pusang maganda

PINANGAT

It was another boring Saturday so I took my camera and pestered my nanay while she’s preparing pinangat. Even as a kid, I have always been fascinated watching my mother prepare this special dish.

Disclaimer: I am not attempting to teach you how to cook, or even hint that I know how to cook. I just want to post somehting out of boredom.

You must have a palayok or earthen pot in order to cook pinangat, otherwise it wont taste as good as what my nanay tells me. That’s why when our old palayok got broken, she didn’t cook pinagnat for a long time, not until she was able to buy a new one all the way from san juan batangas. She said that the best palayok are made from san juan.

You’ll need fish as the primary ingredient (any fish can be made into pinangat, but this time we’re using the dilis… but the best fish to use is tawilis, a small fish that can only be found at lemery, batangas); soy sauce; salt; and dried kamyas. You will also need banana leaves to wrap the fish.

The dilis or anchovies. (Wash and remove the internal organ of the dilis.)

Cut the banana leaves into rectangular pieces (layer the leaves as shown in the picture) and add a handful of dilis.

Fold the leaf on 4 sides and tie it ending with a ribbon on top for easier handling (This also prevents accidental opening of the wrap while cooking).


Put the dried kamyas at the bottom of palayok, not sure for the exact reason but it definitely adds flavor.

Put the wrapped dilis inside palayok, add water, salt and soysauce.


Cook for about 30 minutes, and it’s ready to serve.


If you add enough water, you'll get this tasty patis.


Ready to eat… doesn’t look good but it taste really good. Best served with balatong.