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THE
everyday menu of Pinoys is so varied and interesting. I
once thought that every carinderia had its own
unique style of cooking a dish. Thinking that Pinoy
cooks are a very “feeling” lot, one adobo will differ
from another. And this still rings true but in less
numbers. Lately, we’ve been hopping to everyday ulam
centers like carinderia, canteens, food stalls,
home kitchens, etc. I have noticed that there’s a thin
line between stand-alone carinderia food and fast-food
restaurant food, which I attribute to the use of
convenience products and recipes provided by food
manufacturers. Dishes are looking the same, tasting the
same, becoming generic with the appeal of “As Seen on
TV” ads.
It’s a
good thing to have the same delicious flavor to a dish
every time…no mistakes, thanks to the use of instant
seasonings and kitchen-tested recipes which give the
same results all the time. But I’m missing the
individual touches or effort to “own” a recipe by
adding a pinch of this spice here or a chili kick
there, or maybe just a tad more patis to it.
Somehow, carinderia cooks might lose that
taray factor, and I truly hope they don’t.
For
example, here’s a simple Pinoy ensalada recipe which
consists of the usual: red tomatoes, broiled eggplant,
red salted egg, onions, wansoy flavored with patis,
calamansi juice and bagoong. How will one signature this
dish to give it personality? Let me share some tips. But
here’s a recipe to start with:
PINOY
ENSALADA
(Good
for 4)
1 medium
eggplant
3 whole
shallots, chopped or sliced finely
4 to 5
overripe tomatoes, seeded, chopped or sliced finely
1 to 2
red salted eggs
A
handful of fresh wansoy leaves, roughly chopped or torn
by hand
Dressing:
1 tbsp
of your favorite bagoong
¼ cup
calamansi juice
2 to 3
cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp
coconut vinegar or cider vinegar
10 gm
ginger, very finely minced
1 tsp
sugar syrup
Procedure and Tips:
1.
The
eggplant must be roasted in its peel till burnt on the
outside. Do not rinse in water after it has been peeled
of the burnt skin because you will lose a lot of flavor.
To spread the smoky flavor, gently mash the eggplant.
2.
Mix the
salad in a glass bowl and chill separately from the
dressing.
3.
For the
dressing, prepare extra serving or make your salad wet
if serving with inihaw dishes because the dressing can
also serve as an added sauce.
4.
For a
smoother-looking dressing, mix the liquids with the
bagoong, pressing out the umami juiciness of the latter,
then strain so that there are no bits of scraggly
looking alamang in the dressing.
5.
Flavors
to add: You can add seeded, finely sliced chili for a
strong kick. Or drizzle with some extra-virgin olive
oil, or thick kakang gata (coconut cream) just before
serving.
6.
Try
this: Separate the egg yolk from the egg white. Chop the
egg white and mash the egg yolks with the eggplant.
7.
And if
you want a more refreshing taste, add some fresh mint
leaves with the wansoy.
Now that
you’ve added the little extras to this simple dish, go
chill out while the ensalada is in the ref, and think of
a nice dance step to go with it.
Greetings
WE were
happy to receive good news that Milky Way and other
foodie faves—Abe, Café Adriatico, Claire de la Fuente’s
Paluto restaurant, Cirkulo, Salcedo Saturday Market and
even Cely Kalaw’s dishes—were featured in the Asian Wall
Street Journal and also in the Wall Street Journal.
Kuala
Lumpur-based writer Robyn Eckhardt did a thorough review
of our local cuisine, and he just made local foodies
extremely joyful. The photos were taken by David
Hagerman. The title, “Manila’s Magical, Misunderstood
Cuisine,” said everything we want foreigners to know—the
real goodness of our oft-maligned, bad-press cuisine.
Let me quote Mr. Eckhardt and we should give him a big
hug:
“‘But
there’s no good food there!’ friends told me as I
prepared for a food-focused trip to Manila more than two
years ago….In fact, as I was to discover, what the
Philippines has is Southeast Asia’s most misunderstood
cuisine. While Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia
are foodie destinations, the Philippines is often
stereotyped as the home of balut [unhatched duck
embryos, a popular snack] and fast-food chain Jollibee.
On my trip, though, guided by recommendations from a
Filipino expat friend and his local contacts, I ate
spectacularly well. And those Manila contacts quickly
became friends, because Filipinos love nothing more than
to introduce outsiders to their overlooked cuisine.”
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