Foot and Fire

Insalada for Pinoys is appetizers or side dish. In my region, we call this Insalada Nga Langka or in Filipino Insaladang Langka. This one is special because of the cocomilk. I personally Iove using an almost ripe fruit because it has an inherent sweetness already. I get to boil the seeds too and it sure tastes like chestnuts but that is a story for another post. Some other times, an unripe fruit is also preferred because of its tenderness and tasty strands. In the photo above, I used the almost ripe one. 1 medium size jackfruit 1 matured coconut 1 garlic chopped 1 onion, chopped 6 long chilis, chopped 1 thumb ginger, chopped Coconut Vinegar Salt and pepper Mushroom seasoning Brown sugar How to: Peel jackfruit, slice to desired thickness and remove seeds unless one uses a young fruit wherein the seeds are still tender. Boil the jackfruit until cooked to tenderness. Drain and set aside.  Extract cocomilk from the coconut. Don't add water for the first extract. Then use mi...

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.

Amik looks like bihon (our local dried noodle made of cassava or corn) but more fragile. It is crunchy, sweet and oily. According to the locals, this is the food of the Muslims when it is Ramadan. ***  We bought one piece to sample "Amik," a food prepared with so much care as according to our host, Sir Roger de la Cruz, it will never form in oil like this if the one who cooks is a sinner. Well, as an aspiring cook, I am challenged to do this some time. ***  Seaweeds abound Samal and one should not leave the island without tasting at least this kind  that has the soft jelly texture. *** This seaweed is my favorite because it has the crunch, a perfect characteristic for salad. *** Panga ng Tuna or Tuna Jaw is best accompanied by these two seaweed salad.  Courtesy of our host, Sir Roger. *** I can't leave Samal without sampling the Isda sa Bato, fishes that are colored when in water and looks like they should go to the aquarium rather than in my bowl. *** *** Yes, Just ...

Juicy, ripe, yellow, luscious,  sweet, crunchy crisp, fresh, organic. These are what we blurted about our Giant Jackfruit. Hopefully, we can have one more giant next year! From my June 26, 2014 post: An amazing 22-inch tall jackfruit, a first pick from our tree.  Must be weighing 30 kilos...46 inch in diameter. Awesome! Sweet, juicy and plump segment of the fruit. One last look....

This is the five-color vegetables we ordered. We got a beautiful line up of stir-fried sweet peas, napa cabbage, young corn, cauliflower and carrots. We had this in Mandalay, but as in anywhere in Myanmar, vegetables are a side dish or a complimentary dish aside from the soup and mango chutney and fermented fish/prawns. *** This is one tasty fish which is first wrapped with chopped leaves which preserved the fish fat (see bottom layer) and spices before the banana leaves. This must be steamed and the fish meat (see the second layer) is very tasty while the skin is delicately smooth. I want to replicate this cooking. We had this in a Shan Restaurant in Mandalay near our hotel. *** Fish hot clay pot. Chunks of fried fish with vegetables and spices and visibly garnished with onion rings and pineapple slices. This is one nice rice partner. It is served in a small wok with a burner underneath. We had this in Bagan. *** Speaking of snacks, I like this deep-fried potato chips at 500 to 1000 k...

Strawberries. *** Grapes. *** Grapes, Banana, Guavas. *** Bananas, strawberries, Guavas. *** Banana *** Not a pomelo, I'm sure. *** Jackfruit crossbred with Marang. The peelings look like jackfruit but it peels like marang. The smooth texture in the mouth is marang while the smell is jackfruit. Awesome best of both world. ***  Papaya and Guavas *** Papayas. *** Must be sugarcane wrapped in some dry leaves? ***

By GERLIE M. UY Linaga nga Baka with Langka... Weekends are best as we have time to slow-cook like this linaga. Beef soup are best with slow cook so that one can get the real beef stock. It is always a treat! Once in a while, it is great to have meat protein for this vegetable girl. 1 kilo Beef (Cuts with bones) 3 liter water batuan (sour fruit popular in Visayas) 3 thumbs of ginger 1 knot of lemongrass leaves Jalapeno Chili Salt 1 T of Chinese Five Spice (optional) Slices of unripe jackfruit Wash the beef cuts and place in a cauldron with water. Bring to boil until meat is tender. At least 2 hours in charcoal fire. But this must be shorter in pressure cookers. Add crushed batuan, crushed ginger, and lemongrass. Bring to boil until the spices are in the soup. Add salt. Add jalapeno, more salt if needed, Chinese five spice and the unripe jackfruit. Let boil until jackfruit is cooked. Where we cooked it... Whole fresh batuan, crushed. Sliced unripe jackfruit.

By GERLIE M. UY Fried corn-starch coated chicken  If I have to list Iloilo City's candy to the eye, I have to start with the New City Hall which welcomes travelers upon going down the ferry. Treading the city's business district called downtown, one cannot help but observe the continuing restoration of the old buildings which is part of the city's heritage. I suddenly felt hunger. The candies for the stomach consist of old and new food establishments and even nooks. But all I think of was to drop by and have lunch at JD Bakeshop near my alma mater West Visayas State University. All West Vi studes and ex-Mission road residents would surely do the same thing.  JD got a make-over and expansion but the usual favorites like baked mac, macaroni salad and chicken ala king openfaced sandwich are still on the menu. And so, I ordered my usual favorite: Fried Chicken with ensaladang langka (jackfruit salad) on the side.   On the second floor of the JD Bldg., there's Hungry Ninja ...