Eat Matters

Lasang Pinoy 17: EGGS A DEAL Round-UP

Without much ado, here are the rounded-up entries of the resurrected Lasang Pinoy theme event on its 17th issue.

My apologies for the delay. Am hoping and fervently praying I don't get pelted with chicken, quail, and other eggs of various sizes and colors for not  doing the round-up sooner. But even if I do, I have a frying pan ready to shield me from the yellow yolks of hatred. Then, I can either have them raw at the expense of the Salmonella infection or cook them over easy, sunny side up or boiled.

Just the same, thanks for letting me host the "resurrection" version of Lasang Pinoy 17: Eggs A Deal.

Lasang Pinoy Round-up in Progress

Hi Everyone!

Just  giving you a heads up that I am on the process of doing the  round-up. The  bad finger has somehow healed  just in time for another  dose of slicing come Mother's Day.What can I do. I have to cook for the mother of my daughter or I will be in the bartolina myself on Father's Day. :)

In the meantime, while waiting for the round-up, have some Cheesecake

                                                                   

This is Cheesecake with  Saskatoon Berry Sauce with Raspberry Coulis.It is garnished with Gooseberry   on whipped cream. This delicious cake is served at the Saskatoon Hilton Garden Inn.

                                                              HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

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.

Apan-apan

Apan-apan in the Ilonggo dialect means grasshopper. Back in the days when the verdant fields of rice were still pesticide free, farmers would catch the deluge of grasshoppers infesting the rice crops with a large net.The grasshoppers are then cooked to be eaten as sumsuman( a drink accompaniment)when the farm folks gather  to drink at dusk after a hard days work  or, as a dish on the family dinner table. With some degree of hesitation I was able to taste this dish many years ago when somebody from Mindanao  dropped us a bagful. It was crunchy alright but the discomfort of thinking that you are munching on a grasshopper somehow made the eating experience a bit stressful.

Today, Apan-apan is actually Tangkong(kangkong)  leaves and stems simmered in sauteed guinamos(fermented shrimp),garlic,white onions and native vinegar. Because of its sour and salty combination, it is served as an appetizer or as a relish to a sweeter main dish. It is also a perfect accompaniment for hot steaming rice.

Yesterday I cooked Apan-apan for dinner as a pair to baked tilapia.Instead of Tangkong, I used choy sum , an Asian vegetable also known as Chinese flowering cabbage,oil vegetable, and Yow Choy in Cantonese. Instead of the Filpino native vinegar, I experimented on mixing Chinese rice vinegar and malt vinegar. Not bad. The Malt vinegar somehow sweetens the dish and balances the sour  and salty dominating flavors.

Here is the recipe:

Spring Mix with Mango Vinaigrette

                           

This is one salad that would make your  doctor happy. Mention phytochemicals, antioxidants and beta-carotene --elements that are  claimed to make us live longer, healthier and look younger, this leafy  green mound has it.

A Spring Mix is a loose mixture of organic  greens(though some are red). It includes one or more varieties and combinations  of  baby lettuces (Red Romaine, Green Oak, Green Leaf, Lolla Rosa(this is a lettuce not a grandma. We call Lola  grandma in the Philippines), Red Leaf, New Red Fire, Tango,Green Romaine) and a mixture of Baby Mizuna, Tatsoi, Red and Green Chard, Arugula, Radicchio and Frisee. Now beat that.You are basically eating a vegetable patch in a plate.

Chub Mackerel Escabeche

                               

The marriage of sweet and sour flavors never fail to captivate the palate.  Add a hint of ginger and spice and you're going to reach for that extra cup of steaming  rice.

Escabeche, is the Spanish dish consisting of fried fish swimming in a sauce that hinges on two contrasting flavors. It is one, that the  fiesta- loving Filipinos have embraced  and added to their  everyday cooking rituals--just one of the many dishes  adapted from the colonizers that make up the interesting and often undefinable  mosaic called Filipino cuisine. Browse on any Pinoy  foodie's blog and you will find many versions this recipe.

Here is my own take:

Chicken& Bamboo Shoot Stir Fry

                           

I asked my favorite Chinese grocer Lu how he cooks  fresh bamboo shoot. He said he just slices them and  quickly  stir -fries the pieces with garlic and and soy sauce. Easy and healthy eh?

