I was dreaming of this tilapia, wrapped in pechay and boiled in coconut milk. I had it a long time ago, at an eatery near the Manila Observatory inside Ateneo DMU. I can’t duplicate it, of course, but here’s the nearest (and easiest–>read: laziest) I came up with to satisfy a craving.
Ingredients:
1 clove garlic (minced)
1-inch ginger (minced)
1 onion (julienned)
1 tin of coconut milk (drained of water)
salt & pepper
2 cod fillets
Thai/fish sauce
2 bunches pak choi (cut the stems and separate)
Procedure:
- Layer a skillet with the alliums, salt and pepper, then the coconut milk. Place the fish on top and drizzle with some fish sauce. Cover and cook over medium heat.
- When the tinned coconut milk has melted and the fish almost cooked, add the pak choi stems. After 5 minutes, add the leaves. Wait for 1 minute after the leaves have wilted–then give them a gentle stir to submerge the leaves in the coconut milk.
- Cover again for a minute or two, then turn off the stove.
- Serve over a bed of rice.
I also dissolved some jaggery goor (panutsa) in a small amount of boiling water, added some sliced sweet potatoes, and a couple of minutes before turning off the stove–added a spoonful of coconut milk which I saved before using the lot in the fish dish above. You may add vanilla, or in my case–pandan essence.
Cooking Filipino in the UK 