I am about to narrate another Poor Man’s Diet series. I spent my childhood in a small town surrounded by farms and rivers. You don’t see these types of small towns anymore nowadays. But everything about the place remains clear in my mind even today. If I want to mentally relax, I just close my eyes and rebuild the place through my thoughts. I see our house, the trees around the house, the vegetable plots my father cultivated and the many decorative plants my mother nurtured in front of the house. My mother was the one responsible for raising chickens and ducks and hogs. My father had affinity to eggplants, okras, tomatoes, cabbages, squash. It was a very clean and decent house.
If my family were to exist today with its way of existence, we would probably be the cheapest when it comes to daily sustenance. My father would probably be congratulated for getting rid of food processors and the unnecessary items found in most grocery. He could probably support his family merely by planting all the fruits and vegetables and raising all the farm animals that would feed us. That’s not all, he also fished on week-ends.
I was raised to eat vegetables, fish and everything else coming from the soil and rivers. Though I hated them at first, I gradually developed a taste for clams, crabs, shrimps, and other river organisms that were safe to eat. One thing more, my father had this ability to differentiate an edible from poisonous mushrooms. All these he managed despite his profession as a School Principal in our small town.
With his seven children, we were still considered poor in my growing up years. That’s why when I cook my own meals, I do choose what was cooked in our household, which were always cheap, preferably self-caught and raised, and preferably local-grown. Today, I will show you how to cook tilapia (head, gills, body and all, except the gut) soaked in tomato soup.
First, I wash the tilapia (which I got from Wal-mart at 6 dollars for two).
Second, I broil them in my little oven.
Third, I slice tomatoes and onions and garlic. I also wish I had eggplants).
Fourth, I beat ½ cup of egg whites only (or regular eggs if you want).
Fifth, I saute onion, garlic, and when brown, mix in the sliced tomatoes.
Sixth, when everything turn syrup-y, I pour in the eggs and some water until soup is formed.
Seventh, I add the flavors I want. I just limit myself to salt.
Eight, I mix in the broiled tilapia until boiling.
That’s it.
