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FIESTAS, FOOD, & FILIPINOS

A: 7,100 islands, 86 million people, 81 provinces, dozens of ethnic groups, and more than 170 languages and dialects.
Q: What is the PHILIPPINES?

That is a lot of diversity to overcome, no? So what is the Filipino melting pot? Why, the cooking pot, of course! Filipinos and food, can’t take one without the other.

And fiestas. In the largely Catholic Philippines, most towns and municipalities have a patron saint, and on the patron saint’s feast day, a fiesta is celebrated. Festivities can go on for days, and preparations can start from as early as the day AFTER the feast the year before! Even the Muslims in the south of the country, with their culture rich in tradition and ritual, celebrate with their unique cuisine.

The spirit of bayanihan (buy-a-knee-han) prevails over fiesta time, when the entire town comes together to prepare the food and the decorations. It is the same spirit of bayanihan that a Filipino extends to family and neighbors in need, such as in building a house, or taking care of widows and orphans, or victims of natural calamities. Bayanihan is what makes anything possible, through community and cooperation. The spirit lives on in the diaspora, among millions of Filipinos who have found permanent residence the world over, especially the Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW), who annually sends some US$10B-15B in remittances back home. In the case of the heroic OFWs, bayanihan = dollar remittance.

Truly, it can be said that the Philippine’s best export has become the Filipino, and yes, Filipino food! It is with this same spirit of bayanihan amongst us in this school, that we welcome you today, to the First Filipino Fiesta at TRCS.

The food of the Philippines is infused with the flavors of the lands of its colonizers: Spain and yes, America. It is also spiced with the flavors of China, Malaysia, India, and Indonesia, its trading partners from pre-Hispanic times. The galleon trade between Acapulco and Manila was not just the exchange of gold and porcelain across the oceans, but food recipes, spices, and ingredients as well. On a recent visit to the Yucatan, I was pleased (and surprised!) to find versions of Filipino dishes from my childhood. Some Mexican friends, upon first partaking of Filipino food, were surprised to find familiar tastes and flavors, a shared palate indeed.

Only a few years ago, it was hard to find Filipino cookbooks, other than the kitchen bible called Galing Galing by Nora Daza. Perhaps it was because the Filipino cook practices his or her art largely by taste, touch, and feel. Recipes were passed down through generations, orally or in highly prized and secret kitchen notebooks, the latter passed down as inheritance after the cook died. Or not. Many Filipino recipes of old died with their creators because they were never written down, likely on purpose. Having many secret recipes added value to a cook’s repertoire. Employing a “professional” cook was the mark of a wealthy family, and “loaning” the cook to others, or to a nearby town for their fiesta, was further proof of a family’s largesse.

In the last half of the 20th century, Filipino cuisine was influenced very much by American cuisine. The best evidence is seen in the golden arches mushrooming in every major city, and generations of Filipinos fattened on Hershey Bars, pizza, Coca-Cola, Dunkin Donuts, and Hellman’s Real Mayonnaise. (Trivia: did you know that McDonald's outlets, nicknamed "McDo" in the Philippines serve spaghetti?)

In recent years, there has been a revival in the Philippines, to resurrect and rediscover the original, purer essence of Filipino cooking. There are now shelves upon shelves of newly minted Philippine cookbooks, many produced by famous “cooking” families, who have finally opened up the secret archives to share their knowledge with the world. Many “family” restaurants have opened; some right at the ancestral homes that are now part-museum and open to the public.

We’d like to share recipes of some of the dishes you will taste tonight. My guess is that many of our cooks prepared your dinner without a recipe or did not strictly follow one, cooking entirely by sense and memory. The recipes below are not necessarily what were used this evening, but a reasonable facsimile, allowing you to try the dishes yourselves at home.

ADOBO

Chicken vendor; print from the 19th c.

While there can be endless debate to the issue, I hereby declare ADOBO the national dish of the Philippines. It is one of the most popular, portable (needs no refrigeration if prepared properly), and I dare say the most shared dish with non-Filipinos. And the most traveled: adobo is eaten from the kitchens of Manila, to Hong Kong, to Dubai, to Milan, to Park Avenue, to the staff galleys of every luxury cruise ship sailing the seven seas. It is the one dish I can declare as truly Filipino. Ask any NYC Filipino nanny, if they have ever fed their American charges adobo, and they will likely tell you “yes.” The irony about this “national” dish is that if there are 50 million Filipino cooks, then there are 50 million versions of adobo.

