Greetings!

Here's another dish that we Ilokanos love to cook and serve anytime of the day and with any season. It is called "Inabraw". Inabraw is a very versatile dish. Various vegetables can be cooked as Inabraw. The only ingredient that always defines an Inabraw dish is the use of Fish Sauce (we Ilokanos call fish sauce "Bagoong").

Inabraw is usually cooked without using cooking oil or sauteeing an onion or garlic, it is mainly cooked with only water as soup combined with Fish Sauce.

Since inabraw is very versatile dish you can cook it with or without a souring ingredient. A souring ingredient is usually a tamarind, a kamias, or a mango.

An Inabraw dish is always tasty in itself. But we Ilokanos are always adding a grilled or fried fish to make the soup more delicious. The most popular fish that we use are Tilipia, Milk Fish, and Blue Scad Mackerel. You can choose to fry or grill them. But if you ask me, I prefer them grilled since I noticed that the flavor of the fish is more natural and delicious when grilled as oppose to frying.

Inabraw can be cooked and served anytime of the day, but it is more popular cooked and served during lunch, followed by dinner, and then breakfast.

The Inabraw dish that I am going to introduce to you today is "Inabraw na Sitaw at Papaya na may Inihaw na Tilapia". You can cook this dish with or without Tilapia, also you can cook this dish with or without a souring ingredient like tamarind, kamis, or mango.

TRIVIA: Ilokano people love to put Fish Sauce (Bagoong) on almost anything that they eat.

Without further ado, here's how to cook this Ilokano dish called "Inabraw na Sitaw at Papaya na may Inihaw na Tilapia"...

• Papaya
• String Bean (sitaw)
• Tilapia (two large Tilapias for more tasty soup)
• Fish Sauce (Fish Bagoong), about 6-7 tablespoons
• Salt (salt is optional if ever the taste is bland after adding the fish sauce)
• Powdered Tamarind

Peel and slice the papaya (thin enought to match the cooking time of string beans)

Cut the string beans into serving size

Remove the scales, stomach, and gills of the Tilapia then cut into two portions (it is also okay if you do not want to slice the Tilapia)

Prepare the fish sauce (bagoong)

Prepare the powdered Tamarind

1. Chargrill all the Tilapia slices on both sides (I grilled my Tilapias on the gas stove). You can definitely grill your Tilapia any way you want

2. When all the Tilapia slices now look like this it is done

3. When all the Tilapias are grilled it is time to combine them with the main dish

4. Add all the ingredients into a cooking pot except the fish sauce and the powdered tamarind

5. Add some water, submerging 3/4 of all the ingredients, let them boil

6. When it starts to boil, get some soup and add it to the fish sauce

7. Add just enough soup to dissolve the fish sauce

8. After dissolving the fish sauce add it to the dish. add some salt if needed

9. Add the powedered tamarind, let it boil again

10. Once all the ingredients are cooked, 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