Pinamalhan Pinirito

                   

Pinamalhan nga Pinirito. All you need is a plate full of steaming hot rice to enjoy this poor man's meal. Period. And make sure the couch is empty for you to nap on after wards. After a judicious burp, you will think the world is at your feet and you just want to idly dream your cares away.

If I had my way, I'll eat Pinamalhan on a plate of fresh banana leaf. It's the logical thing to do because the rice will absorb the sweetish aroma of the leaf. When cheap "tupperware" and plastic supot(plastic bags) were not yet  norms in packaging, a lowly farmer at dawn, would wrap his breakfast with layers cut from a single banana leaf.The breakfast is usually rice topped with pinamalhan,sliced tomatoes, and possibly a hard boiled egg from a prolific native hen (mungga bisaya).The leaf will keep the food warm. And to think that we don't have the word Eco-friendly then.

Like adobo,pinamalhan is the baon (take-out food)of choice because the vinegar prevents spoilage aside from giving the dish its unique flavor.To me,this lowly dish exemplifies the Pinoy's inventiveness and culinary creativity.Function and flavor flow together. It is easy to overlook the fact because of  the sheer simplicity of the dish.There lies the genius. Arguably perhaps,we  missed it because we were dazzled into believing that canned sardinas and carne norte sa leche and Spam is the better fare. Romancing with the West has "brainwashed" our taste buds.Thanks to Mcdo and the  gastronomic culture it typifies. Vanish the thought that our children and the generation after theirs when asked to describe Pinamalhan, would say:Ngek!

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For the Pinamalhan Pinirito:

-Place  smelts into a pan and soak in vinegar.Native works best.
- Season with salt, minced garlic,ginger.
-Add a piece of finger chili if you want a little spice.

-Add a souring agent.Kamias, Batwan or Tomatoes. A leaf of the libas plant is a good variation..
-Simmer slowly, as in slowly in low heat until all the liquid has evaporated.Feel free to add a little vinegar if the liquid has evaporated before the fishes are cooked.
- Take out from the pan and set aside.
-On the same pan,heat some cooking oil. When hot, return the fishes on the pan and fry to desired brownness. The fishes should be soft but crunchy to be perfect.

Be careful when frying because the vinegar will cause the oil to splatter. It's normal to see some fishes jump out of the pan.

 

 

Comments

[xtine]

Angelo,

Tara na kamayan na...

Na-miss ko tuloy ang lola ko. Thanks for sharing and I can't wait to come home soon...

Tin

[ces]

don't say that word..splatter!!!just had my first major cooking injury!all because of tin's yummy spicy buffalo chicken wings!goodbye boracay for me! waaah!
never tried this pinamalhan...sorry..is it also good with smb?lol!

[angelo]

tin--coincidentally, or is it? twas my lola too who introduced me to pinamalhan.

ces-- sorry to hear about the accident. hope the burn will heal the soonest.
yes you can still enjoy bora w/o the swim. there are lots of small restaurants there that's worth visiting. it's a foodie's haven too.
ha,ha. i'd prefer SMB w/ spicy wings over pinamalhan though.

[stefoodie]

hey angelo, i've never heard of libas -- so i googled, and found spondia pinnata? is that right? but on the plantnames website there is no filipino word for it.... could you confirm? i'll have to prepare your pinamalhan next time i find some smelts here!

[sha]

smelts... common here i keep thinking if there is a cebuano version to this dish.
do u know A?

[angelo]

stef-- am not sure if that's the one.i was researching on the net too to get a description but no substantial results about this mysterious leaf.:).probably because its not commonly used nowadays.anyway use batwan and/or tomatoes. pwede na yan.i'm asking around from the old folks and will let you know.i'm planning to call iloilo in the next few days to ask.
again, just be careful when you fry. it really splatters bad.

sha-perhaps their might be a cebuano version but i dunno whats it called. cebu is also near the sea, e.would be interesting to know the cebuano variation.hala research, research... :)

[iska]

dko pa din na try til now itong pinamalhan. sobra haba na kac ng aking list of 'to cook'...

[Kai]

I get the feeling I'm reading about a dish made popular in Europe or somewhere else. I don't know the name in Luzon or hereabouts of this fish and the souring ingredients. But we do marinate some galunggong or bangus in vinegar, garlic and pepper("dinaing") before frying them. Gives the fish more kick and flavor.

Hi! What is the Filipino term for Smelts?;)

Hi! What is the Filipino term for Smelts?;)

[angelo]

kai- actually my pinamalhan is meztizo becase I used smelts. it's usually gurayan(or galunggong?) that is used.
batwan and libas though are vernacular souring agents.

what's the name of galunggong or bangus that is marinated in vinegar,garlic and pepper?

theoretical cook-- i don't know if there is a specific Filipino name for Smelts. Smelts is informally used to refer to same-looking small fishes.
When in the Philippines, I used gurayan for my pinamalhan.It looks similar to smelts but actually is of a different species.

[Karen]

There are small fishes we call dulong or biya. Sometimes we also get a variety of small cast-offs - liwalu, licauc, etc. Fry in lard pa, ayayay!

Batuan is Garcinia binucao, indigenous to the Philippines. Also known as binucao.

Libas is Spondias pinnata indeed. I found some pics on Google images. I suspect this has another name in other areas but is not used as commonly outside Negros, just like how saluyot and alugbati are all over but not as commonly eaten outside the northern and southern provinces respectively.

Kainis Angelo, I was in Bacolod last month, I could've researched this for you! Hehehe!

Di pala puede ang html tags. Here's the Google images link: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&q=%22Spondias%20pinnata%22&btnG=Search&sa=N&tab=wi

[angelo]

Karen,thanks for the info.

by the way, libas is used in beef linaga as well.