In the Philippines, most fish are sold whole and not filleted. This is especially through in small town markets around the country. Where my parents live, is really a small town. It is not close to the sea so seafoods are not always available. But since we leave near a lake, we do enjoy freshwater bounty (how should one call them? they can’t be seafood, right?) such as shrimps and catfish and mudfish and tilapia. Tilapia is commonly sold whole, still alive in the market.

Anyway, I got tired of cooking tilapia whole so I filleted my own tilapia. Its not that easy really as I didn’t have a sharp knife. In the end, I had the fillet plus the whole skeleton with meat still clinging to the bones. I marinated the fish in rice wine and dark soy sauce then baked it for 10 minutes each side. A sudden inspiration was to add slices of kamias on top of the fillet just before baking. The fish was really tasty with a hint of sourness from the kamias.

Now, what is kamias? Kamias is the Tagalog term for bilimbi which has been presented by Andaliman on a previous Weekend Herb Blogging. Here’s my take on another dish that uses kamias.

Baked Tilapia Fillet with Kamias

Tilapia fillet
1/4 cup rice wine
1/4 dark soy sauce
unripe kamias

Marinate tilapia fillet in rice wine and dark soy sauce for 30 minutes. Arrange in an oven-proof tray. Top with slices of kamias then bake for 15 minutes.

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This week’s Weekend Herb Blogging is hosted by Ulrike of Kuchenlatein. Want to know how farmers’ markets look like around the world? Or you might want to share yours! Check out “To market, to market…“

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