Food FOr Thought
by Marlyne Abrihan Lopez
kamay
communal eating of ulam, aka main dish by hand banana leaves, usually of fried or grilled meals pinakbet
tinola
tino
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sinigang
lang manok
yan
d on a traditional spread of ng ga i n si
n a b an
gu s
pinakbet
lum pia
ai h g n ng sha
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tinola MANOK chicken and papaya in ginger based soup
aNG K
tinolang manok
One my favorite nostalgic dishes would be tinola. Tinola is basically chicken soup with pieces of green papaya, ginger, garlic, onions, and patis, or fish sauce. For whatever reason, my mom always made tinola with ripe papaya and malungaay leaves, so whenever I make it, I do the same! Maybe its something to do with the combination of the sweetness of the fruit, and the saltiness of the chicken broth? Or maybe ripe papaya is just what the grocery stores always had in stock? Either way, its how I make the dish. When cooking it, I would always start with sauteeing the ginger, garlic, and onion to get the juices out, and ending it with a little bit of black pepper and jalapenos gives a nice touch of flavor. In honestly I was kind of confused with the American version of chicken soup. I remember an early memory of mine, in which I was at some restaurant. I ordered chicken soup, expecting the sweet, salty, flavorful broth I had become accustomed to, only to be welcomed by the rather salty broth that came with overcooked noodles and vegetable pieces.
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lumpia shang MEAT springrolls
ang ghai
lumpiang shanghai
This is perhaps the most well known Filipino dish. At least, whenever the odd person finds out I am Filipino-American, they exclaim “Oh I love lumpia!” and when I mention cooking, I am asked to make it. And honestly I get it. Meat and or vegetables, wrapped in a pastry sheet, fried to a nice tan. It’s simple finger food! Personally I like chicken lumpia with either banana ketchup or sweet chili sauce, or if its vegetable, then with sinamak, or spiced vinegar. Being the one that prepares the lumpia...well, it’s not as convenient. To make lumpia one uses a spring roll wrapper, which will allow for a flaky, smooth, golden surface. These are usually packed in a tightly together block of 30 sheets piled on top of another. Carefully, one has to peel the wrappers off one by one. And with the prepared mix, fill and seal each wrapper, cut into several pieces, and so on with the process. As for the meat mix, I always opt for chicken with just lots of minced garlic, onion, and carrot, with oyster sauce, in that order. Take the pieces and fry them all up, then drain for oil, and then its ready to eat! Yes, lumpia—a dish you’ll spend few hours preparing but will take less than few minutes to finish!
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pinakb Filipino vegetable sauteed in shrimp or fish sauce
bet
pinakbet
Pinakbet was an aquired taste in honesty. The bumpy bitterness of ampalaya, bittermelon, the soggy squishiness of talong, eggplant, the fuzzy, sliminess of okra, and the firmness of the long bean sitaw...I felt it was just a gross slush of vegetables put together for my displeasure. What made me like the dish was the year I grew some of the vegetables needed, that being okra and the kalabasa. The kalabasa grew as small yellow flowers in a long, impressive looking set of sprawling vines. When pollenated, the female flower (the flowers with a round base) would become the squash, while the multitude of male flowers and vines were easily able to be used as food else where. The okra grew as tall yellow hibicuses that made more pods than I knew what to do with. Just seeing them grow at least made me to at least to try them. And while I didn’t fall in love at first, it gave me the appreciation of growing vegetables, and how they were all same season plants. Now, I abolsutely love pinakbet and all its flavors.
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Siniga Bangu sour tamarind soup WITH MILKFISH
ang na us
sinigang na bangus
One of my favorite soups, sinigang! With the power of tamarind, sinigang is a sour, savory soup that can be accomplied with the slimy okra and kangkong, or the bitter ampalaya, or the squishy talong. Bangus, otherwise known as milkfish, is a fish that was given its name due to its white flesh. My favorite part of the milkfish is the belly, which is soft due to its fat. One thing to note about bangus is that it is a very bony fish. As in, it has lots of needle thin bones which have to be picked out while eating. It was in second grade that I remember bringing sinigang to school lunch, picking the bones out with my fingers as I ate it. I got a bunch of weird stares and looks from the smell, but I didn’t mind much. It was my lunch not there’s after all, I thought. I did the same once when my lola made sinigang but with pork. Not really being aware of ettique, I dug into the bone and picked at it. A teacher came up and asked what I was eating, and then retorted that I looked like a dog. From then I just stopped eating pork, and honestly I can’t stand the smell. I still very much like bangus though and think it tastes way better anyway.
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cooking con Rice was and is an important part of a meal. Specifically, milagrosa or Thai Jasmine rice. This is a long-grain rice that is fluffy and fragrant when cooked. Its quite different than the standard short grain rice seen in restaurants, which tends to have a neutral smell and a tendency to stick together. The rice cooker is a pretty heavy worker. A good quality one will cook the rice and be able to keep the rice warm without burning the bottom parts and will last for years. Nothing is quite as disappointing as being ready to eat a meal, only to see the rice cooker empty, and waiting for 15 minutes.
As far as milagrosa rice is concerned, to cook it, you must rice the water until the running water is no longer cloudy from the starch. Then, use the lower line of your middle finger to see how high the water must reach. I’m sure the finger method of measuring water is the same as the 2 parts water to 1 part rice most people learn, but its seems unusual given how convienient it a hand is.
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nundrums Sometimes my parents cooked rice over a stove with the power outlets didn’t work. We would have to cook rice over a stove, which I would never like since the pressure of the rice and water would cause the pot to sputter. My mom would then sprinkle salt over the lid. Not in the rice, but just on the cover with a lot of salt. I don’t know if there is a food science way of explaining it, but that simple action made the rice taste perfect!
My mom always taught my sister and I that we had to kabocha squash in order to eat it, as one does with papaya. We would spend so much time and effort going over its bumps and edges to make sure not one piece of green skill was on it. It wasn’t until my sister mentioned peeling it to her cashier that she found out the skin is completely edible and not noticible at all when cooked.
When people don’t get extras or take food home, its if saying one’s food was gross and the effort used to make it was not appreciated. hen I made cinnamon rolls for my sister’s birthday, as one of her friends put it: “Well this is America, we do things differently here. Its not a big deal” I keep that in mind when I cook for people, though I won’t lie, there’s a part of me that isn’t irked regardless.
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