We share with you the following recipes from a popular Filipino blogger who calls himself Marketman or MM. An interesting thing about MM, other than that he is a good cook, and writer, and a self-confessed eater, is that he went to school in Boston and lived away from the Philippines for quite some time. This makes his recipes user friendly to the Filipino cook abroad and for the non-Filipino cook as well. Italics are mine. My guess is that Mrs. MM has brown hair. Light haired people, please take no offense.

“Blonde” Chicken Adobo a la Marketman
Cut a whole chicken into serving size pieces, say 8-10 large pieces. In college, I sometimes used only chicken wings because they were the cheapest cut, yet they were the most flavorful. Place in a pot and add ½ cup of apple cider vinegar, a little water, whole peppercorns, several cloves of slightly mashed garlic, 2-3 bay leaves and some salt. Simmer until tender. Add some Kikkoman soy sauce and cook for a few more minutes to blend the flavors. Make sure the liquid boils down a bit so that the sauce is slightly thickened. Apologize to irate neighbors if you live in an apartment as the smell is something else to the uninitiated nose. Serve this with rice if you are in a hurry. This is the “blonde” version as this is rather pale (no Marca Pina® soy sauce that is black as sin in Boston) and relatively less tasty than some of the dark stewed versions of the dish you may find in the Philippines.

“Brunette” Chicken Adobo a la Marketman
If you have time and can stand the mess, take the blonde version one step further. Heat up a frying pan and pour some of the fat from the sauce into it and add a bit more vegetable oil or lard if you have it. Take the chicken pieces and fry them briefly (just a minute or two on each side to give it a nice caramelized brown crust). Put these on a serving platter. Boil down the sauce to further reduce and serve as a sort of gravy on the side. This version looks more appetizing and photographs better but it is still adobo.

Pork Adobo a la Marketman
I do not like to mix chicken and pork adobo because the meats take differing amounts of time to cook. Unless you pace the cooking, the chicken is overcooked and the pork just cooked. So I like to cook the pork separately. Take fatty pork (pork belly or pork shoulder) and cut into medium sized cubes. Put in a pot with lots of apple cider vinegar, peppercorns, garlic, bay leaves and some water. Boil or simmer until the pork is tender. Do not add soy sauce to this mixture. When the pork is cooked remove it from the sauce and pour Kikkoman soy sauce over the meat and let it marinate for about 10 minutes, making sure all the pieces get coated in soy sauce. Then fry the pieces in a frying pan until just caramelized. Boil down the remaining sauce together with the remaining soy sauce from the marinade and serve this on the side.

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Amy Besa, owner of Cendrillon, a gem of a Filipino restaurant in SoHo, NYC, has her own take on adobo, published in the Oct 2005 issue of Saveur magazine. Read HERE.

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Finally, my best friend since Kindergarten, Popsie Gamboa, whose family owns Milky Way, a famous decades-old restaurant that generations of Manilenos have frequented, sent me her recipe for adobo.

PANCIT

Dried noodles (canton style) for sale at the Bulusan market

PANCIT (pan-seet) is the most obvious Filipino dish that was brought to the Philippines by China. There are as many permutations as there are kinds of noodles (most made of rice flour or bean flour) and ingredients mixed in. Just think of the many kinds of pasta, and the many kinds of things that can go in it, and the many kinds of sauces possible. PANCIT is the Filipino pasta. Yet I’ve heard stories that even in the land of pasta, real Pinoys yearn for pancit. It is said that in Rome, on any given Sunday, you can get your pancit fix, doled out from the trunks of cars, parked near the piazzas. On Filipino birthday celebrations, you will find pancit. Tradition has it that you and your guests must eat pancit on your birthday, for a good long life. Check out the noodle brands, some will have the words "long life" somewhere on the label. Not sure anymore if this is a Chinese tradition, or a Filipino tradition, or both.

