Written by: seigfredtristan on May 6, 2010

On this recipe, you can choose between, pork, chicken or fish. I will choose fish, specifically Tilapia for reasons of world domination. This recipe is called Ginatang Tilapia in the Philippines meaning – Tilapia in Coco Milk.

Globally, Tilapia is fast becoming huge and I am only waiting for a matter of mere moments until it is used as a weapon of mass destruction. It’s kicking salmon out of the aquaculture throne because those orange-fleshed bear-huggers demand too much royalties and tilapia laughs on carp because plainly, they don’t have taste. The question is, when was the last time you had Tilapia? If you haven’t had Tilapia before, blame your mother or blame yourself if you don’t want to go through all the trouble in finding out it’s actually not your mom’s but your fault anyway. If you are not from the Philippines, you may be asking, where do I get Tilapia? Find a Taiwanese as Taiwan is one of the biggest exporters of Tilapia. Or as usual, your friendly, dodgy Asian market.

This Fish, Coco Milk, Shrimp paste article is this article’s article. I suggest you read it. The reason for using tilapia as our protein is because it is THE fish… It is the cornerstone to use coco milk and shrimp paste.

Now let’s go to acquiring our first secret ingredient – coco cream. The Filipino definition of coco cream is the first juice extract from grated coco meat. I was thinking of putting up a show on how to squeeze it from the source but since everyone is buying it from a can or from the cocoman (yes he exists, he is the guy that likes to squeeze), I will just be wasting all of our precious time.  Now for the rest of the world, they make coco cream like how you make cream from your usual dairy milk – let your coco milk sit overnight and that thing that rises to the top is the cream. I am baffled and delighted why when there’s something that rises to the top it is definitely the cream..whatever cream it is. I am more baffled with the term cream of the crop. One time I was driving and wanted to overtake to the right when I found out, with a loud whoa, I don’t have a right side-mirror. Cream of the crop. On this recipe we’ll go with the Filipino first blood coco cream.

Shall we go through the seven stations of the cross of making shrimp paste? Or should I just tell you bottles of it can be bought in a Filipino store? It is called by many names – Bagoong, Alamang, Ginamos, Di-nalabhang medyas, etc. The unadulterated shrimp paste tastes like… I actually don’t want to describe it, because it’s like… it’s like, “one time, at band camp…” and you know what goes after that. So get some bottled shrimp paste because they are spiced up, lovely, ready and can be used as a lip gloss.

Let’s get on to our recipe:

You will need a Tilapia (of course) of more than 500 grams. Anything under 500 grams, consider yourself deceived. You can either slice it if it’s too huge or leave it unscathed.

I can think of 3 ways on how to wage war on vegetarians in this recipe.

1. Steam your Tilapia. You decide on how much chopped ginger, onions, red chillies and garlic you put on top of it. According to Freud, you would likely to follow these steps if you have an obsessive-compulsive behavior. You do to your food as what you do to your toilet – you want to believe that anything you touch turns neat and clean. Look, bacteria in your blood! Here’s a bottle of handwash! Chug! Chug! Chug!

2. Fry your Tilapia to crunch-heaven (go here if you have no idea how) along with 3 cloves of crushed garlic. Do not peel the garlic. According to Freud, you are likely to follow these steps if you have an anal-retentive behavior. Just as you are sealing and keeping the flavors of the fish enclosed in a crunchy shell, the same goes with your social skills.

So in a separate paragraph, if you choose either of the steps above, you are actually a psycho.

Now before we detour on to the usual, normal option which is road number 3, we also need another and I mean a different batch of sauteed chopped ginger, onions, red chillies and garlic. After you have done either number 1 or 2, bring your sauteed veggies back in the pan, scroll down to the last paragraph of this article, choose a destiny for your Ginataang Tilapia, put your cooked Tilapia in the wok, pour at least a cup of coco cream, cover and let it simmer on low heat for 10 minutes. Done!

3. Now on this step we don’t do a separate batch of sauteed stuff because you will cook the Tilapia with it. Sautee your chopped ginger, onions, red chillies and garlic, add half a cup of water, slide in your tilapia, lower the heat, put the lid on and leave for 20 minutes or until the stock is reduced to a saucy consistency. Add your cup of coco cream, cover and let it simmer on low heat for 10 minutes. Done!

Now where did our shrimp paste go? Well you can either add them while you are sauteeing your separate batch of stuffs or if the shrimp paste has already been sauteed with stuff as what bottled shrimp paste is, drizzle them (or just put them on the side if you own people that don’t like shrimp paste) on your finished, plated Ginataang Tilapia. Now, Here’s a bottle of shrimp paste! Chug! Chug! Chug!