Special Delicacy from Southern Tagalog

Why do many people from Southern Tagalog in the Philippines and other part of Luzon love to eat mudfish (isdang dalag)? And people from other places don’t? From the people I met, I found out that most people from Bicol region, Visayas, and Mindanao don’t eat this fish because it can only caught from a dirty place, from a canal or some muddy places. But not in Southern Tagalog, most of it was from fish pens from the province of Rizal.

See how powerful a mudfish is…



Source: www.youtube.com

Let me share you the most famous dish for dalag…. paesang dalag!!! It is a soup base dish. It is very simple to cook. First boil water with onion, ginger, salt, sweet potato (camote) and pepper. Then pour the cut fish, let it boil for few minutes, then pour the petsay and the onion spring. Presto!!! You have paesang dalag. Serve it hot with fishsauce with calamansi and chili. Mmmmmmm.

Another dish for dalag is what you called “pakalog” (shake). It is the delicacy of Santolan, Pasig in NCR. Actually their feast was named “Pakalog Festival” named after the dish. It is also easy to cook, just boil the live dalag fish in a pan with tamarind soup and salt. Be sure that it has a cover or the fish will go back to water. J When it is cook, set aside the soup and fry the fish, when fried pour back the tamarind soup and let it boil for few minutes. Presto!!! You have pakalog.

Try this and I’m sure you’ll love it.