pesa pesang bulig fish dalag mudfish

“A special sauce? Don’t we just have patis with pesa?” my cousin Beng asked.

Patis if it’s served in a hurry but if not, it needs to have the tiltilan that goes with a proper pesa was the answer she got from the members of our clan’s Kitchen Cabinet.

To be honest it is only recently that I have rediscovered the paniltilan but yes, I distinctly remember my grandmother served pesa with a red sauce on the side. This sauce was so fragrant and tasty, it could very well have been the only thing served.

But with all things tasty, let’s start from the top. What is pesa? Perhaps to Capampangans along and near the coastlines, pesa can only be fish, be it bulig, bangus, lapu-lapu or whatever. To others, it has further evolved to include other meats, chicken most especially. This is by no means a nuance in dialects but as a matter of fact, historical.

Those of us near the coastlines – such as in Guagua and its environs – have had a long history of living with Chinese traders. In her article Culture Ingested: Notes on the Indigenization of Philippine Food, Doreen Fernandez cites Gloria Chan-Yap saying pesa comes from Hokkien which means “‘plain boiled’ and it is used only in reference to the cooking of fish, the complete term in Hokkien being peq + sa + hi, the last morpheme meaning ‘fish.”’

pesa pesang bangus milkfish Chanos chanos

The dish has long become indigenised and is enjoyed in many regions of the country with slight variations between towns. To many of us, it evokes warm feelings especially since in its simplest form, it is one of the traditional dishes served to convalescing children and adults. It also makes up the quiet meal enjoyed with friends and family.

sarsa tiltilan sauce pesa tauri tahure salted soy bean cake tomatoes camatis

The sauce, with the use of tauri (although some use miso or tausi) also confirms its Chinese origin. The use of tomatoes and the guisado-style of cooking however prove that it has been totally indigenised.

Below is the simplest method of cooking pesa and the tauri-based sauce.

Pesang Bulig / Bangus

1 large bulig (dalag/mudfish), sliced into two-inch pieces
1 small ginger root, approx. 2 inches in length
1 head of pechay pusu (bok choy), with the core sliced off
2 medium potatoes, peeled and quarted
½ cup uncooked rice, washed
3-4 cups water
salt, to taste
1 ½ tbsp. lard or cooking oil

For the tiltilan (sauce)

1 head of garlic, finely crushed
5 large tomatoes, diced
1 cake tauri, mashed then strained
½-1 cup water
1 tsp. cooking oil

Heat oil in a cuali or deep pan. Add ginger and fry till light golden brown. Place the fish in the pan and a little salt then lightly fry till both sides are sealed. Pour in a cup of water then add the potatoes. When the stock is simmering, take out the fish. Add the rice and cook the potatoes to desired softness. Drop in the pechay pusu. Adjust the saltiness of the soup, simmer then return the fish before turning off the heat and covering. Let stand for around five minutes before serving.

For the accompanying sauce, heat cooking oil in a saucepan and fry garlic till golden brown. Add the tomatoes, crush with the cooking spoon and let them simmer till soft. Pour in a little water, just enough to keep the tomatoes from sticking to the pan. Pour in the strained tauri and let the mixture simmer. Add the rest of water and let it simmer again. Stir to fully blend the flavours.