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Kinilaw na Tanigue for Black Saturday. For this, I practically begged Mama to look for fresh tanigue in the wet market. Where will I get tanigue at this time of the week? She protests. I had a feeling the craving will not wane easily. Knowing my mom, she will find tanigue somewhere, somehow no matter what holiday it is. I insist.

It was tanigue or nothing for me because I will not have kinilaw in any other way. This white, fleshy fish makes perfect kinilaw. We (Robin especially) prefer this over the red meat of tuna, purely for aesthetic reasons, I guess. I have heard reports about other people actually eating kinilaw na tuna and lived after all.

Mama makes a wicked kinilaw using the outrageously sour juice of green mangoes to "cook" the fish instead of vinegar. Believe you me, green mango juice makes a tremendous difference. To get the juice, grate the flesh of the green mango and with your hands, squeeze the juice from the grated mango until you are left with only a fistful of dry mango pulp. In the event that you make the unfortunate mistake of mincing the mango instead of grating it (experience tells me it can happen), all is not lost if you have a juicer. Otherwise, you will have to get a new mango because squeezing minced green mango for juice is VERY HARD.

Kinilaw sa Mangga na Tanigue

Ingredients:

1/2 kilo fresh tanigue, cut into cubes
juice of 1 green mango, reserve some pulp for garnish
salt and pepper to taste
1 red pepper julienned
1 ginger julienned

Procedure:

In a bowl, combine the tanigue cubes and the green mango juice.

Season with a pinch of salt and a dash of fresh cracked pepper.

Chill in the refrigerator and let it marinate for about an hour to let the acid of the juice "cook" the fish. Make sure that all the fish is well coated with the juice. Toss once in a while, as necessary.

Fresh tanigue meat has a translucent quality to it. Once the flesh turns opaque white, the tanigue is ready.

Add the red pepper and ginger and toss all the ingredients well. Adjust the taste with salt and pepper according to taste. Chill for another 30 minutes.

Garnish with a little mango pulp before serving.