I bought a fresh shoot from him and did a variation of my own.After peeling and thinly slicing the shoots, I added  thin slivers from a boneless chicken thigh and stir fried  the two ingredients with chopped garlic and onions.A drizzle of Chinese wine did some extra wonders. Sliced  Chinese Century Eggs soaked in soy sauce and ginger  were added  to the side as an an extra bonus.Green onions  served the perfect garnish to the plate.

That simple. Oh by the way, you might be thinking  how century eggs are  made. Well, they are soaked in horse urine.Really? Har har. No. The horsey thing is just  a myth. Here is the real way to make century eggs .

Grape Tomato Salad

                           

This is a modified version of  a Thai salad dressing. A  lighter sweeter mix.I excluded the hot peppers and drizzled the dressing with just a hint of fish sauce.I liked the way the dressing matched with the sweet flavor of the grape tomatoes. Just perfect for a cool spring weather.

Ingredients:

Grape tomatoes sliced in halves
Freshly squeezed key lime juice
Chopped Cilantro
Sugar
Fish Sauce/Nam Pla
Cracked black pepper

In a bowl, mix all the ingredients except the tomatoes.
Adjust the taste according to your whim.
Add grape tomatoes and mix well.
Chill and serve with a garnish of  sliced key limes and a sprig of cilantro.

Make sure you have more than enough rice in the cooker. This salad really opens up your appetite.

Lasang Pinoy 17:EGG'S A DEAL! is ON

After a short hiatus Lasang Pinoy is  back.

To celebrate its "resurrection", we decided to relaunch  within the week after Easter Sunday. After a series of false starts and consultations with the Lasang Pinoy peeps ,it was decided that the  secret ingredient for the 17th edition is... ta..ra... ra ...... The EGG.

The egg in various cultures symbolizes fertility and rebirth.From a Philippine context, the egg is very much part of culture and history. First thing that comes to mind is The Balut . It  is something we always claim as our own.It specifies us from other cultures ,though not exclusively. Vietnam has it similar delicacy called Vit Lon. More than that ,the fertilized duck's egg is also an eaten object of bravado, virility and Pinoy machismo. Because it takes a certain amount of guts to eat, we love to taunt our foreign friends' comfort zones by challenging them to feast on boiled "aborted" duck's embryo. Balut is often eaten after dark with beer. The Pinoy "barako" who consumes it is said  to acquire certain powers when doing a most pleasurable ritual, legit or not, in a darkened four-cornered room. This,even if  the V pill came with the same claims.

In the country side, unwary of  a Salmonella  contamination, mothers would stir in fresh free range chicken eggs in a glass of newly harvested tuba(coconut toddy). The mixture is left overnight outdoors to be exposed to the elements.It is offered to the children in the morning for good health. The tonic is  also believed to make children grow faster and taller.

For the Roman Catholic faithful, eggs are offerings often channeled through Sta.Clara or the Carmelite nuns in return for specific divine interventions.Incidentally, chicken egg whites were used to bind the limestones that were used to build the massive and beautiful churches and cathedrals--monuments of colonization and conversion-- dotting the  tropical archipelago.Because of the amazing volume of egg whites used in these grandiose ecclesiastical projects,there was always an oversupply of egg yolks. Not to worry. The yolks were put to good use in the kitchen by the industrious women of the house. Thus, the sinful leche flan was born together with more indigenized and original culinary creations. In Iloilo, the Panaderia de Molo , situated a stone's throw away from the Molo Church , has created an array of egg-based pastries with Spanish names and some local ones such as Kinamunsil- a biscuit that looks like the kamunsil fruit shaped like a ring.Obviously, the bakery was a beneficiary of  a lot of egg yolks coming form the church's contruction site.

Surely there are many more of these  traditional egg recipes that are spread  across the regions.We want to know and discover  them through you ,dear foodie. Yes, even the ones that have evolved into contemporary gourmet treats.Fusion cuisine you may want to call them.Whatever they are called, we are excited to learn about them.

Now is your chance to share it in  LASANG PINOY 17: EGGS A DEAL !

Sigue na!

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The LASANG PINOY 17: EGGS A DEAL !  event is open to everyone who has either a traditional,original, contemporary egg recipe or article to share hinged on Philippine history and culture.

