Fish Tinola on a Budget

For every home maker out there, one of the greatest challenges is to cook a dish that is cheap yet nutritious. That's why I am so glad that a friend shared a basic fish tinola recipe, which I brilliantly call Winona's Fish Tinola! (My friend's name is Winona). She says that fish tinola is a staple dish in Visayan homes and they prepare it almost daily. I think the Tagalog equivalent would be Pesang isda but I am not sure. So, if you quote me on that, I am going to deny it.

Now, how do you cook these? It's really very simple and can be cooked in a rice cooker if you don't have any cooking equipment like I do. 

Ingredients and how much I paid for them

• Maya-maya  - P25. I bought the belly part. You must be wondering why this maya maya is so cheap. Well, it's a poser maya-maya. They're flooding the markets like crazy and since this is the first time I cooked this, I opted to use cheap fish so it won't be such a waste of money if it becomes a catastrophic culinary experiment.
• 2 pieces tomatoes for P5
• 1 medium sized red onion for P2
• Spring onion for P5
• Small ginger for P5
• Kangkong for P5

How to Prepare:

Bring the water, tomatoes, onions, spring onions, and ginger to a boil.  Put in the fish and the kangkong for about 5 to 10 minutes. Make sure the fish isn't overcooked. 

• Caution: Don't put all the ginger in. Just a small piece of it. 
• Tip: You can use pechay instead of kangkong. Or, you can totally forget about putting any green leafy vegetable in there.

Total cost of the dish is just P47 and it is more than enough for two already. Even if you use the real maya maya, i don't think your cost will go over a hundred pesos.