Launching Lasang Pinoy on Ninoy Aquino Day
The year 1983 was a turning point for the Philippines. On the 21st of August was the culmination of a man’s fight to gain his country’s freedom. The day Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr. died, Filipinos everywhere were at last emboldened to find their voice to break from the shackles of fear. Ninoy joins the ranks of our greatest heroes in giving us the legacy of our freedom. On his 22nd death anniversary, we celebrate his heroism and dedication to the Filipino nation. In him we have a modern-day hero whose self-sacrifice is worth emulating especially during these days of instability.
For their part, Filipino food bloggers the world over will launch on Ninoy Aquino Day the first Lasang Pinoy Food Blogging Event which aims to bring attention to Filipino food. Just like how Ninoy had much faith in the Filipino, enough to die for us, we are proud to be Filipinos.
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More a relish than a dish, it pairs superbly with fried fish, lechon kawali or other sinfully fat filled partners. The reaction to my earlier ampalaya entries really got me thinking so today I did the heretofore unthinkable and made a raw ampalaya salad. Wash a nice large fresh ampalaya, scoop out the seeds and cut it into very thin strips and sprinkle with rock salt and leave it in a colander to sweat… after an hour or so, squeeze the liquid out of it. Others might rinse it too but I didn’t as I wanted the salt in the salad. Add several tablespoons of native vinegar or I actually used apple cider vinegar for mine, add some chopped onions, a little garlic, one tomato, some chilli, sugar and if it lacks salt a little fish sauce. Let it marinate in the fridge for at least 15-20 minutes and serve chilled.
herbs that I use in some of my cooking. Others just lament the fact that finding the herbs is a needle in a haystack proposition. Frankly, it wasn’t an easy process to get to the current state of affairs herb-wise. In 1996 there were precious few growers who offered fresh herbs to a wary and undemanding market. Gourmet Farms was perhaps the first reliable and consistent supplier of basics like basil and sometimes mint. I used to hit their table at the Greenbelt organic market in the mid to late 90’s. Other growers there started to experiment and soon vendors like Gil Carandang were offering dill, tarragon, Thai and Vietnamese herbs, etc. But reliability and supply was very erratic and weather driven. A few years later, several more farms in Tagaytay really got into the herb thing partially for more demanding chefs/restaurants and an ever more sophisticated retail market.
and probably an ancient citrus fruit here in the Philippines really had me on a roll the other day so I decided to try out a custard pie in the tradition of those famous “Key Lime Pies” of Southern Florida. This is a truly simple recipe and all of the ingredients are readily available here in Manila. Although I have patterned this after recipes for “authentic” Key Lime Pies made in the days before there was fresh milk in the Florida Keys therefore the reliance on sweetened canned condensed milk, it is mostly inspired by the need to “pie-nap” this lime pie back to its regional roots. Enjoy this Dayap Pie a la Marketman.
jaunt where I saw two substantially different green citrus fruits labeled as “dayap.” I always thought “dayap” described what typically looked like green lemons until I noticed these smaller versions that were not as dark green. A little bit of research unearthed the following: there are two principal types of limes (photographed here) – “Mexican” (Citrus aurantifolia) and “Persian or Tahitian” (Citrus latifolia) which are both members of the Rutaceae Family. Now I have finally uncovered something that the Spaniards brought to Mexico and elsewhere in their vast land holdings that originated in this part of the world… Limes are believed to have originated in the Malaysian peninsula and spread around the world very early on (say a few hundred years BC) by land to the Middle East then Southern Europe then to the West Indies and onto Mexico, California and Florida (hence the Mexican name) and another strain that went onto possibly Brazil then Australia and Tahiti (hence the Persian/Tahiti nomenclature). The English name “lime” is probably from the Arabic root laimun or Persian limoo.
Take red roses, for instance. Almost always delivered by the dozen, red roses with the longest stems are considered the most premium and thus the most expensive. This bias is so pronounced that growers are now resorting to all types of methods to extend the length of the stem (and ensure they are ramrod straight to boot) before the bloom matures. During the crazed Valentines season, perhaps 98% of crazed husbands, partners, suitors who send roses pick red ones, ignoring hundreds of other spectacular shades and varieties of this stunning flower. The entire planet has geared up to provide several tens of millions of red roses for one ridiculous greeting card holiday. My favorite scene in the movie The Addams Family is when Morticia (played by Angelica Huston) is filmed preparing her floral arrangement and she is snipping off the rose heads and putting the thorny stems in a vase…
But I am climbing the walls without any rice, bread, noodles, sugar, etc. I have eaten so much salad our pet rabbit is worried I am eating some of his rations. So, the other day, I decided to splurge a little and have some eggplant “Parmigiano” style. I figured eggplant was a vegetable and the cheese was high protein (ignore all the fat, thanks) so this worked as part of my diet. First, I sliced three western style eggplants into half-inch thick disks and fried them in vegetable oil (you can use olive oil but the dish can get a bit heavy tasting) and dried them on paper towels. Classic recipes ask that you salt the eggplant first to remove excess liquid, then dredge lightly in flour before cooking but I skipped these steps because of extreme hunger and a desire to stay away from refined wheat…
classic gift to send someone for a special occasion. The other day at the wholesale flower market, I saw some nice deep pinkish roses and bought 3 bunches (about 72 stems total) for about PHP400. I cut off an inch from their stems and plunged them straight into deep buckets of fresh water to “condition” them overnight. What that means is to slowly bring them out of their stupor that had set in during their arduous journey from the Benguet hillsides to Sampaloc, Manila. If the roses have a chance to soak for at least 12 hours they will last a lot longer. Best to let them condition in a cool spot like an airconditioned room here in the tropics. I like to soak them at least 2/3 of the way up their stems…