PANCIT BIHON
1 lb. skinless chicken breast
1 lb. lean pork, fat trimmed
1 lb. small shrimp, shelled
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 Chinese cabbage, shredded
3 carrots, thinly sliced into rectangular
1 cup celery, thinly sliced
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 1/2 cup broth, from boiling chicken
1 lb. rice sticks (bihon), soaked in water for 15 minutes then drained
1 bunch scallions, finely chopped
1 bunch cilantro leaves chopped
Lime (optional)

Boil chicken and pork in 2 cups water. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. Remove from heat; slice meat into small pieces. Reserve the broth. Heat oil in a large, wide saute pan. Saute onions and garlic until onion is translucent. Add sliced meat, shrimp, soy sauce and stir-fry 5 minutes. Over high heat, add cabbage, carrots, celery, salt, pepper and 1 cup of broth. Stir-fry for 2 minutes. Set aside 1 cup of mixture. Reduce heat to low and add rice sticks, tossing gently with wooden spoons until cooked through and mixed with meat and vegetables, about 3 minutes. If the mixture seems dry, add more broth. Transfer to platter, garnish with chopped scallions, and cilantro. Squeeze lime over each serving and sprinkle with additional garnishes. Serve with soy sauce.

Recipe from kumain.com

RICE

Filipinos CANNOT live by bread alone. Uncooked rice is called bigas (bee-gus) and cooked it is called kanin (kah-neen.) I could write an entire blog just on rice. Filipino food must always be served with rice, yes, even pancit. Pure carbo-loading. There was a time when the Philippines was known for rice, and was a major rice exporter, such that the International Rice Research Institute was established in Laguna, Philippines. Alas, today, the Philippines has to import rice, mainly from Thailand. The most common kind of rice you will find on a Filipino table is boiled white rice, and the favorite in our home is the jasmine variety. Not as sticky as Japanese rice, or dry as Cal-Rose, or oily like Latin rice. White rice is simply rice and water, no oil, no butter.

Any Filipino worth his shoe collection is a rice eater. I wish I had statistics to tell you how many Filipinos have failed on the Atkins diet because they could not stand not eating rice anymore. Tonight we served you garlic fried rice, a breakfast staple. Fried because the cook used the leftover rice from the night before. You got fresh rice tonight, not leftovers but the best kind of rice to use to make good fried rice is “old” rice called bahaw (bah-how), not freshly boiled rice or it will be too sticky. Day old rice is perfect. In a pinch with no old rice, you can throw fresh cooked rice in the freezer for a couple of hours to dry it out, then it will make better fried rice.

WHITE RICE: Rule of Thumb: one cup rice to 1.5 cups of water. Bring to a boil uncovered. At the boil, turn the fire to low, and cover. Keep checking rice until soft and fluffy and cooked through, about 20 minutes for two cups of rice, 3 cups water. (To make it even easier, buy an automatic rice cooker. Use same proportions, switch on, and forget about it until it’s time to eat.)

GARLIC FRIED RICE: Peel garlic and mash. I leave amount to you, I would use half a head for 3 cups cooked rice. Heat up about 3 tbsp oil. Fry garlic until it starts to get brown, then throw in rice and toss. Sprinkle rock salt to taste. Toss about 5 minutes until done. Variation: pour in some soy sauce, to make brown fried rice, Skip the salt in this case. Can also toss in an egg. Toss vigorously to break egg up and end up with fried rice with egg bits. Yum.

LUMPIA

Some Filipino kitchen utensils: wooden batirol, with metal flask, both used in preparing hot chocolate, Filipino style; wooden spoons made from the hard shell of a coconut; market basket called "bayong" woven from palm or coconut leaves (a biodegradable reusable shopping bag!)

LUMPIA (loom-pea-yah). Another dish brought over from China, think spring roll. Yet, you will not find the most popular version, LUMPIANG SHANGHAI, anywhere in Shanghai! Once again, another truly Filipino dish. Many variations: pork with shrimp, chicken, all vegetable, vegetable with shrimp. Lumpia can be fried, or "fresh" meaning the lumpia is stuffed (the filling is cooked) and the wrapper left "fresh" or unfried. Even the wrapper has variations: one made of flour and water, or home made with eggs making it more like a thin crepe.

