Sale Manuk

Dr. Claro V. Cayanan

Sale Manuk is a dish that is served on all occasions. Though it’s not an everyday dish commonly served during lunch time. Whenever we are celebrating our town fiesta in Betis, there is no other dish occupying as large a space on the dining table as the Sale Manuk. Within a day’s span, where people come and go, a Sale Manuk is on non-stop offer for the guests, even when other dishes have run out. This is because it’s inexpensive to make,while giving a high-end savory taste that always makes them ask for more.

ARAYAT

Sale Manuk

POT 5 - 7 DIFFICULT 6 HOURS

native chicken sale (lemongrass) dayang manuk (coagulated blood) laya (ginger) bawang (garlic) sibuyas (onion)

My recipe for sale manuk is straight forward. Native chickens are very common in the palengke, as long as you go early in the morning to the wet market to get them alive. “Bulbulan” is the process of defeathering the chicken after boiling it for a few minutes. Cutting its head off, the blood will be drained into a container for later usage. It’s part of the recipe.

Cutting the whole chicken into a maximum of 10 pieces, prepare a pan for the sautéing procedure. On a high flame, fry the bawang, sibuyas and laya. The laya serves

as an agent to strip out the gamey smell and taste of the native chicken just before you add water for the soup. Once the mixture of spices turns golden brown, add the pieces of chicken. Let the chicken mix with the other ingredients. Once the skin of the chicken becomes firm because of the heat, turn the stove off. Set aside this pan.

Prepare a pot big enough to accommodate the chicken. Bend several pieces of lemongrass and align them in an encircled position inside the pot. Add two liters of water, a handful of asin and let it boil. Once it’s boiling, pour in the chicken mixture, the giblets and any eggs you get from the fresh chicken. Set the stove to a low flame for a slow boil.

Since the native chickens have meat that takes longer to tenderize by heat, let it boil for around 1 hour, occasionally checking and tasting until it archives the ideal taste, which is a combination of tangy from the lemongrass, and savory from the other spices and the chicken. The chicken blood, which has solidified, is cut into cubes and added to the boiling dish. Cover the lid and let it boil for another 5 minutes.

I grew up in a barrio called San Juan Bautista and was one of the boys usually enjoying the tambay sessions we called “leletete.” Let me say that I grew up as a conservative Catholic and I am still very traditional in terms of my taste when it comes to fashion and food. I became a doctor and traveled to different places, but I still go back to where I feel comfortable-that is my hometown.

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If there is a culinary capital that doesn’t discriminate, the Kapampangan food is one. In this province, a lechon kawali or a karikari can be enjoyed both by the richest class and even the people in the slum. A common notion about the Kapampangan culinary set up is the fact that pork and chicken meat would never be out in the regular gastronomical delights of the local people. In fact, a major percentage in the line up of Kapampangan recipes are pork-based diet that never ceases to become a permanent casual food on the table. In the earlier days, some families have their own little piggery in their backyard or a poultry the breeds chickens enough to be cooked for the impending town fiesta.