Pinoy Kurat

Philippine startle. This is my personal translation to a regional Filipino dip or "sawsawan". The Filipino "sawsawan" has different variations in every region.

Golden Pampano

Pampanos also known as Pompanos are marine fishes in the Trachiotus genus of the Carangidae family.  They are basically fishes, which are just too lovely to be eaten to be eaten to me.

Better known as "Jacks".  They could stare back whether uncooked or cooked.

I always pick the fish that could stare back at me. Best way to tell a good fish from a bad one.  I never would buy a fish with bloodshot eyes. A pair pair of  bloodshot fish eyes won't look good on a picture. I bought the fish from the Asian store. I asked the sales person to just weigh the fish and not bother cleaning and cutting it up.

Don't feel  sorry for cut up Pompanos in a wok.  I am still savoring the pickled golden pampano  I cooked with every spice I found in the kitchen that might be fitting for this golden fish.

Don't even feel sorry for Nemo.  Fishes are meant to be eaten not to be replicated into a stuff toy.

The bitterness of Ampalaya

What a Pinoy like me didn't know about this bitter gourd was that this lowly Parya is also known as Goya in Okinawa, Japan.  It is hailed as a significant part of the Okinana diet in Japan and recognized for its health benefits.

Ampalaya would have sounded a pretty name for a girl in India. But in India, Goya is known as Karela. To Ilocanos, she is Parya and to Visayans, she is Palya. Such pretty names for a bitter gourd.

Goya, Parya, Palya, Ampalaya or Karela is said to be high in Vitamin C. She has carotene and lutein which are believed to aid in digestion. The Okinawa diet program recognizes this bitter gourd for its plant insulin components known as Polypeptide-P known for lowering blood sugar levels which can aid in the treatment of NIDDM.

Ampalaya with eggs which my friend Lev would call it Ampalaya Omelette. As a student community organizer in Bacolor, Pampanga, Tess Briones showed me how to reduce the bitterness of Ampalaya by stirring the recipe with fork.

I used to be told a lot that Ampalaya would not be herself if she is not bitter.

Pickled Salmon Face

The urban dictionary of Today's World has different meanings for salmon and salmon face.
Salmon is used as a verb: "How often do you have salmon?"

Salmon face, on the other hand, is a metaphor.
Use salmon face in a sentence: Anna has a salmon face. Too much make up!

I have to stop referring to the urban dictionary for the meaning of pickle. Pickle is the closest I could translate this Filipino indigenous fish recipe referred to as "paksiw". This tasty and spicy fish recipe is cooked in vinegar and some spices. Basic spices are ginger and garlic. Bring to a boil and simmer altogether the fish in vinegar and spices in a wok.

A salmon face is already made up. I am leaving the pickled salmon face unmade up. No parsley garnishings. If you are in the boondocks, you don't need to be presentable. Eat with your hands. Start by sucking the eyeball of a pickled salmon. I find the area the most delicious part of the salmon face. Enjoy the finger lickin goodness of a pickled salmon face with your rice.

Judas Asparagus

I love asparagus tips. They make up for the absence of the broccoli which I would never use in any of my cooking. When I need gas, I don't settle for less. First choice of course is the no-gunk shell which is now enriched with nitrogen.

Asparagus is kind of a flower vegetable.

You, Shrimp!

To the urban world, as in ghetto, a shrimp could be something else.
A shrimp is a creature with a beautiful body. Forget about the head. Distress it!

A shrimp could also be a small person. Like Asians!
One time at a Scripps La Jolla potluck, Janice, a seasoned AARP employee wondered aloud why the shrimp in the recipe brought by a Filipino co-worker were not shelled and with head.

I told Janice about the shrimp recipe cooked with beer that our Filipino co-worker brought. The shrimp were shelled with head and tails intact for presentation.

"Nilasing na Hapon."

I encouraged Janice to say the name of the recipe aloud. She thought I was pulling her leg but attempted to repeat after me just the same.

I told her how we Filipinos like to eat our shrimp with its and  head and tails intact for presentation and call them drunken shrimp. I pointed out how Americans in contrast like to eat their shrimp shelled without head and tails and call them "cocktails".

Using lemon grass, onions, tomatoes and leafy greens freshly plucked from the backyard, the shrimp could be in a warm comforting mix of a tinowa.

Killing me softly chicken

I have always fancied myself as an Igorot.
I once told a would-be soon-to-be ex-boyfriend that I was an Igorot. He mentioned my claim to my brother. My brother mentioned my claim of being an Igorot to my mother.
"Your sister is the only Igorot in the family", my mother told my brother.

So I am an Igorot by choice, not by birth. My parents and siblings and all other relatives are all Ilocanos.

Ay asis!
As an Igorot, my favorite chicken dish is Pinikpikan otherwise known in English as "Killing me Softly Chicken". I was first introduced to the English name of the recipe by Au Bejar. Au, who grew up in Baguio, and I worked in Saudi Arabia together and we were housed in a hostel for women who did not have their families with them. I was humming the song one day having just played a Luther Vandross CD and I was in the room she shared with Cindy and Vilma visiting for Ilocano conversations and something to eat. The talk went to killing me softly chicken.

Cut the crap about animals having more rights than gays in California. I have no qualms for animals being killed for dinner. I am no vegan.

As a child growing up in the tobacco growing farms of La Union, our household grew other crops as well as raise some livestock. I was practically raised with pigs, cows, cocks and hens. Some days, when there are no vegetables to cook as main fare paired with rice, we trick unsuspecting chicken by offering them grains and whoever gets caught is killed for dinner. The angry bird of my childhood!

A quick and painless death was done with one assistant child holding the head of the angry bird and my mother cutting the neck of the bird on a piece of wood called langdet. The headless bird is then drained of its blood through the guillotined neck. The blood is collected on a clean container and this would be cooked with the all the other anatomies like the spleen, liver, heart, lungs including the cleaned out intestines. The child who held the head while the bird was going through its quick death gets the cooked head that had been trimmed of its beak of course. The much coveted bird brain is taken out by the lucky child after a quick stare from the cooked angry bird.

The killing me softly chicken is prepared more arduously than the quick guillotined angry bird of my childhood.If I was the one in charge of the chicken recipe, I would pick a cock. The cock would be beaten black and blue for massive thrombosis. The beaten cock would then be roasted with its feathers over fire.

Cooking the dressed and cut-up battered cock burned to death is the easiest part. Stewed with ginger and some coarse salt, it is usually served with blanched leafy greens.