Kinamatisang buwad

or dried fish in tomatoes

My 4 year-old nephew (who lives in the US) thinks dried fish is the most despicable food in the whole world. They were vacationing and staying in my house last February. One morning he woke up with the smell of the boneless danggit cooking. He cried running to his mommy while covering his nose wailing “Let's go home, Mommy! I don't like it here! THEY COOK STINKY FOOD!!!” We never had danggit the whole duration of their stay.

I cannot imagine going through a month without a whiff of the heavenly salted dried fish. Again, food is a cultural thing. Foreigners do not understand our fascination over the smelly fish in the same way that you cannot make me eat kimchi and live baby octopuses.

I don't know about you, but in our house, this particular appetizer is such a hit that dinner is already complete with just this and rice and nothing else. Sinful and yes, appetizing – you can't help but eat cups after cups of rice. Tempting and evil, this will do nothing to your health except perhaps deposit more cholesterol to the already clogged veins. But hey, it has loads of tomatoes, and tomatoes is anything but bad. Caveat though, if you're dieting, steer clear of this dish.

ingredients:

• 2 large katambak dried fish, washed and sliced
• ½ kilo ripe tomatoes, cut in wedges
• 2 cups vegetable oil

procedure:

1. Wash the whole dried fish in running tap water for about a minute each before cutting. This makes the fish less salty – and well, it cleans out whatever's in the surface. Drain in paper towels.
2. In a frying pan, pour enough oil to fry the dried fish. Undercook the pieces by half the time you usually cook a dried fish. Don't worry, we'll cook these darlings again later. You don't want a hard, crispy exterior of the fish, you want to make room for the tomato flavor to get infused with the fish meat.
3. In a heated wok, pour the remaining oil.
4. When in boiling point, add the tomatoes and cook until the meat almost separates from the skin.
5. Add the precooked dried fish.
6. Let the fish soak in the boiling tomato-oil mixture for about 2 minutes.

My husband said this dish is a perfect pair for young plaintain or saba bananas. I have yet to try that pair, because for me, nothing beats a moundful of rice slathered with the tomato-oil combo, then topped with a hefty serving of dried fish.

Darn, my mouth's watering just as I'm typing this. If you ever happen to make this dish at home, I hope you had the same mouth-watering experience as I did.


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