Eggs of Comfort: Sinamo nga Hilaw nga Itlog

Fresh.Simple. Easy to make. A comfort food of memory. A childhood craving, Very Pinoy. These are the reasons why I chose this egg dish for Lasang Pinoy 17. Except for the steamed rice, it doesn't need heat and sophisticated dexterity to prepare.

When  a fever  is raging , this dish never fails  to act as abre gana ( appetite stimulant). It is a constant rainy weather friend that brings a bit of cheer to the dinner table. Think  typhoon season, brownouts,howling winds, leaking roofs and knee deep water from an overflown river nearby.

Itlog nga Sinamo is how we call  the egg dish. Literally, it means Mixed Egg. But what it is, is fresh native chicken eggs mixed with hot steaming rice and seasoned  well with sea salt or Tultul .The tultul we would pull out from the garapon--a lidded glass container.( Tultul is a naturaly processed greyish cube of salt that is pressed all over on a plate of rice to give it a mild salty flavor.Sad to say, the art of tultul making  is in the fringe of extinction.)The sinamo can go well with tapa,tocino, pinamalhan or dried fish.Spam or carne norte even.A drizzle of garlic or green onions over the can improve the flavours.

I think the process and concept of Sinamo nga Itlog is popularly local , more Pinoy if not Asian.It is fast food the precedes the contemporary concept of fastfood. Mix and eat fresh. That is all there is to it. From the chicken coup to the table.A nutritious table fare for a farmer on the go.

Everytime I think of Itlog nga Sinamo, I can see the  smiling, warm and nurturing image of my  late Lola Meren preparing the dish  with a grandmotherly cajoling for me to eat the dish.I can imagine her ignoring my childish tantrums to wiggle  a spoonful of the sinamo into my mouth. I am or was a spoiled brat, you know. Lolo's and Lola's boy.

I have not  prepared and eaten Itlog nga Sinamo for ages. Wary of  Salmonella infection, the craving for it has somehow diminished.Fear can dilute the gustatory demands of the taste buds. If not for Lasang Pinoy 17, I wouldn't have cooked the dish again.

The "Eggs a Deal "sortie made me unearth this dish once again from the dusty bins of my gray dura mater.  The theme  egged me to do a little snooping about  eating raw eggs. Well, I found out that  my all-time boxing idol Rocky Balboa,( yes,  he's my favorite more than Congressman M. Pacquiao) drank a couple of  Hollywood grade raw eggs at dawn before a stamina building road run and didn't die. The eggs  fueled him to pummel his  foe to a gory submission. I am more than convinced that nothing will happen to me if I actually relive my happy memories of eating raw chicken eggs on steamed rice. Begone Salmonella!

Hey look.Rocky returns and  flops  at 60. But he is alive. So am I. It's the  chicken's gift, I think.If not, it's Lola watching over me. Remember , I am Lola's Boy.

Ingredients:

1 native or organic  fresh chicken egg.
a plateful of hot steaming  white rice
Tultul or salt to taste.

Recipe:

Wash the eggs thoroughly in water.
Break the egg on top of the steaming rice
Season with salt and mix the rice and egg well.
Serve
If using tultul, mix the egg with the rice first and gently press the tultul on the rice.

Comments

[dexie]

I remember this. When my mom was still alive she would make this for me and brother. Definitely brought back memories. Thanks :)

[iska]

Oh we do this too but a little different though... we break the egg on rice in a pan over low fire, mix for a minute or two and serve yellowish just like yours. Yummy! I still do that once in a while :-)

[thess]

My grandmother used to make this for us little children back then because we had a small poultry and fresh eggs overflowed every morning. Oh wow, I suddenly miss my grandma (rip)

I'll surely make this one of these days ...thanks for joggin' up my memory =)

[ajay]

wow! childhood memory nga. i also remember about the eggnog. anyways, will definitely be posting my dish tomorrow (manila time) as i was able to make my 'dessert' only tonight. wait ha:)

[joey]

Thanks for sharing this...this is the first time I hear of it and it is just my type of food :) I like anything with raw-ish egg in it :)

[ces]

hi Angelo,
here's my late entry! http://cesanciano.com/spiCes/archives/29
thanks again for hosting and resurrecting LP!

[Zita]

Uy! My dad used to do the same thing, ok, similar sya. He would crack the egg on steaming hot rice and add soy sauce tapos mix. How nice naman that you have something similar, I thought we were different.