Inihaw na Tilapia/ Grilled Tilapia

This is one of the simplest Filipino fish dishes you can make, but ooh, so tasty. And quick to make on a busy evening too. Now that it’s warm outside you can fire up the grill, or if you would rather do it in the oven, you certainly can. All you need is

1 fresh tilapia, trimmed and cleaned (gutted and scaled)
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced ginger (optional)
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
salt or fish sauce and freshly ground black pepper to taste

banana leaves or foil for wrapping fish

Cut some slits into the flesh of the fish, down to the bone. You can do this several ways: parallel to the backbone, or perpendicular (make it several slashes then), or use crosscuts. Mix garlic, ginger if using, onions, tomatoes, salt or fish sauce and pepper in a small bowl. Press down on tomatoes a bit with a fork to bring out the juices. Carefully insert this mixture into fish cavity and into each cut/slash you’ve made. Wrap the whole fish in banana leaves or foil and cook on the grill for about 20 minutes or just until cooked through and fish is fragrant. If using the oven preheat to 400°F and bake, wrapped in leaves or foil, on a baking sheet, for about 20 minutes. Serve hot!

Variations:

If you can’t find or don’t want to use whole fish, you can do this same treatment using fish fillets. You can even replace the banana leaves or foil with parchment paper, and call your dish “en papillote”!