i started my food blog more than a month ago, getting the idea while chatting with iska, a former colleague now in beijing. soon after my second post or so, stefoodie found me out and invited me to the first Lasang Pinoy blog event. i saw the invite she left on my post but it was quite too late then for me to come up with something. after reading the round-up of the first event and with celia kusinera’s hosting announcement for the Lasang Pinoy 2 : Cooking Up A Storm blog event, i started reminiscing and decided to write about memories of stormy days from the past, which i have previously posted. it has undergone some editing and am reposting for this event . . .

typhoons and tropical depressions are a common occurrence almost all-year round where i come from in santiago city, isabela, some 300-odd kilometres north of manila. we were so used to them that, as kids we would always look forward to this weather, as it meant not having to do your school homework and not going to school at all! it would also mean eating a lot all-day as there was nothing much to do aside from laze in bed and listen to the pounding rain on the roof and the strong winds blowing . . .

here’s the first one . . . ck, am i allowed more than one entry? LOL. [karen laughed when i mentioned that i was planning to submit two entries. she said that i was making up for the lost time not being able to participate in Lasang Pinoy 1. LOL]

MUNGGO PAG BUMABAGYO at TAG-ULAN

it’s wednesday morning here in brunei and has been raining cats and dogs with strong winds since last night up until now. when it rains here in brunei, it is like typhoon if we were in the philippines . . .

as i look out of my office window, i could see the heavy downpour outside and a lone thai landscape staff picking up branches which have fallen off the trees from last night’s storm. having had “longsilog” (longganisa, sinangag, itlog — pork sausage, fried rice, fried egg) for breakfast this morning at home, i could not help but stop and think about lunch . . . at what food we would have back home in the philippines, in a weather like this . . .

nostalgia sets in . . . i can see myself as a young kid with my other three siblings, seated on the balconaje of our house in the province, just after breakfast, watching the heavy rain and the strong wind lash my father’s banana trees lining one side of the property . . . tatay is in his raincoat trying to prop them up with bamboo poles so they won’t topple . . . yaya is in the dirty kitchen blowing the bamboo tube while trying to make fire on the clay stove . . . nanay suddenly screams from inside the house summoning us kids into the dining room . . . spread around the table are, a bowl of soaked monggo (she soaks them overnight for the skin to peel off easily when boiled), a tray of tuyo (dry and salted fish), a cup of hebe (dried shrimps), a basket of fresh young ampalaya leaves and tiny ampalaya fruits (is that how you call the bunga ng amapalaya?), onions, garlic and tomatoes . . . that meant nanay needed help . . . and that there was something for each one of us to do . . . as young kids, we were trained to help around the house every now and then from cleaning to buying fresh produce in the market . . . and most of all — cooking . . .

it’s the ginisang monggo that i miss in a stormy weather like this . . . ginisang monggo with ampalaya leaves and dried shrimps, piping hot steamed white rice, pritong tuyo (dry salted fish), inihaw na tilapia with condiments made of tomatoes, onions and bagoong na isda (anchovies) and calamansi juice . . . it is heaven . . . and these are enjoyed best while eating with your bare hands . . .

after a restful siesta, you wake up to lola’s bico with latik, turon na saging with langka, etc., and tatay’s hot real cocoa drink!

dinner would be a bit more sumptuous — a replay of lunch with the addition of lola’s afritadang baboy at manok or beef caldereta. while nanay’s cooking would be more or less authentically pinoy, my late lola (having had spanish roots), was more inclined to and expert in dishes like lengua asado, pochero, almondigas, estufados, etc., which we all equally love . . . the chinese somehow showed in her pancit, lumpia, ukoy and bitso-bitso.

GINISANG MUNGGO

ingredients

2 cups soaked monggo beans
1 cup hebe (dried shrimps)
1-1/2 cup young ampalaya leaves, topped
4 medium-sized tomatoes, diced
1 large onion, finely sliced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
patis or salt to taste
cooking oil

method

in a banga or palayok (clay pot) with water, boil the pre-soaked monggo until tender and the remaining skin floats to the top. remove skin with strainer and continue boiling. mash the beans while stirring with wooden laddle. this will produce a soft monggo puree. remove pot from fire when done.

in a saucepan, sautee garlic, onions and tomatoes in cooking oil. add in soaked dried shrimps (diced
salted fish may also be used as a substitute) and cook for a couple of minutes or so. pour sautee mix onto the monggo and simmer. continue stirring and mashing the mixture with wooden laddle until all ingredients are cooked and blended well. use patis or salt to taste. add ampalaya, cover pot and remove from fire. let the vegetables be cooked al dente by the remaining heat. serve with steamed white rice.

nanay would always have two versions prepared every time she cooks this dish — one, a thick and creamy version which we kids love, and another one for my late tatay who, loved it ma-sabaw!

accompanying dishes may vary — i.e. pritong tuyo (salted fish), inihaw na tilapia (grilled fish), or inihaw na liempo (grilled pork belly), etc. or you may have all three dishes . . . the more, the merrier!

i have also recently experimented on using bagoong na alamang (shrimp paste) instead of patis to taste . . .
now, i just wanna hit home again . . . sit back and simply indulge on all the home-cooked pinoy food i have been missing out all these years . . . really, there is no other place like home . . . (burp!)

DE-LATA FIESTA!

if all systems fail during a storm — when there would be no electricity and the palengke would be inaccessible and submerged in flood waters, de-lata goodies (tinned foodstuff) stored in the kitchen cupboards would always make delightful quick meals.

the following is not so much of stormy weather memories back home . . . it’s about what pinoy expatriates like moi — like to think to eat, on rainy days . .

on one rainy afternoon last june, i was having high tea at the empire hotel with mitos foster, the pinay wife of former philippine airlines’ and royal brunei airlines’ ceo, peter foster. amidst the majestic grandeur of the lobby lounge where we were having that english repast, “de-latang sardinas” (tinned sardines), suddenly became our topic after both of us admitted to having had “ginisang sardinas” for lunch that day!

it was kind of a bit surprising to find out that a lady, like mitos (now based in nice, france) who has been living overseas for years and who, has wined and dined at well-known restaurants all over the world (including michelin star chef michel roux’s le gavroche in london), still craves for that lowly pinoy dish whenever it rains . . . no matter where she is . . .

after comparing notes on our different versions of “ginisang sardinas” we decided not to continue with our tea and instead, drove to my favourite pinoy restaurant here in brunei (ren yi’s) where we ordered pinoy “turo-turo” (“ala-fastfood”) dishes which we devoured with much gusto!

here’s my version of that all-time favourite humble dish . . .

SPICY SARDINAS GUISADO

ingredients

1 big tin Ligo sardines with tomato sauce
(Ligo has been my favourite brand ever since i could remember)
6 cloves garlic, crushed in “alimiris”
1 large onion, finely sliced
2 medium-sized tomatoes, finely chopped
4 red chilies, finely sliced
3 tablespoons, white vinergar (or calamansi juice — mitos’ version)
patis (fish sauce) or salt to taste
coooking oil

method

saute garlic, onions, and tomatoes in oil. cook until skin have peeled-off from the tomatoes. add in red chilies and sauté for a minute or so until the aroma comes out. (i learned this trick from my indian colleagues when i was in bahrain years ago. frying or chilies a bit longer brings out the spicy chili flavour even more!)
add in tinned sardines followed by white vinegar or calamansi. simmer for a few minutes. adjust taste by adding “patis” or salt. serve hot and spicy with steamed white rice.

i cook “ginisang sardinas” not only when it rains . . . but also when in a hurry after working long hours . . . and most specially when fed up with hotel food . . . :-)