• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Umami Days

Umami Days

Meaty with a dash of veggies

  • Pick a meal
    • One Bowl Meals
    • Breakfast
    • Lunch / Dinner
      • Appetizers
      • Salads
      • Soups
      • Main Courses
      • Side Dishes
      • Sweets
    • Snacks
    • Drinks
      • Summer drinks
      • Cold weather drinks
      • Cocktail hour
  • Pick your protein
    • Chicken, duck & turkey
    • Meat
    • Seafood
    • Eggs
    • Mushrooms
    • Tofu
    • Vegetables
  • Pick your carb
    • Rice & grains
    • Noodles
    • Bread
  • Newsletter
  • Sidebar
    • Kitchen
    • Dining
    • Edible Garden
    • Food Tales
  • Newsletter
  • Recipe index
    • By Meal
      • One Bowl Meals
      • Breakfast
      • Lunch / Dinner
        • Appetizers
        • Salads
        • Soups
        • Main Courses
        • Side Dishes
        • Sweets
      • Snacks
      • Drinks
        • Summer drinks
        • Cold weather drinks
        • Cocktail hour
    • By Main Protein
      • Chicken, duck & turkey
      • Meat
      • Seafood
      • Eggs
      • Mushrooms
      • Tofu
      • Vegetables
    • By Carb
      • Rice & grains
      • Noodles
      • Bread
  • Sidebar
    • Kitchen
    • Dining
    • Edible Garden
    • Food Tales
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Copyright
  • Contact
Seafood Appetizers Lunch / Dinner Main Courses

Grilled fish collar (inihaw na panga ng tuna)

Published: 11.29.2020 » Last updated: 04.27.2023

It’s bar food, it’s beach food, it’s family food. You can enjoy it in almost any region of the Philippines but you’ll find the largest, meatiest and freshest grilled tuna collar in coastal towns with established fishing industries.

Grilled tuna collar served with sea grapes

Panga literally translates to jaw. The delicacy known as panga ng tuna, however, refers to the collar of the tuna — the rounded triangular strip of bone between the gills and the fish’s body. Embedded within the crevices of the bone is scrumptious fatty meat that you won’t get from any other part of the fish.

Use large tuna collars for grilling. You just won’t get a lot of flesh from small tuna collars. The collar you see in the photos is one of two with a total weight of 1.5 kilos.

The grilling time specified below is not absolute. It depends on how large the tuna collars are and how thick the flesh is. If you have three collars, even if the total weight is also 1.5 kilos, the grilling time should be shorter.

Please avoid overcooking the fish. The point in wrapping the collars in banana leaves is to prevent the flesh from drying out. Overcooking will still dry out the flesh even if you triple wrap the collars.

How hot should the grill be? Very hot. Place the rack at least six inches above the glowing charcoal.

Grilled fish collar (inihaw na panga ng tuna)

Connie Veneracion
Wrapping the tuna collar in banana leaves before grilling keeps all the juices in while giving the fish a smoky flavor and aroma.
Grilled tuna collar
Print Pin Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes mins
Cook Time 20 minutes mins
Total Time 25 minutes mins
Course Appetizer, Main Course
Cuisine Filipino
Servings 4 people

Ingredients
  

  • 1 banana leaf
  • 2 large tuna collars
  • sea grapes - to serve
  • rice - to serve
  • your choice of dipping sauce - to serve

Instructions
 

  • Start heating the charcoal in your grill.
  • Pass the banana leaf over fire (the stovetop, in our case) to wilt it.
  • Wipe the tuna collars dry with a kitchen towel.
  • Wrap a collar in a piece of banana leaf then wrap the package in a larger piece of banana leaf.
  • Tie the parcel with kitchen twine.
  • Repeat with the other tuna collar.
  • Grill the banana leaf-wrapped tuna collars over hot charcoal for 10 minutes per side.
  • Cut the banana leaf wrappers with kitchen shears.
  • Serve the inihaw na panga ng tuna as an appetizer or as a main course.
Print Pin Recipe
Keyword Grilled, Tuna

Recipes and stories in your inbox

  • #26 More than one way to enjoy miso soup
    05.26.2023
    Basic miso soup has tofu, wakame and scallions. But you can add more vegetables, or even meat, mushrooms or seafood, and it won’t be sacrilege.
More Seafood
Salted salmon and curry rice a la kedgeree

Salted salmon and curry rice a la kedgeree

Fried whole fish with lemon sauce garnished with mint leaves

Fried whole fish with lemon sauce

Salmon katsu piccata over rice

Salmon katsu piccata

Creamy shrimp broccoli spaghetti in white bowl

Creamy shrimp and broccoli spaghetti

Herb and lemon orzo with smoked salmon

Herb and lemon orzo with smoked salmon

Chinese-style fish fillet with lemon sauce garnished with scallions, mint and lemon slices

Chinese-style fish fillet with lemon sauce

Sidebar

Connie Veneracion, Chiang Mai, 2020

Hi, I’m Connie!

Welcome to Umami Days, a blog that advocates innovative home cooking for pleasurable everyday dining. No trendy diets, no food fads and definitely no ludicrous recipe names like crustless quiche, noodleless pho or chocolate lasagna.

  • About
  • Recipes
  • Privacy
  • Copyright
  • Contact
Okonomiyaki

Okonomiyaki

10-minute shrimp, peas and cashew stir fry

10-minute shrimp, peas and cashew stir fry

Slow cooker callos

Slow cooker callos

Ginger scallion mussel soup

Do mussels and clams need to be soaked before cooking?

Stringed snap peas

Are snow peas the same as snap peas?

Fettucine aglio e olio with mussels

Fettuccine aglio e olio with mussels

Umami Days is powered by Apple, coffee & one bowl meals · Copyright © 2023 Connie Veneracion · All Rights Reserved