TRADE and colonizers have formed our culinary identity over the centuries. Among the few ingredients that we can call truly ours, vinegar remains an integral part of a lot our dishes. Compared to our Asean neighbors, it seems that we use vinegar in cooking the most. Our most popular dishes, like adobo, paksiw and dinuguan, all use vinegar as the main flavoring. Aside from cooking and use as a dipping sauce, one of the most popular uses of vinegar is as a curing liquid. Being a hot country, meats and seafood can spoil quickly. Along with salt, curing with vinegar is a natural way of preserving food. Kilawin is one of the most widely used methods in curing seafood. From fish to shrimp to oysters, curing with vinegar is a quick and easy way to enjoy the freshest seafood.
As native as kilawin is to the Philippines, we don’t have a monopoly on cured seafood. Pickled herring, widely eaten in Scandinavia and Western Europe, makes use of vinegar too. In Latin America, ceviche also makes use of acid in the form of lemons and limes to cure seafood in place of vinegar. My recipe below is a hybrid of both our local way of curing with vinegar and the Latin American way. This chilled dish can be eaten as is or used in salads, or as a topping for flatbreads or even tortilla chips.
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 kg tuna fillet, cut into cubes
1/4 tsp salt
pinch of ground pepper
1 inch ginger, julienne cut
1 pc small red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 pc red bell pepper, julienne
1/4 pc green bell pepper
1/4 cup coconut vinegar
1/8 cup coconut cream
juice and zest of 1 lime
2 pcs jalapeño or
4-6 pcs labuyo
PROCEDURE:
- Place tuna cubes in a bowl, season with salt and pepper.
- Add sliced ginger, onion and bell peppers. Combine vinegar and coconut cream. Chill for five to 10 minutes.
- Transfer in a serving plate. Squeeze juice and sprinkle zest and chopped chilies on top.
- Serve chilled.