This version of lumpia, is a recipe of Danny Dorotan, chef and brother of Romy Dorotan, chef and owner with his wife Amy Besa of a gem of a Filipino restaurant in Soho called Cendrillon. Amy and Romy also recently authored a wonderful cookbook, Memories of Philippine Kitchens (Stewart Tabori & Chang), my new kitchen bible. Recipe below paraphrased by me.

LUMPIANG SHANGHAI: Coarsely grated: 4 c. grated jicama, 1 c. grated onion, 2 medium carrots. 2 lbs. ground pork, 2 egg yolks, half of a 250-gram package of sotanghon noodles, soaked in hot water for 30 minutes, ¾ c. tree ear mushrooms, soaked in hot water for an hour, then drained and finely sliced, 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper, 2 tsp salt, 1 tbsp sugar, about 65 8-inch egg roll wrappers (with extra in case of breakage), water or egg whites to seal wrappers, canola oil for frying. FOR THE FILLING: Squeeze vegetables through your hands to remove excess liquid then pat dry with paper towels to remove as much moisture as possible. Combine all filling ingredients in a large bowl and toss well. Cut 14 of the spring roll wrappers into quarters forming 4 equal squares. Wrap them in a damp kitchen towel so they won’t dry out. Wrap the uncut wrappers in a separate damp towel. Spoon one heaping tablespoon of filling into the center of a small square, one corner pointed towards you, like a diamond. Lift corner nearest you and fold over filling, not quite making the top and bottom corners meet. Fold the right and left sides towards the center. Use a pastry brush with egg whites on the edges, then roll wrapper away from you to seal. Transfer finished rolls to baking sheet and keep covered with a damp towel as well. If you don’t plan to cook them right away, freeze immediately. When ready to cook, you may fry them straight from the freezer. FRYING: Fill a wide, heavy saucepan with 4 inches of canola oil. Heat over medium high flame, then fry lumpia about 4 pieces at a time (don’t overcrowd) about 3-5 minutes until golden brown. Transfer to a strainer to drain. Serve with Pineapple Sweet & Sour sauce.

Pineapple Sweet & Sour Sauce:
1/2 medium pineapple, peeled, cored and minced
1/2 medium onion, minced
1 medium carrot, grated
1 tbsp minced ginger
1/2 c. rice vinegar
1/2 c. pineapple juice
1 red birdseye chile, minced
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp cornstarch, dissolved in 4 tbsp water

Combine all ingredients except cornstarch mixture in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and simmer until pineapple has softened, about 5 minutes. Slowly stir in the cornstarch mixture. Simmer, stirring until the sauce coats the back of a metal spoon, about 5 minutes. Cool to room temperature before serving. The sauce can be made a day ahead, refrigerated, then brought to room temperature before serving.

CALDERETA

"Dirty" kitchen, outdoors, outside the main house; using wood as fuel; this kitchen is capable of feeding hundreds of people

Caldereta is a meat stew. Beef is commonly used, but there are versions made of goat, or lamb. The following recipe is a simple one, slightly modified, from the cookbook Let's Cook with Nora, by Nora V. Daza (National Book Store, 1969).

1 lb. beef round, cut into serving pieces
1/4 c. vinegar (cider, or white)
10 pcs. crushed peppercorns
1 tsp salt
2 cloves crushed garlic
1/4 c. cooking oil
1 c. sliced onions
1/2 c. tomato sauce
1.5 - 2 c. boiling water
1 c. red or green bell peppers, cut into strips
1 piece bay leaf
dash of hot sauce
1/3 c. liver spread

Marinate beef in a mixture of vinegar, peppercorns, salt, and garlic for about 2 hours. Fry pieces of beef in cooking oil. Add onions and saute until tender. Pour in tomato sauce and boiling water. Add bell peppers, bay leaf and hot sauce as desired. Cover and simmer until meat is tender. Blend in liver spread. Cook 5 minutes more and then you are done.

