Tilapia is a type of freshwater white fish which is abundantly farmed in the Philippines. It is rich in omega 6 and seemingly healthy. In our province, we can buy a kilo of Tilapia at our wet market for 160.00 pesos only. Thus, an economical viand for a regular meal of a Filipino family. This is best if paired with rice. I am going to show you today, one dish that is mostly loved in our province... Spicy Tilapia with coconut milk.
Lets start! 😋
Tilapia fish - cleaned and sliced according to desired serving pieces. The key here is to buy only the fresh ones. When you clean, you remove the slimy liquid in the mouth area. Wash it thoroughly.
Ginger - at least a size of a thumb or more, cleaned and thinly sliced.
Onion - a piece of red onion sliced.
Garlic - 6 cloves, sliced.
Red pepper - the more spicy the better. Sliced thinly.
Bay leaves - 2 pieces
Red spanish paprika - 1 teaspoon or two for color
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
Lemon grass - chopped and about 1 tablespoon
Vinegar - souring ingredient, half a cup will do. (Sometimes, instead of vinegar, I use 3 to 4 pieces of batwan fruit. The batwan fruit is especially unique and can be found only in our province. but this time I only used vinegar.)
Coconut milk - from 1 coconut, meat grated and coconut milk extracted. There will be two extractions of the coconut milk. The first one is the pure one. We call this in the Philippines the "kakang gata". The second extraction is done by adding 1 cup of warm water to the coconut meat before extraction. We save both first and second extraction separately. This is a star ingredient in this dish. (If fresh coconut milk is not available you may use a canned one found in stores.)
1. In the bottom of a pan, arrange the following ingredients: onions, ginger, garlic, bay leaves, red pepper(leave a whole piece or 2 for design) and lemon grass.
2. Arrange the thoroughly cleaned and sliced tilapia fish on top.
- Add the red paprika and the cup of the second extraction of coconut milk. Add black pepper and salt to taste. Cover the pan and let it boil until for 15 minutes or until the fish is cooked and the desired amount of liquid is achieved. As soon as the fish is cooked, add vinegar and let it simmer.
- Finally, slow down the fire on your stove and add the kakang gata(first extraction) and taste. You may add salt or black pepper depending on your taste.
- That's it. Ready to serve!!!
This recipe is famous to my family as this brings us down to memory lane when our grand parents still dominated the kitchen. We are glad that this recipe bring their presence back to us. Hope you will try this recipe and enjoy it as much as we do.
Stay tuned for more recipes!