With 2 kilos of fresh tilapia, its too tempting to just fry them crispy and dip in spiced vinegar. Well, not today. A neighbor gave some string beans / sitaw straight from his garden. My housekeeper has been pestering me about the pumpkin in the fridge. Okay, I know what to do with the fish -- Tilapia braised in coconut milk and veggies. I know I'm going to take a photo of it after and didn't want it to look boring (it won't do justice to its taste, anyway), so I opted to add some fresh turmeric from the garden. Hence, the mellow yellow cream. The cayenne peppers were for those who prefer to have it with some bite. Sunny, breezy, lazy lunch. Oh, my dogs enjoyed the crisp-fried heads.
Ingredients:
(serves 5-10 people)
Procedure:
Ingredients:
(serves 5-10 people)
- 1 dozen small and medium sized tilapia (cleaned, scales removed, tail, fins, and head removed)
- pumpkin (peeled and sliced into bite size)
- string beans (de-stringed and cut into 2 inches long)
- 1 cup coconut cream
- 2 cups coconut milk
- 5 big cloves of garlic (mashed)
- 1 medium red onion (sliced)
- 1 big thumb of ginger (peeled and mashed)
- 1 small thumb fresh ginger (peeled and mashed)
- 4-5 cayenne peppers (siling paksiw)
- fish sauce, salt & pepper to taste
Procedure:
- Quickly fry the fish until just about half-cooked. set aside.
- In a clean heated pan, throw in the onion, garlic, ginger, and turmeric. Stir fry until fragrant.
- Pour the coconut milk and bring to boil.
- Remove the onions, garlic, ginger, and turmeric (optional)
- Add the the pumpkin and remove when half-cooked.
- Add the string beans and remove when half-cooked.
- Add the fish gently and lower the fire. Simmer.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Add the vegetables and cayenne peppers.
- Pour in the coconut cream and increase the fire to quickly reach boiling point.
- Lower the heat again and season with fish sauce