BUKO PANDAN

BUKO PANDAN (boo-koh pan-dun). This Filipino dessert is “new.” I never ate this as a child, never ran across it before Ieft the Philippines for good over 20 years ago. But it has taken Filipino kitchens by storm, crossing the oceans and gracing many Filipino holiday tables all over the world. Here is Aunt Lulu's recipe:

1 big can Nestles cream
1 can condensed milk - or less if you don't want it too sweet
7-10 pandan leaves (called screwpine in English)
4 packs frozen grated buko (young coconut): thaw, drain well, cut into small pieces
4 envelopes unflavored gelatin
5 big bottles nata de coco (coconut gel), drained well

Boil pandan leaves for about 20 minutes (or until you can smell it), Use this liquid to make the gelatin, follow directions of the brand you use for a firm gel. Use a rectangular mold to form gelatin. Firm up according to directions. When firm, cut into small cubes.

Combine the Nestles cream and condensed milk.

Combined drained young coconut, nata de coco, and gelatin cubes in a bowl.
Add sweet cream mixture. Mix gently. Chill before serving.

Note: most homes like to use GREEN unflavored gelatin (brand name Alsa, found in Filipino grocery stores) or add green food coloring to the gelatin to tint it, attempting to mimic the green in pandan leaves. We prefer it uncolored in our home. With the pandan water, the gelatin turns a nice pale brown color, making a nice monochromatic dessert of creams and beiges and whites. All ingredients above found at Phil-Am grocery, see LINKS section. Pandan leaves also found in Thai grocery stores in the frozen section.

MORE RECIPES COMING

Please keep checking in as we add more recipes! Bookmark us!

Baon for the Thomasites

BAON (bah-on) is a Tagalog word that means "food to go", and in particular, as used in our house, food that the girls take to school for lunch or snack. For a long time, the girls thought this word was English, because we use it at home as in "Don't forget to prepare your baon", reminding them to pack their own lunchboxes for school the night before. Baon can also mean food that one takes along as sustenance on a long journey (or a short one!) or food that one takes home as left-overs from a party. (Filipinos like to overcook for feasts for many reasons, one of which is so the guests can have baon to take home with them and enjoy some more even after the party is over.)

The Thomasites were one of the first shiploads of American teachers who were sent to the Philippines by the U.S. Government in 1901, to establish the public school system. They were so named because they came over in the ship named USS Thomas. This was decades before I was born, but I hold the Thomasites directly responsible for why English is my first language, and not Spanish!

I found this article that details what the Thomasites brought over on the ship as baon. Click HERE.

Adios España, Hello America

There is much French influence in Filipino cuisine. Read the article HERE, which includes the famous menu at the inaugural banquet of the First Philippine Republic, at the Malolos Congress of 1898.

The Malolos Congress was a revolutionary congress, as the Filipinos threw off the shackles of Spain, and were valiantly struggling to keep America at bay. What to do? Feast on French cuisine.

Three months after the banquet, the Treaty of Paris was signed. Had they known what that would mean for the Filipinos, maybe they would have dined on Italian cuisine instead.

To Spoon or Not To Spoon

Ever notice how Filipinos use spoons to eat, and not just for soup? We use a fork on the left hand, and a spoon on the right hand. You use the spoon to gather the rice and viand, and the fork to "push" the food into the spoon. A good table place setting when using "western" utensils will also include a knife, for Filipinos do not necessarily cut or cook food in bite size portions like the Chinese do.

We can also just use our bare hands. This method of eating is called kamayan, "kamay" being the word for hand. Somehow, certain foods taste better when you use your hands (like shrimps, crabs, grilled meats.) A good and enjoyable kamayan meal will also involve having banana leaves as plates, or the stem of a banana plant as bowl/plate! Yes it is messy, but it is also a lot of fun! Living in the States for so many years now, going to the Philippines and enjoying a kamayan meal becomes such a treat! Soups in a kamayan meal are eaten with a spoon though, or served in a bowl that one may bring to one's mouth.

The Philippines is one of the few countries in South East Asia, where chopsticks are not a usual table utensil. We are not naturally adept at using chopsticks, and it is interesting to see my NY born and bred children better at it than me (it's all the exposure to sushi and Japanese cuisine that I did not have in early childhood as they did.)

I just recently began to think about why we use spoons, having taken it for granted for decades. I think I know the answer: Ever try to eat soupy sinigang or kare kare with rice, with just a knife and fork?

