture similar to chicharon (fried pork rinds) which gives it a little crunchiness and somewhat eliminates the fishy aftertaste. As for the dipping sauce, I just squeezed some lemon to the bagoong balayan (anchovy sauce) and voila! There I have it, crispy galunggong with bagoong balayan. Simple yet satisfying.

Update: This post was created when I was starting this food blog in 2009. After a few years, we have covered countless recipes involving fish, specifically galunggong or round scad –  there even some posts about it.

Here are links to some of the posts that I was talking about. You may want to check these out and share your thoughts.

Fish Adobo – is a dish involving galunggong cooked inadobo style. This cooking method can be described as a signature cooking method of the Philippines. It simple means cooking with soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, with some whole peppercorn, and dried bay leaves. Here are some of our dishes cooked the inadobo way.

Ginataang Galunggong – Ginataang is a cooking method in Filipino Cuisine that means cooked in coconut milk (or coconut cream, sometime with both). This recipe will guide you on how to cook galunggong with coconut milk.

Fried Fish Adobo – dishes cooked inabo style are very tasty. There are dishes wherein a certain ingredient (such as fish for this example) will need to be cooked inabo first before being fried. This recipe is one of these. The result is a deliciously tasty fried fish.

When eating fried galunggong, what condiment do you think are best to eat it with? You can join the conversation by commenting in this post asking about fried galunggong condiments.