CookingTimor-Leste

Recipe: Tilapia soup from Leohitu
The Leohitu tilapia hatchery is
a peaceful place, with its green
surroundings of rice fields and
gardens, a cool breeze blowing
through the shady trees, and the
sound of water trickling through the
fish ponds.
Imelia Noronha started a new
life here when she married her
husband and became Abel da
Silva’s daughter-in-law. While
learning about her new family’s
hatchery business, she began
thinking about the meals she could
cook using tilapia grown in the
family’s ponds.
Imelia shared her ideas with her
friends and together they tried
different ways of cooking the tilapia.
They have since served tilapia soup,
baked tilapia, fried tilapia and tilapia
curry at the hatchery inauguration,
training events and to other
hatchery visitors.
Imelia was happy to share this
recipe for aguasál ikan nila or
tilapia soup.
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 medium (approx. 200 g each) tilapia
1 lime (for juice)
3 cups water
4 cloves garlic
4 red shallots
8 peppercorns
1½ teaspoons
2 small balls (approx. 6 cm
diameter)
salt
tamarind pulp
(without seeds)
2 medium tomatoes
2 stems lemongrass
1 handful basil leaves
Method
1. Scale and gut the fish, wash and cut in
half. Soak in lime juice for 2–3 minutes
to remove any muddy odour. Rinse with
fresh water before cooking.
2. Heat water in a saucepan.
3. Peel the garlic and shallots, and crush
together with the peppercorns and salt.
4. Add the garlic mixture and tamarind pulp
to the saucepan and bring to the boil.
5. Add the fish and simmer for approximately
4 minutes.
6. Cut the tomatoes into wedges and gently
pound the lemongrass stem to release the
flavour.
7. Add the tomato and lemongrass to the fish
broth, and simmer for another minute.
8. Ladle into bowls, add the basil leaves.
Serve with rice.
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Te’in ikan no hahán tasi iha Timor - Leste