The Creole Fish Broth with Luffa -Bouyon Blan Pwason ek Pipangay -is a rich fish broth cooked with the ridge gourd that imparts a faintly sweet and mildly bitter taste and spongy texture to the dish.
- 750 g white firm-flesh fish
- 1 young ridge gourd or loffa (Pipangay)
- 1 medium size onion, sliced
- 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1 tsp crushed ginger
- 6 bilenbi , washed and sliced
- 2 ripe tomatoes, chopped
- 1 litre water
- 2 sprigs parsley, roughly chopped
- 1 sprig of thyme,
- salt and cracked black pepper
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Clean the fish, cut into bite size pieces and season.
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Wash the ridged gourd and cut off the ends. Use a sharp small knife and peel off all the ribbed skin. Wash and cut into cubes of about 4 cm.
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Heat oil in a large pot and sweat onion and then add ginger,and garlic , stir for a minute and add tomato, parsley and thyme and cook for about three minutes.
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Add the fish and bilenbi, gently stir and let it steam for about three minutes by placing a lid on the pot.
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Add about 1 litre of water, cover pot with lid and cook on moist heat for about 20 minutes.
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Season and serve.
If you cannot access bilimbi, one teaspoon of lemon or bigarad (Kumquat) juice will be a good alternative
The amount of water added depends a lot on how much bouyon you want.