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| Mustasa-wrapped tilapia in gata |
Serves 3 to 4 Prep Time 10 minutes
Cooking Time 20 to 25 minutes
Mustasa-wrapped tilapia in gata ingredients: 3 pieces whole tilapia, scaled and gutted. Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste. 8 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed. 1 50-gram piece of ginger, peeled and sliced. 1 bundle mustasa leaves or mustard greens. 1 white onion, sliced. 1 (400-ml) can coconut milk. 1 and 1/2 to 2 tablespoons patis, plus more to taste. steamed rice, to sever
Mustasa-wrapped tilapia in gata recipe: 1- Sprinkle the fish with salt and pepper inside and outside the cavity. Stuff the cavities of the fish with 1 garlic clove and a couple slices of ginger each. Warp each tilapia in mustasa leaves. Depending on the size of your leaves, this could take 2 to 3 leaves for each fish. 2- In a heavy-bottomed pot, scatter the onion slices as well as the remaining garlic and ginger. Lay the prepared tilpia over the aromatics in one layer. Tuck the rest of the mustasa leaves between and on top of the fish. 3- Pour coconut milk over the fish and drizzle patis over. 4- Cover the pot and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes or until the fish is cooked. Check halfway through to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom, then ladle some of the sauce over the fish. You'll know the fish is cooked when it flakes easily at the point of a knife. Taste and adjust seasoning by adding more patis, if needed. Serve with steamed rice on the side, By then, the Mustasa-wrapped tilapia in gata is ready
Tip: you can give the dish a spicy kick by adding one or two pieces of siling mahaba or siling pangsigang (our local long green chili). Just tuck the sili in between the fish before cooking
