paksiw-paksiw (fish in vinegar sauce with milk and curry)

Paksiw (fish in vinegar sauce) is one of the famous Philippine dish that every Filipino had in every table at least once a week. The good thing about paksiw is you can you use almost any kind of fish and had many variations but the common thing is that vinegar, ginger, garlic and onion should always be present in this recipe.

I made a few tweaks in the recipe to make it more flavorful and attractive.

Ingredients:

2 pieces medium-size Milkfish (Chanos chanos) (scaled and sliced 3-4 times diagonally), 2 cloves garlic (crushed), 1 bulb onion (sliced), 1 medium-size ginger (peeled and crushed), 1/2 cup vinegar, 1/4 cup water, 1 cup evaporated milk, 1 teaspoon curry powder, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper.

In a casserole, arrange garlic, onion and ginger alternately at the bottom. Place on top of the spices the sliced milkfish, add salt, vinegar and water. Bring to boil in a low flame until half of the liquid is evaporated. Add pepper and evaporated milk with dissolved curry powder. Simmer for 1 minute. Serve while hot!

Milkfish is preferred in this recipe because it is packed with omega 3 fatty acids. Arranging the spices in the bottom assures equal distribution of flavor and if you are using commercially-available vinegar, it is suggested that it should be diluted with water to lessen the acidity of the dish. After adding the milk, it should be stirred and simmered for 1 minute and taken out of the flame right away to prevent lumping of protein in milk.