paltat ken paria, native catfish and bitter melon leaves

Native paltat (catfish), the black ones (the other ones being "African" and/or "Taiwan" which now grows abundantly in fish caged or as "free range" in rivers), is great for the usual paksiw (stewed dry with vinegar or any preferred souring agent), sigang or inalseman (sour soup, with either kamatis, pias, salamagi, mangga, etc.), tinuno (grilled), or prito (fried). Native paltat is now kind of rare and so it's becoming a delicacy of sort.

Fried catfish and bitter melon leaves soup.

Here one palatable way to cook native a paltat, a recipe by my brother Gomer, a patneng nga Ilokano ("native" Ilokano) who's living in a Tagalog territory (Lemery, Batangas):

Native paltat, washed and ready to be cooked. 

Fry the paltat in oil until crisp. Remove fried paltat. Then put in crushed garlic and sliced onions into the frying pan with the excess oil. Sauté the garlic and onions until brown. Then add in sliced tomatoes and sauté it. Put back the fried paltat in the pan and add some water. Season with bugguong juice and simmer.

Just before putting off fire and serving, put in the paria leaves and blanch with the broth. Do not overcook the leaves.

So yummy and tasty with your rice!

:::::