Pan Grilled Stuffed Tilapia is my mom’s recipe. She cooked it last night and it tasted delicious. So, this Saturday dinner, I decided to cooked it again.
Currently, the whole Metro Manila is under enhance community quarantine. It’s somewhat a lockdown but we are only allowed to leave our house to buy food, medicine or for emergency cases. You’ll be lucky if you can buy fresh fish in the grocery. It’s either you buy canned goods, processed meat, fresh pork, beef or chicken.
Since our household will surely get high blood pressure from eating those food, we also want some fish in our meal. Luckily, the fish vendor who usually roam our village was here few days ago and we got to buy some milkfish and tilapia.
I don’t know about you but for us, eating so much pork or chicken in a week is tiring and alarming. You just get tired of it and you’ll start to crave for fish. I think when you get old you’ll just start to enjoy some fish from time to time.
My mom bought some milk fish which she pan grilled and several tilapias to fry. Last night, she made a pan grilled stuffed tilapia wrapped in banana leaf instead of aluminum foil and it was delicious. The aroma of the cooking banana leaf is just satisfying and amazing. Taste wise, it just add a fresher flavor to the fish.
Tips
When cleaning the fish, I highly suggested to thoroughly clean the fish. Remove the gills and guts. Wash and remove all the blood you can see. Then, rubbed it with lots of salt outside and inside of the fish. Pour some vinegar all over the fish including the inside. Leave it for 10 minutes and rinse it again with clean water for several times.
If banana leaf is not available at your home, you can just wrapped it in aluminum foil or baking paper. When pan grilling, always cover the pan and adjust the heat to medium low. Time varies depending on the size of the fish. Take note that fishes tend to cook faster than pork or chicken meat.
For more fish dishes check out our Fish Recipes.
Ingredients
| 1 piece | Large Tilapia |
| 3 Tablespoons | Calamansi Juice |
| 4 cloves | Garlic, chopped |
| 1 piece | Onion, chopped |
| 1 piece | Tomato, deseeded and chopped |
| 1/4 teaspoon | Salt |
| 1/4 teaspoon | Ground Black Pepper |
| 1/4 teaspoon | Salt |
| 1/4 teaspoon | Ground Black Pepper |
| 1 piece | Banana Leaf, 12 x 10 inches |
| Cooking Oil |
Procedure
Thoroughly clean the tilapia. Make a small incision on the belly of the tilapia. Thoroughly wash and clean the inside of the tilapia and set a side.
Drizzle the tilapia with the calamansi juice.
In a bowl, mix together, garlic, onion, tomato, salt and ground black pepper. Stuff the tilapia with the stuffing. season the tilapia with salt and ground black pepper. Set a side for 20 minutes.
Wash the banana leaf and pat dry with kitchen towel. Spread some cooking oil so the fish will not stick.
Wrap the fish in the banana leaf and pan grill for 15 minutes on each side over medium low heat.
Pan Grilled Stuffed Tilapia
Ingredients
- 1 piece Large Tilapia
- 3 Tablespoons Calamansi Juice
- 4 cloves Garlic, chopped
- 1 piece Onion, chopped
- 1 piece Tomato, deseeded and chopped
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
- 1 piece Banana Leaf, 12 x 10 inches
- Cooking Oil
Instructions
- Thoroughly clean the tilapia. Make a small incision on the belly of the tilapia. Thoroughly wash and clean the inside of the tilapia and set a side.
- Drizzle the tilapia with the calamansi juice.
- In a bowl, mix together, garlic, onion, tomato, salt and ground black pepper. Stuff the tilapia with the stuffing. season the tilapia with salt and ground black pepper. Set a side for 20 minutes.
- Wash the banana leaf and pat dry with kitchen towel. Spread some cooking oil so the fish will not stick.
- Wrap the fish in the banana leaf and pan grill for 15 minutes on each side over medium low heat.
