Home-made Fish Balls
I steamed quite a large piece of fish in soy sauce yesterday and still have some leftover that I decided to make fish balls. Here’s the recipe…
Category: Appetizers
LP6: Adobong Isaw
My chosen field is said to be a man’s world. Back in college where one interacts with more males and t-squares than females, important and close friendships between opposite sexes is as natural as breathing. And after each semester of hard work and sleepless nights, breaks and summer vacations were celebrated with parties full of booze. (Parents, no need to worry. As long as you know who your kids’ friends are there is no reason to panic.)
The 1st time we had a drinking spree at home was my 19th birthday and that day marked the beginning of a series of inuman either with friends and relatives. My parents were always there enjoying every bit – mom drinking liters of cola while dad with just half a bottle of beer that’s consumable for the whole night.Social drinking eventually played a huge part in my kind of work for a lot of reasons. Dealing with colleagues, clients, consultants, suppliers, contractors, even laborers. Also like Ting said, drinking is a way of unwinding. It’s a person’s way of de-stressing from a hard day’s knock although now it’s been quite a while since I went into such a pinoy-style gathering and my tolerance to alcohol has diminished considerably.
Pulutan is a kind of food that is served as accompaniment to a drink. It comes in different kinds like meat, fish, nuts, chips. It’s prepared in different ways… fried, steamed. Basically, it is anything that makes drinking enjoyable.
Too bad I forgot what Dad & Mom normally prepared for pulutan. My guess, menudo or inihaw na tilapia (broiled tilapia over live charcoal). With my friends, I do remember that isaw has always been a favorite. It could be IUD (chicken intestines) from a street vendor (IUD photo is courtesy of GUTS. GRIT. GUMPTION.) or crispy chitterlings as prepared by my friend’s mom. Here in Beijing we occasionally go to this English bar with Pinoy musicians, an equally Pinoy chef, and among our favorites are sisig (a sizzling dish of spicy chopped pork head & liver) and chicharong baboy (pork rinds).
However, when it comes to pulutan it’s the other way around over here as it is alcohol that accompanies food. The Chinese traditionally drink while eating so you can imagine the scenario as it’s considered improper to say no to the host especially if he’s our Client. Gan Bei! ( Pronounced ‘gam bay’, meaning ‘dry cup’) You are expected to empty the glass. The good thing is that drinking with food decreases the rate of alcohol absorption and may also reduce the amount consumed.
For LP6, here is the recipe of our carinderia adobong isaw ng baboy (stewed chitterlings, chit’lins or pork intestines, whatever) as I remember it from my Dad. It’s not standard turo turo (eatery) food but a delicacy especially popular with the common masses served as pulutan. Oh was I glad to find that the chitlins being sold here in supermarkets are really clean.
Lasang Pinoy 3 – Marbleized Quail Eggs or Tea Eggs
This post is for the Food Blogging Event: LASANG PINOY 3 – Pinoy Street Food.
What would be my favorite street food? Trick question. I was what you call the all-too-obedient child at home while the street kid-type once unleashed. When we were young I don’t recall our parents ever buy us any kind of food being sold in the streets with the exception of sorbetes or ‘dirty’ ice cream, balut, penoy & nilagang itlog ng pugo (boiled quail eggs), which I fancied most before grade school. I could devour a whole pack, which I remember contained about 5 to 6 pieces, during any bus or jeepney ride.
In school (recess period & after class), we would buy all kinds of stuff – cotton candy, scramble (crushed ice w/ sorta fruit juice & coloring), sa malamig (any cold drinks from fruit juice to gulaman at sago or gelatin and tapioca balls) , manggang hilaw w/ alamang (unripe mango w/ unsauteed shrimp paste), kalikot (I suppose it’s coconut jam picked & eaten from a piece of bamboo stem), & ofcourse the ever popular fishballs. I remember spending my entire food allowance for these fried well-seasoned balls of ground fish, day after day, at least for a year maybe. When we got a little bit older, our folks would buy taho (made from bean curd w/ sago & arnibal, a sweet syrup) and puto (rice cake) so I don’t really think they hate ‘street food’ per se. I guess it’s more of the responsibility that goes w/ being parents.
During HS & university days when food allowance was better, my preferred street food became barbeque – pork, hotdogs & the radical inihaw na isaw ng manok or chicken intestine barbeque). In college, we had series of overnight jobs working on projects as a team. These would be like all work, work, work, and rest would be during meals or snacks. There were instances when we will just set off to our favorite barbeque stall for merienda. Buy ice-cold coke poured into plastics from the nearest store & eat right there while queuing for our isaw. I remember a particular street in San Andres Bukid, Manila near the railways & the South Expressway. Never been there for a long time. Hope somebody would tell me if that particular place of barbeque stalls is still there. (Isaw photo courtesy of Karen.)
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Lasang Pinoy 1: Okoy or Shrimp Fritters
This post is for the first Filipino Food Blogging Event: LASANG PINOY I – Ninoy Aquino Day.
I just read this morning an invitation from stef to join a very interesting food blogging event to celebrate Ninoy Aquino’s ‘heroism and dedication to the Filipino nation’ today. So now I found myself checking what’s in my files to share as some kind of a dish prepared during that time back in ’83, as well as some thoughts about the issue that I could share.
It’s a shame that I couldn’t remember what I was doing at that time. As a young HS freshman from a nearby town to Manila, u may say I was kind of sheltered, not knowing what’s really going on beyond our small town. Sure I’ve read about ninoy & all the rallies not only from the news but also from my sister & brother who studied in manila & commuted everyday from our town to the city (due to the massive rallies, they had to walk from espana to taft avenue to get into a bus), as well as from some of my HS teachers who found ways how to join the rallies (like taking a day or 2 off just to go to Manila). It also didn’t help that my father is a true-blue marcos loyalist. I used to hear him having these small conversations & sometimes debates w/ his colleagues about what’s happening & “who’s side are you”. But I do remember where I was & what I was doing during the climax of the 1986 EDSA revolution. That’s when i finally came to realise what ninoy did for the country.
The recipe that I would like to share for this food-blogging event would be okoy or shrimp fritters. One may also call it shrimp omelette. It’s easy to cook & so practical for an average Filipino family. One may add potatoes & bean sprouts but this entry of mine is so practical especially when u found out u don’t have much inside your ref (i even omitted the onions).