Lasang Pinoy 2 - Sinigang na Bangus at Bayabas / Milkfish in Guava Broth a la Marketman
This post is my contribution to the Second “Lasang Pinoy” Food Bloggers Event. For a round up or summary of all entries, kindly visit English Patis in a few days time. Please also take the time to do the rounds of Filipino food bloggers around the world who have posted their food memories of cooking and eating during the typhoon season.
My earliest memories of typhoons and storms are strewn 
with images of low lying, fast moving dark clouds, violently swaying trees, loud gusts of whirling air moving in and out of our family bungalow, thigh-deep floods on the streets, black-outs (where the heck did the term brown-outs come from?), news received over battery operated radios, hoarding of sugar, rice and de lata (vienna sausage, pork & beans and corned beef) and, of course, Signal Number Two and that brilliant early morning PAGASA advice that classes in elementary school had been suspended! Yahoo! Pull out those raincoats, make those styrofaoam rafts to float down the canal outside the gate, watch TV and see the images of nature unleashing its fury, usually somewhere else on the Philippine archipelago. Typhoons for the most part struck somewhere else. Considering that the Philippines experiences an average of 19 storms a year, many of them mostly out at sea, it takes a confluence of factors to have a really powerful typhoon pass right smack on top of your childhood home.
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was to stock up on “buwad or bulad” (for Visayans) or “daing” (for Luzonians) or dried fish (or other denizens of the sea like squid) for our household back in Manila. I figured if I bought enough I could stick it in a box, check it into the hold of the PAL jet that would whisk me back to Manila the next day. I was in Cebu for several days before Bohol and I was extremely busy otherwise I would have visited the Carbon Market and Tabuan, the enormous and pungent dried fish market that handles millions of kilos of buwad every year. Cebuanos, like many other provincial residents, love their dried fish. Millions and millions of fish are harvested, split open and de-gutted, liberally sprinkled with salt and left out to dry in the hot sun. These fish are laid on screens so that the process of air and sun drying can occur faster. The salt is necessary to prevent deadly bacteria from forming on the surface of the fish. Once the fish are dry enough, they can be stored for months without risk of deterioration.
But in Bohol, grilled manta/sting ray meat is a sought after pulutan or appetizer to have at happy hour. I don’t normally feature things I don’t eat or haven’t eaten but I don’t think I will ever knowingly eat manta or sting ray as I object to eating anything that we are about to obliterate from the face of the planet due to greed, ignorance or ambivalence. I feature it because it was something truly unique for me to see at the Tagbilaran market. First, the large slabs of hanging sanga or endangered manta ray. These gentle creatures are differentiated from sting and other rays by their characteristic “horns”. These can get rather enormous and when caught, their skin can be tanned into a leather and the meat is dried and sold in the markets. People buy it by the kilo, take it home and soak it in water and grill it for a chewy and pungent snack or appetizer. Apparently you have to get over the stench before you can appreciate the taste. Durian of the sea, you might say.
Panglao Island, and I decided to shoot into town for a two-hour break to visit the market and stock up on dried fish. The Central Public Market in Tagbilaran City was a truly pleasant surprise. Huge, airy and clean, with over a hundred and fifty stalls, this market was a real joy to visit. Many of my visits to provincial markets are often disappointing as there is perhaps a lack of buying power that leads to an anemic offering of goods and produce (except in particularly fertile or seaside locations). Not true at all in Bohol. I was told that “tabo” or market days were Friday and Tuesday so being there on a Saturday afternoon should have been somewhat of a disappointment. But there was still a huge selection of seafood, dried fish, vegetables and fruit.
was a bit skeptical and considered this a bit of a “stretch” under normal circumstances. But some recent articles in the broadsheet papers, a quick perusal of an interesting local cookbook focused to Bicolano cooking, a grandfather who traces his roots to a town outside Legazpi, and this website, which has pushed me to try things I have thus far ignored, dismissed or been indifferent to, resulted in a lunchtime experiment to try out this santol in gata recipe. The base recipe and method are described in incredible detail in The Coconut Cookery of Bicol written by Honesto C. General. I have tweaked that base recipe a little. I also added medium sized prawns which I am told real Bicolanos would frown upon… at any rate check out this recipe for Santol with Prawns in Coconut Milk.
So much of the kasoy you purchase in the groceries and markets are now imported from Vietnam and other parts of Indochina. While the imported nuts are good, it bothers me that we grow them in abundance in Palawan and we somehow can’t compete price wise with the imports. At any rate, I was trolling though Divisoria last week when an old lady approached with a bilao (flat basket) of several flavors of recently roasted cashews. She had plain, salted, adobo, fried, and dry roasted with skins still on. She generously offered free tastes and they were in fact newly cooked so I bought little glasses (her measuring tool) full of the cashews. Yum. I was particularly thrilled to find the dry roasted ones with skins on as I believe they are an indication that they are local rather than the factory processed ones brought in from Vietnam. At any rate, they were really good and if I didn’t eat them all while shopping I would have made some trail mix with some fresh dried mangoes that I also have in the pantry…
Cebu has a reputation for great fresh mangoes but they can be pricey… so it surprises me that it is the main source of dried mangoes in the Philippines…or at least that is what the manufacturers want you to believe. Somehow, the cynic in me believes lots of mangoes from other parts of the country must be dried and labeled Cebu dried mangoes…but I have no proof! Tasty, nutritious and convenient, dried mangoes have become a huge hit and a standard food pasalubong (gift) to take to friends and relatives in the West. When I hanker for something sweet and want to believe it is healthy as well, I reach for a bag of dried mangoes. If you close your eyes and get over the sweetness, there is a definite distinct mango flavor. There are several brands on the market but I have been partial to R&M and lately, Inday’s as a matter of habit. I avoid brands that have too many fibrous pieces. If you buy the dried mangoes fresh (visit the R&M factory in Guadalupe, Cebu when you need them by the box) they are moist, tasty and delicious. Several weeks later they get kind of hard and bark-like.
Mustasa (Mustard Greens) with a bagoong and kalamansi dressing is not something you would eat as a starter or appetizer. Instead, it is a perfect match for a deep fried fish such as hito or catfish or tilapia. Several weeks ago I ate at the Milky Way Café in Makati and I tried their mustasa salad and have been trying to recreate it at home. On the second try, I seem to have the essence of it though I suspect Milky Way must do something a little different on the dressing.