Fish sarciado (Filipino fish in tomato and egg sauce)
Crisp pan-fried fish in a savory tomato sauce with soft ribbons of egg, the comforting Filipino way to make a little fish feed everyone.
- 45 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $2.47 a serving
- 520 calories
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1½ cups long-grain white rice, rinsed
- 1¼ lb frozen white fish fillets, thawed and patted very dry
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 yellow onion, sliced
- 4 Roma tomatoes, chopped
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 2 green onions, sliced
From your pantry
- 2¾ cups water, divided
- ½ tsp salt
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil, divided
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 520 calories, 32 g protein, 65 g carbs and 15 g fat, and costs about $2.47 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No long-grain white rice? Jasmine rice or basmati rice works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No green onions? Chives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Put the rice and 2¼ cups of the water in a medium and over high heat.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cover, turn the heat to low and cook for 15 minutes, then leave it covered off the heat.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
the fish dry and it with the salt.
Pat dry. Patting dry means pressing paper towels onto food to soak up the moisture on its surface. Wet food steams instead of browning, so this is how you get a good sear and crisp skin.
How you’ll know: The surface feels tacky, not wet, and the last paper towel comes away barely damp.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large nonstick over medium-high heat. Fry the fish 3 to 4 minutes per side, until and it flakes easily, then move it to a plate.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium-high heatTimer: 7 min
Food safety: Fish is done at 145°F, when the middle looks opaque and flakes apart easily with a fork.
Turn the heat to medium, add the rest of the oil, the garlic and onion and cook 3 minutes, until soft.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min
Add the tomatoes and cook 5 minutes, pressing them with the spoon, until they break down into a chunky sauce.
Medium heatTimer: 5 min
in the rest of the water, the fish sauce and pepper and 2 minutes.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Medium heatTimer: 2 min
Turn the heat to low and slowly pour in the eggs. Wait 30 seconds, then gently so they set into soft ribbons.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Low heatTimer: 1 min
Dolly’s tip: Don’t stir right away. Letting the egg set a little first gives you ribbons instead of cloudy sauce.Food safety: For the safest eggs, cook until the whites are fully set and the yolks begin to thicken. Dishes made with eggs are done at 160°F.
Return the fish, spoon the sauce over it, scatter the green onions and serve with the rice.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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