Greetings!

Here's another dish that I have known while I am growing up. Most of my memories of this dish are happy and worthy of looking back. And some of the most memorable memories that I can still vividly remember is when my family is having a picnic on a nearby lake where we get to catch Tilapia and then cook them right away for lunch. Cooking and eating newly caught fish is one of the best memories that I cherish with my childhood.

Not only that, eating a newly caught fish especially with soup is very tasty because the fish is very fresh, also, grilling them is also great because of their freshness.

If only my family have a camera back we would have taken some photos of those picnics that we have back in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Sinigang is actually a very versatile dish, you can cook sinigang using different main ingredients such as Pork, Chicken, Fish (Tilapia, Milk Fish, Blue Scan Mackerel, and many more), Beef, and Shrimp, we Ilokanos do also have a sinigang recipe consisting of only Finger Pepper or Green Pepper.

There are also so many vegetables that can be combined with sinigang. Some of the main vegetable ingredients that we add to a sinigang dish are Mustard (popular), Water Spinach (popular), Snow Cabbage (replacement), Cabbage (replacement), Taro (additional), String Beans (additional), Okra (additional), long violet Eggplant (additional), Tomato (additional), Radish (additional), also there is also the main ingredient that cannot be committed such as Finger Pepper and Tamarind (powdered tamarind). In the absence of tamarind or powdered tamarind a Bilimbi fruit can be used (we call Bilimbi as Kamias), and if ever Bilimbi is not available a Cotton Fruit can be used (we call Cotton Fruit as Santol), just don't add the seed of the cotton fruit since they can be sweet.

In my childhood, I can still clearly remember that my father used to only cook sinigang na tilapia with Banana Blossom, tomato (optional), and Tamarind. It is quite rare to buy banana blossoms these days because of their scarcity of supply. Using banana blossoms in a sinigang makes the soup white which makes the dish even more delicious. THere's also a distinctly delicious taste that only the banana blossom can give.

So, without further ado, here's how to cook this healthy and delicious dish...

• Tilapia
• Green Pepper
• Water Spinach
• Ginger
• Onion
• Powdered Tamarind
• Salt

Remove the scales, gills, stomach, wash, and slice the Tilapia into two (you can definitely left the fins and tail of the Tilapia if your want, in my case, I removed them all)

Peel and slice the onion

Peel and slice the ginger

Prepare and wash the water spinach

Prepare the powdered Tamarind

Prepare the green pepper (this green pepper is from our own green pepper crop on my vegetable garden)

1. Put all the ingredients in a cooking pot except the powdered tamarind and the water spinach

2. Put some water (barely submerging all the ingredients), add some salt

3. When it starts to boil add the powdered tamarind and remove the suds

4. When all the ingredients are now cooked and if the taste is now okay you can now add the water spinach, when the water spinach is 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