Hearty Vegetable Soup with Fried Fish on Top, Featuring Fresh Dalagang Bukid

I'm really a big fan of dishes with soup, a plain soup or that without much color, a really flavorful soup found in some stew, or those dishes with thick sauces. I love to pour a spoonful of soup in my rice and eat it just like that. I don't like putting the whole cup of soup in my rice though, I just put a spoonful because I really hate it when my rice is soaked in a soup for a really long time. I don't like its texture. I know some people that pour their soup in their rice that it end up looking like porridge bathing in a soup. There's no problem with that, of course, we all have our own references, but how about you?

The other day, when we visited the little wet market in Bansud Bridge, the fish we bought there ended up being cooked in a vegetable soup after frying it. Thanks to that, we enjoy a really hearty lunch and dinner. And it's not even a week yet, but Mom is already craving it. So she bought this particular vegetable called "Upo," or bottle gourd. Almost similar to the one we had the other day, which is the "Patola," or sponge gourd. Our neighbor is selling it, and it's still fresh, so Mom bought a big one. And you'll be surprised with its price, it's only 10 pesos, or $0.17.

And today, Mommy F tasked me to buy a fresh fish in the market so that we can mix it with the bottle gourd and make a vegetable soup with fried fish on it. I then headed to the market with Mama, and gosh, it's super hot. Another thing is, Mommy F gave me the task of choosing what fish to buy. There's a lot of fish in the wet market, but the kind of fish they have is the same, which is just milkfish and tilapia. I got lucky though because I found a Dalagang Bukid, or yellowtail fusilier, in one of the fish vendors. She's the only one selling it. The price is 260 pesos per kilo or $4.41. but I only buy half a kilo of it.

And here's our dalagang bukid, still fresh. I cleaned it thoroughly, and I also removed everything that needed to be removed. I also cut each fish in half because it was too big. Do you perhaps have this fish in your country? What was it called?

I peeled next the bottle gourd, and Mommy D said to cut it into a bigger size, just like this. Also, Mommy F requested to remove its seed, which I easily did. I just put a pinch of salt in it and carefully massaged it.

Here it is. After that, I cleaned it using clean water. The seeds floated on their own, so I successfully removed their seeds.

Next is frying time! Remember to wait for the pan to heat up before putting your cooking oil in, same with the oil. It won't surely stick to your pan if you do that.

Now with our vegetable recipe, put together the fried fish, onion, garlic, and a pinch of salt. Let it boil or just until the fish becomes a little tender.

I also added a tablespoon of fish sauce on it, which will make this dish more flavorful. I didn't put a lot because we'll check it again once we already put the bottle gourd.

After boiling the fried fish, I remove it again before putting the bottle gourd. We don't want to overcook our fish, right? I just let it boil for minutes, then I added another tablespoon of fish sauce. You can adjust the taste based on your own preference.

And done! Kill the stove and put the fried fish on top and cover it. Serve it while it's hot!

Lead Image Edited in Canva