Mind Your P's and F's

A&B's great great grandmother, Doña Conchita Abella Diaz

Okay, time for some clarification...maybe.

The Philippines, with a "P", was named for King Felipe II, of Spain, that's Felipe with an "F". Okay, "Philippines" with a P is English. But the English name for the natives of the Philippines, is "Filipino", with an "F". Are you with me, so far?

In Tagalog, the natives call themselves, "PILIPINO", with a "P" and the country is called "PILIPINAS", with a "P". Wow! Finally, consistency! Ah and yes, please change that final "O" in all of the above, to an "A" in the case of a female (PilipinA, FilipinA.)

Filipinos, or PILIPINOS, like to call themselves "Pinoy" (pea-noy rhymes with boy): slang, but acceptable, and not derogatory at all, actually a term of endearment; in fact, shorter, easier to say and type (although great great grandma would shudder and disown you if you called her this.) And don't get confused, if one day he calls himself "Noy-pi." It's just the reverse of Pinoy, we like to do that. Still don't know why.

And since Pinoys love nicknames, the country has a nickname, of course, and it is 'Pinas. Uh-huh. That is spelled "apostrophe-P-i-n-a-s". Still with me?

Finally, that national language, that many like to call Filipino (the language, not the person)? Well, it's really called TAGALOG. But if you learn it in school, in the Philippines, the subject is called PILIPINO. Confused yet? So am I.

One day, if you haven't yet, you will meet a Pinoy, who, because of the Filipino dialect that he predominantly speaks (not Tagalog, something else), will mix-up his F's and P's, as in "It's a slif op the tongue", and he can't help it! At which point, you are allowed to call that person a "Pinoy" or a "Filipino", or a "Pilipino", or easier yet, just call him "my prend", uh, I mean "MY FRIEND."

Maraming Salamat Po!

Mah-rah-ming Sah-lah-mat Poh means "thank you very much"!

Many, many thanks to the TRCS community, for coming out tonight for our Filipino Fiesta. Thank you for allowing us to welcome you into our "homes" and for partaking of our Filipino culture. Thank you to Jim Stonebraker for help with our graphics, and color posters, and color photo exhibit! Special shout out to Hannah Li of our PTA, without whose valuable advice, and encouragement, and wisdom we would not be here tonight!

BIG SPECIAL Thank you to the Filipino business community, right here in Queens, for their contributions to our dinner tonight: Perlas ng Silangan (Pearl of the Orient) Restaurant, Renee's Kitchenette, Phil-Am Foods Grocery Store along Roosevelt, as well as Phil Am in Jersey City, RFM Foods for Selecta Ice Cream. Thank you to Romy and Amy Dorotan, for reintroducing Filipino food to the world in a beautiful way. In Manila, thank you to Popsie, Marlon, and Rose, for helping to secure (and hand manufacture!) our decorations, t-shirt uniforms, sungka game boards, and sipa pieces. Finally, thank you to Marketman for allowing me to reproduce his recipes here (visit his site you will enjoy it: Market Manila). And to all those prolific, interesting, inspiring Pinoy bloggers out there, food blog or not, thank you, you keep me informed and entertained, and always hooked up to the pulse of the Philippines.

BIG THANK YOU and BIG HUGS to the TRCS ProudFILIPINO Families for your invaluable assistance, contributions, hard work, and enthusiasm, in making our first event a huge success! That was pure bayanihan in action!

Hanggang sa susunod, or 'til next time, and sa uulitin, or let's do this again!

A Wild Adventure Indeed

Eating Filipino food can be as genteel as a carriage ride through Central Park, or as extreme as an immunity challenge on Survivor, or as raw as a National Geographic documentary. See what British journalist Matthew Sutherland thinks.

If you have a chance to catch Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Foods episode on the Philippines (Travel Channel), see it. What a hoot!

Anybody who is brave enough to try balut, call Gene Reyes or Gerry Benares. Gene will arrange for a Filipino passport, for anyone who successfully eats an entire balut, AND loves it. ;)

Hope you enjoyed your mini adventure tonight, and hope it was not too wild. Maybe you'll come back some time, and we can welcome you back with "Kain na tayo" (Let's Eat!)