Pan Roast Hamour (Lapu-Lapu) with Light Soy Sauce

I'm not an early riser. The earliest I can get myself to rise from the bed is about 7:30am so the only time you could expect to see me at the Wholesale Market (Directions) is when it's a matter of life and death, like there's absolutely nothing for lunch and we'll die of hunger! haha! Ok so I'm more of a night person and for people like me there's always that long line of fish vendors along the Cornichewhere you'll also get blue crabs fresh from the sea, and when I say fresh I mean right from the fishermen's nets (but of course my dearly beloved crabs deserve a post of their own).
For me and Lauren, going to the corniche fish market is a treat in itself,  specially for little girl who never fail to be amazed at the sight of all those fishes of different shapes and sizes. It is advisable to go there around 8-9 in the evening when most of the boats have already gone back from sea. Going too early or too late leaves you with very limited choices and the vendors are not much in the mood for some price haggling and a little extra weight on your purchases. We were able to go last Thursday right after the 7pm Tagalog mass. I'm not really the expert in our "fishing tours" so I just tell my mom what I feel like eating in the next 2-3 days, as long as I'll have my fill of my steamed crabs when we get home (ok, so I'm back to my crabs again, hehe!). That night we were able to buy hamour (lapu-lapu) which I had already told the maid not to too touch as I would be the one to cook it. I got the chance to do so today with limited resources in the kitchen. When I decided to use Market Manila's recipe for chicken inasal (also posted in this blog), my eyes were also caught by the pan roast lapu-lapu photo in his site which inspired me to cook my own version, but I'm not making any pretentions, this recipe is not ala Market Manila. This is just me and my limited resources.

Pan Roast Hamour
2 500g hamour
1/4 cup vegetable oil
6 lemon slices
4 cloves garlic
2 tsp Thai Minced Garlic (you wouldn't go wrong if you go look for it at the Family Food Center)
1 medium tomato cut in quarters
1 medium onion cut in quarters
brocolli
potatoes
dill
salt and pepper to taste

Sauce
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic chopped
1/2 cup light soy sauce (I used Kikoman)
2 tbsp. banana ketchup
2 cups water
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. sugar
black pepper

The thing about buying fish in Qatar though is that unless you buy from the supermarkets, you do not have a choice but to do your own fish cleaning and whenever we buy from the corniche we usually get home at around 10pm too tired to clean the fish. So we just directly put them in the freezer and clean just before cooking. Tonight, I was left with the task. I also wouldn't claim to be an expert in the field (although when I was around 10yo, my dream is to become a fish vendor --- bangus vendor particularly, I used to enjoy scaling fishes) but nobody else is available to do the job at the moment. After cleaning slit both sides so the meat could take in the flavors. Season the fish with salt and pepper, make sure to include also the stomach area then coat it with the Thai Minced Garlic. Insert the lemon slices and dill in those slits. Crush the garlic cloves and put them in the fish's stomach, put some dill also. Since I don't really intend to flip the fish, I have only put the lemon slices and dill on the top side of the fish.

Set the fish in the pan and put the oil. Then put in medium heat until bottom side is cooked. Preheat the oven using the top fire and then stick in the pan. After about 15 minutes, take it out and toss the tomato and onions into the pan, bring it back into the oven until top side is cooked. Once done, put in serving plate and set aside.

For the sauce, heat the oil in medium fire and saute in the garlic. Do not roast the garlic, just when its soft, add the Kikkoman light soy sauce and ketchup let it simmer for about 2 minutes and then add the water. Let it simmer for another 5 minutes then add the sugar and pepper. Dissolve the cornstarch in water before adding into the simmering sauce. You can decide the thickness of the sauce, once desired thikness is achieved, remove from fire. Pour over the prepared fish.

Preparation time, about 1 and a half hours, including cleaning of the fish. As usual, serves 8 but by the time I finished 4 were already far far away in their own dreamlands. It was a good thing I've set the fishes in two separate serving dishes, one with the sauce, the other without, so we were able to keep the other half for tomorrow's lunch boxes.