TSMCooks: Sinanglay na Tilapia Recipe

Coconut milk, Gata or Natuk as we usually call it is the most common ingredient in our food where I grew up. It is the most easily accessible ingredient in our backyard because we just wait for the fruit to fall and then we have already something to cook our food. I used to hate it when I was a kid because my mom would make us "kudkod" manually scrape/grate the coconut meat and it wasn't fun! HAHA! 

In this recipe, I will share with you one of the recipes my mom usually cook and took us hours of preparation because back in the day we do things manually (kudkod, piga ng gata and tadtad ng rekado). I grew up in the countryside where everything was plain, simple and backward (positive kind-of-way). This dish is called Sinanglay na Tilapia. It is a dish wherein you stuff the fish with tomatoes, garlic, onion and spices and wrap it in Taro leaves or Pechay leaves and cook it in Gata. But since there was no available Taro leaf or Pechay as big as my Tilapia fish, I just placed them underneath. 

So without further ado, here is the recipe:

Sinanglay na Tilapia

Ingredients:

Coconut Milk

Tilapia (Daing cut)

Tomatoes, cut into cubes

Onion, minced and julienned

Garlic, minced and julienned

Ginger, minced

Salt

Pepper

Pechay

Fish Sauce to taste

Lemongrass

Procedure:

1. Prepare all the ingredients. Mix tomatoes, garlic, ginger and onion in a bowl and mix it with dash of salt and pepper. This is what you need to stuff the Tilapia. Set aside. 

2. Season the Tilapia with salt, stuff the Tilapia with the minced seasoning you set aside. Tie the Tilapia with a cotton wick to make sure the seasoning will stay intact when you cook it. 

3. Line the leaves in the pan along with the seasonings (garlic, onion and ginger). Add also the lemongrass on the side. 

4. Place the Tilapia on top and pour in the coconut mixture. 

5. Simmer in low heat and turn the Tilapia to cook both sides. Add fish sauce, salt and pepper to taste. 

6. Serve with hot rice. 

If you made this recipe, please tag me in your posts. I would love to see them. Have you tried this recipe with other fishes? Share your thoughts in the comment section.