Foot and Fire

On the 3rd week of our National Heroes' Day Cookfest, I chose Tinuom. I would like to believe that our revolutionary heroes who were on the go had tinuom because of the abundance of bananas in our country as well as other edible plants with large leaves like the gabi. Tinuom is from the word tuom. It means a viand is cooked wrapped in leaves like banana leaves. One can tuom chicken, mushrooms, fish and other seafoods. There are two festivals in Panay that celebrate this way of cooking, in Cabatuan, Iloilo and in Madalag, Aklan. My father would tuom a whole milkfish cutting it into a butterfly and stuffing it with tomatoes and onions and closing it and then wrapping it with banana leaves many times. He would then  grill it via the oven toaster. The outcome would be an aromatic milkfish cooked in its own plus the spices' juice. Another time when I couldn't forget tinuom was when my housemate who was in her first trimester was having cravings, and...

Milkfish, cleaned and sliced Water Tomatoes Onion Jackfruit, unripe and sliced Chiles Salt and pepper Camote tops Boil water, add tomatoes and onions. Bring to boil and add the jackfruit and cook till tender. Add fish and chile and bring to boil again. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add camote tops and cover. Remove from fire. Use tamarind, batuan, lemon or kamias to add sourness to the soup.

This is such a home dish favorite for Visayans.  Easy to prepare sour fish soup! Peel a layer of banana heart until the tender part remains.  Slice the young portion into serving size (Hint: as big as your slices of milkfish).  Slice milkfish (bangus) into serving sizes and sprinkle with salt. Set aside. In a soup casserole, put water (Hint: 1 slice of fish, 1 cup of water), tomatoes, onions and halved  batuan . Let boil and mash the batuan to bring out the sourness. Add the bangus or milkfish.  Let the fish cook through for 5 to 8 minutes and adjust the taste with salt. Let boil again and add the banana heart.   Let the banana heart cook fro about 2-3 minutes. Serve with rice. *** The white soup can be attributed to the batuan and the banana heart. *** Milk fish and Banana Heart Sour soup. *** A closer look at the white soup, a color attributed to the batuan and banana heart. ***

By GERLIE M. UY I had this entree for lunch today. So filling, especially with my Java rice with toasted garlic on top. Fried Bangus 6 pcs small Bangus 1/4 cup soy sauce 1/4 cup vinegar cloves of garlic, crushed 3 T fish sauce Canola oil for frying Clean Bangus but leave it unscaled and slice it with butterfly cut. Marinade fishes with the next four ingredients, adding a little amount of oil. Let stay for at least 30 minutes before frying. Fry in a a hot oil. Mango Okra Salsa 2 Semi-ripe mangoes, seeded and cubed 8 pcs Okra, boiled and cubed 1 medium white onion 3 tomatoes, seeded and cubed salt and pepper Mix all ingredients and chill before serving.