You can submit your entries by:

    1.Sending it to afbeercan@gmail.com or lasang.pinoy@gmail.com with your name, email address,your blog's name and the permalink  of your entry.

    2.Posting your entry in the comment section of this post with the same specifications found in No. 1.Label it as Lasang Pinoy 17 Entry for quick identification

Please submit your entries on or before May 6,2007 which incidentally is International No- Diet Day.Now, that is symbolic isn't it?

For those who doesn't have a blog but wants to join, we are happy to share a space for your recipe(s) and/or article(s) . Just email your photos and entries with the corresponding specification located in No.1.

Entries will  be rounded-up and published in  Eat Matters.

Feel free to steal the Lasang Pinoy17 icon by clicking on it.

A Glimpse of Ukrainian Culture

After a nice lunch at Gibson's Fish and Chips last Saturday,we drove  west across the river to check on the annual Easter  Tea and Bake of the Ukrainian Community in Saskatoon .The events were held at  the Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral and  at St. George's Ukrainian Cultural Center. It was a very enlightening afternoon for the three of us as we took a peek into  the  rich and colorful  Ukrainian culture which is deeply anchored into their Christian faith.

                           

A statue of St. George

The  design of the cross similar to the one shown above is a recurring motif  in baking the Ukrainian Paska bread.

                           

The Tea and Bake was attended  mostly by senior citizens.

                           

Easter eggs for sale was in abundance at the tea and bake.To the the Ukrainians, the decorated eggs symbolizes life or  rebirth. Most of the designs are attributed to pagan symbols which have been adapted into the Christian orthodox religion.

                           

Pysanka or Pysanky are what  the colorful and intricate Ukrainian Easter eggs are called.  The decoration is done with a wax-resist technique. This is similar to the  Southeast Asian Indonesian Batik coloring method.

                           

On Easter Sunday morning, an Easter basket containing the Paska and Babka breads is brought  to the church to be blessed by the priest. The Paska is then eaten with breakfast.

                           

Paska bread are decorated with the twirled cross cross design. It is placed on the breakfast table  surrounded with Pysankas at  its base.

                           

A lady selling miniature twisted  bread with what looks like a foot at the end. Looks like little angels too.

                           

                     

The mini twisted breads. I forgot to ask what they are called.

                     

This was our hands down favorite Ukrainian pastry. It is called Horishke. This melt in your mouth  crumbly pastry balls is filled with a delicious creamy filling with pounded nuts.Almonds, I suspect. It is sprinkled with powdered sugar.  Addicting.  I must find a recipe for this.

                         

Perogies are the European version of dumplings. They are filled with mashed potatoes and mixed with either cheese, bacon or onions. This is one Ukranian comfrot food that we have embraced. It is eaten with sour cream. It is also eaten with sausages.

                         

Homemade cabbage roll. The rolls are stuffed with rice and meat and baked slowly in the oven with tomato sauce.

                           

Kolbasa is the traditional Ukranian  smoked ham sausage.

                           

Pysanky laden with flowers that welcomes spring and symbolizes rebirth

                           

Eggs decorated with Orthodox icons.

                           

Religious icons are integral  to the Orthodox Church just like the Filipino Roman Catholics. notice that the images look similar.

Here is an interesting excerpt from Wikepedia about Christian Orthodox icons and why the look similar..

                        "The term Icon comes from the Greek word eikona, which simply means image. The Orthodox believe that the first icons of Christ and the Virgin Mary were painted by Luke the Evangelist. Icons are filled with symbolism designed to convey information about the person or event depicted. For this reason, icons tend to be formulaic, following a prescribed methodology for how a particular person should be depicted (including hair style, body position, clothing worn, and background details). Icon painting, in general, is not an opportunity for artistic expression, though each iconographer brings his own vision to the piece. It is far more common for an icon to be copied from an older model, though with the recognition of a new saint in the church, a new icon must be created and approved. The personal, idiosyncratic and creative traditions of Western European religious art are largely lacking in Orthodox iconography before the 17th century, when Russian icon painting was strongly influenced by religious paintings and engravings from both Protestant and Catholic Europe. Greek icon painting also began to take on a strong romantic western influence for a period and the difference between some Orthodox icons and western religious art began to vanish. More recently there has been a strong trend of returning to the more traditional and symbolic representations."