Greetings!

Here's a dish that is very popular in my hometown, it is called "Ginisang Upo na may Sardinas". This dish is so popular most of the people in my hometown are planting bottle gourd all year long. I think I first tasted this dish when I was very little (maybe less than 6 years old).

I can also remember vividly that my father used to plant bottle gourd in his backyard vegetable garden and I used to water them either in the morning or in the afternoon (before sunset).

This is also a very versatile dish because you can put cellophane noodles or rice noodles in it as an added ingredient. Sometimes misua is also added. Sometimes green pepper is also added and or bell pepper. Another additional ingredient that can be added is tomato.

This dish is very simple yet very tasty. It is one of my favorites when I was young. Eating this dish in the 1908s is already considered a luxury because back then sardines are expensive commodities. But now sardines is one of the cheapest.

As far as I remember I can only eat sardines back then about 4 to 5 times a year and is always combined with bottle gourd, papaya, or winter melon.

I think this dish is born out of necessity in the 1980s. Households back then are not always cooking this dish. And if I remember it right this dish is always served when there are visitors in the 1980s.

By the way, if ever you are going to try this recipe I highly recommend that you should remove all the seeds of the bottle gourd for a more delicious eating experience. You can also use more sardines if you want to.

So, without further ado, here's how I cook this simple yet tasty dish...

• Bottle Gourd
• Sardine in tomato sauce
• Onion
• Garlic
• Ground Black Pepper
• Salt
• Cooking oil

Peel and slice the bottle gourd into circle

Then slice the circle bottled gourd into strips

Peel and slice the onion

Peel and slice the garlic

Prepare the ground black pepper

Prepare the sardines in tomato sauce

1. Sautee the onion and the garlic in a cooking oil

2. Add the bottle gourd

3. Add some water

4. Add the sardines in tomato sauce

5. Stir to evenly distribute the tomato sauce of the sardines

6. Add the ground black pepper

7. Stir to evenly distribute the ground black pepper, when the bottle gourd is cooked and when the taste is now okay it is done...

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I am a Computer Engineer, blogger, farmer, father, and husband. I love countryside living, nature, farming (rice/vegetables), and has two decades of experience as an I.T. professional