DAING NA BANGUS SECRET FILIPINO RECIPE BASICS AND TUTORIALS

Fried Marinated Milk Fish - Daing na Bangus

The traditional method of preserving fish—salting and sun drying—is time-consuming and labor-intensive. By marinating the fish in vinegar with plenty of garlic overnight you’ll get the same great taste without the time and labor.

Milkfish is traditionally used for this dish but rainbow trout, sea bass, or mackerel are good substitutes. This dish goes wonderfully well with Pickled Green Papaya and a vinegar-based dip of your choice.

Combine the Marinade ingredients in a bowl and stir until the salt is dissolved. Open the fish like a book and place it skin-side up in a large casserole dish. Pour the Marinade over it and let marinate in the refrigerator overnight.

Heat a skillet over medium heat and add the oil. Fry the fish for about 15 minutes on each side or until brown. Serve hot with and hot steamed rice, Pickled Green Papaya and Vinegar Garlic Sauce or Vinegar and Sauteed Shrimp Paste Sauce.

Serves 4
Preparation time: 5 minutes + overnight marinating time
Cooking time: 30 minutes

2 lbs (1 kg) whole milkfish, rainbow trout, sea bass or mackerel, scaled, gutted and cleaned, or 1 1/2 lbs (750 g) fish fillets
3 tablespoons oil
Pickled Green Papaya (page 21)
Vinegar Garlic Sauce (page 20) or Vinegar and Sautéed Shrimp Paste Sauce (page 21), for dipping Marinade
1 cup (250 ml) Filipino cane vinegar (or white vinegar or cider vinegar diluted with water, page 13)
5 cloves garlic, crushed with the side of knife
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

THE MALACANANG PALACE AND MUSEUM - TOURIST DESTINATION

How to get to the Malacanang Palace and Malacanang Museum?

Malacanang Palace is the home of the President of the Philippines. It tells many history, and a significant part of Philippine history. It like the White House of the United States of America.

Home of the governor-generals and presidents of the Philippines since the 1860s, the Malacañang Palace is a fittingly grand and intriguing edifice, well worth the minor hassle involved in arranging a visit.

Much of the palace is permanently off-limits to the public, but you can visit the wing that houses the Malacañang Museum (Mon–Fri 9am–4pm; P50; T02/784-4286, Wwww.president.gov.ph) by making an appointment at least seven days in advance.

You’ll need to email or fax a letter of request to the palace, stating your name, preferred date and time of visit, and attaching a photocopy or scan of your passport; call first to confirm the latest procedure.

You can also join a tour run by Ivan Man Dy of Old Manila Walks (T0917/329-1622, Wwww.oldmanilawalks.com), which saves you the bother.

The Malacañang occupies the site of a smaller stone house dating from 1750. In 1825 the Spanish government bought it and, in 1849, made it the summer residence of the governor-general of the Philippines.

After the governors’ palace in Intramuros was destroyed in the earthquake of 1863, the move to Malacañang was made permanent and the property was extended several times over the years.

The museum occupies the beautifully restored Kalayaan Hall, completed in 1921, and traces the history of the palace and of the presidency from Emilio Aguinaldo to the present day.

The palace is in J.P. Laurel Street in San Miguel district, a short taxi ride east of Intramuros and Quiapo.

INTERNATIONAL RICE RESEARCH INSTITUTE BASIC INFORMATION

International Rice Research Institute
The world’s largest institute on rice research

Do you know that the world’s largest research center on rice is in the Philippines? The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the biggest of its kind in the world, is stationed in the Philippines since the 1960s.

IRRI is located in Los Baños, Laguna, right beside the University of the Philippines. It is at IRRI where rice farmers from around the world come to study and learn new rice farming methods.

In the 1960s, the country was one of the world’s top rice producers, and, thus, was a logical site for the Institute’s headquarters.

IRRI was established by virtue of a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. Its goal was to help develop and improve rice production technologies.

Today, it serves as a repository of the biggest rice germ plasma collection in the world, with rice genetic materials coming from various rice-producing countries from all over the globe.

The Institute’s research and work on rice - the staple grain to more than half of the world’s population – has attracted many scientists, prominent world leaders and personalities into the country.

US Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freeman, President Lyndon Johnson and philanthropist Laurance Rockefeller are just some of the few leaders who have come to visit IRRI and see its experimental and model farms in the country. It is indeed a pride that the Philippines is home to this rice think-tank.

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is the primary organization engaged in the development of better rice production. It had helped a lot of countries from India, China, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia achieved rice self-sufficiency and had even become world rice exporters.

IRRI is one of the reasons behind the sustained world rice supply and we are proud it calls the Philippines its home.

Postcript: The Philippines ironically is an importer of Rice from the countries it helped to develop rice, on their own.