Butterflied Tilapia with Sweet Ginger Sauce

This again is another experiment inspired by the food I crave from the Philippines. This time it's the butterflied Pla-Pla from Abe at Serendra. Of course it should come come with the Pako Fern and Salted Egg salad, but then Mindoro is too far away for our yaya to go home and collect some :). So in the meantime, we can make do with butterflied Tilapia, but to make it a little special, I have also prepared some stir-fried carrots and onions and poured in some sweet ginger sauce somewhat similar to the Tonkatsu sauce I have made previously and posted here.

Ingredients:
1kg Tilapia (about 3 pcs.)
1/2 cup corn flour
salt and pepper
cooking oil for deep frying
1 medium carrot, julienned
1 large red onion, julienned


Sweet Ginger Sauce
1/4 cup light soy soysauce
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1 tbs minced ginger
1 tbs minced garlic
1 tbs brown sugar
1/4 tsp white pepper


Method:
Clean the fishes (your supermarket can do this for you) by removing its scales, innards and gills. Since we will be "butterfly-ing" the fish anyway, you can cut a slit on its cavity then pull out the innards with your fingers.
To butterfly the tilapia, lay the fish flat on the chopping board and slice along the fish's backbone towards its tail. Do the same with the other side. Do not cut all the way through it's head or else you will be left with two pieces of tilapia fillets on your hands.
Rinse the fish, drain excess water and pat dry with paper towel. Season the entire fish inside and out with salt and pepper.
In a deep and wide pan, heat enough oil to cover the entire fish.
Dust tilapia with corn flour, inside and out including its spine. Slowly slide in the fish in smoking hot oil. Do not let the fish lay flat on the pan, would be best to hold the spine with a thong to keep it in upright position (think swimming). Once the fish starts to cook you will notice the two sides of the meat to curl somewhat forming like wings. Cook until it turns lightly browned and crisp (about 5-8 minutes).
Remove from pan and set in a serving dish. Once crisp, the fish will stand on its own.
D the same for each of the remaining fish.
To prepare the vegetables, heat a separate pan with 2tbs of cooking oil. Stir fry the carrots and onions in high heat until fragrant slightly charred. Turn off heat.
To prepare the sauce, mix all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Transfer into a small pan and put over medium heat. Cook with continuous stirring. Simmer until desired consistency is achieved. Turn off heat.
Pour the vegetables and sauce over butterflied tilapia. Serve with hot rice. Enjoy!




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