Mama's Steamed Pompano Head in Black Bean Sauce

Steamed Pompano Head in Black Bean Sauce garnished with green onions

Pompano is a marine fish locally known as pampano, salay-salay, talakitok, or uruk. It has white and tender flesh when cooked which makes it perfect for steaming, baking, or curry.

Fresh Pompano

For this recipe, you will need:

1 piece of Pompano fish’s head (around 225 g)

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 thumb-sized piece of garlic, peeled and minced

1 teaspoon black beans, minced

1 piece bird’s eye chili, seeds removed, minced (optional)

2 tbsps soy sauce

1 tbsp brown sugar

½ tsp cornstarch

2 tbsps water

1 tbsp sesame oil (sesame oil)

2 tbsps cooking oil

2 stalks green onion

White pepper

Procedure:

Lightly scrape the fish skin to lessen its fishy smell. Make a a 2-inch slit on the underbelly of the fish and proceed to remove its guts and gills. Rinse until water runs clear. Pat dry with paper towels. Rub the inside and outside of the fish with white pepper. Set aside.
Halve the green onions crosswise. Cut the green onion leaves lengthwise into strips. Set aside.
In a small bowl, combine the minced garlic, pepper, and black beans. Add the soy sauce, sesame oil and chili (if using), brown sugar, cornstarch and water. Spread the mixture all over and inside the fish head.

In a steaming dish, arrange the green onion stems and then place the fish head on top. This will prevent the skin of the fish from sticking to the plate.
Steam for 15-18 minutes or until the fish is cooked through. To test, poke a chopstick on the shoulder part of the fish. It should come out clean and without blood. Otherwise, cook for another 2 minutes.
On a separate pan, heat oil then sauté the green onion leaves for at least 30 seconds. Sprinkle on top of the steamed fish head.
Serve hot with steamed rice.