O, Kain Na! (Let's eat!)

My Facebook posting of steamed saluyot and other veggies got so many responses and it makes me smile every time I imagine its smell and texture.  We Filipinos love to eat and cook and whether we are still in the islands or away, we feel a certain emotion, a longing for the simple dishes that evoke memories of the beauty and bounty of the rural areas of the beautiful Philippines.

I was born in the Central Plains of Luzon. My late father was Ilocano but I was not sure that he was as authentic as what my friend Muriel would  call “GI” (Genuine Ilocano).  He was not from the Ilocos region but he spoke Ilocano fluently and he was so frugal it seemed to pain him to easily give me money for a toothbrush. He would say, “Your mother has a brush she uses for her toenails. Go borrow that and use it on your teeth.” I did not know that he was playing with me.  My mother was born in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija to a landowner named Don Joaquin but that is another story. She loved my Dad and she cooked his food and fed it to us and we loved every morsel of it. 

One of the most beloved dishes of the Ilocanos is known to me as “bulanglang.”  The Manilans call it “diningding” and my father would call it “inabraw.” In its simplest form, inabraw is cooked with whatever vegetable is available from the family’s garden or from the seasonal harvest of the region.  When I moved to the United States, I longed for the bulanglang of my childhood.  I would use broccoli as a substitute, pretending that they are the little heart shaped green blossoms, “pusu-pusuan,” that my Mother would harvest from the “bakood.” (These blossoms are called "loroco" in Central America; they use it make pupusas revueltas, available in Latin stores). My mother would also harvest wild jicama “singkamas” tops and pods and make "abraw" with the young leaves and pods and wild mushrooms.  Andrew Zimmern would have been proud!

More than thirty five years of living in the USA, it is not unusual to see winged beans (sigarillas),  amargoso (bitter mellon),  heirloom tomatoes (kulda),  long string beans (sitaw) among others in Asian stores. However, the jute (saluyot) so loved by the Ilocanos and the majority of Pampangueños and Nueva Ecijanos still remain exotic and unubiquitous. 

Manila-born and raised friends might have at some point tried it but did not  become  saluyot  aficionados.  You see, it is an acquired taste.  It becomes slimy when cooked that some people mistakenly call it okra leaves. Nothing could be farther from the truth. However, I discovered that okra makes a good filler when the jute leaves are not plentiful.

 Let me share with you my Fil-Am version of saluyot -bulanglang recipe. "tantiyahan" (al calculo).  Here it is:

 Ingridients and how-to:

1.     Kiss and hug the friend who grows saluyot   in his/her garden, and offers you some. 

2.     If above is not possible, befriend someone who does.

3.     If none of the above is true, go to a Filipino or Mediterranean-Arab store to buy it.  Arabs love saluyot like we do but they cook it with meat. 

4.   At least one Japanese eggplant; nothing exotic about it, it is the type we grew up eating; it comes in purple or white.

5.     Buy some okra for fillers. You know that your eyes are bigger than your tummy.

6.     A fish to grill. I prefer Spanish mackerel or Millkfish

7.     Optional: Stock a bottle of fish bagoong (Dagupan, Balayan, Vietnamese- the same ingredients, the same pungent smell)

8.     Optional: a slice of lemon or lime

9.     Steamed Rice, a whole huwataw (big bowl) of it

10.     The flavor will be enhanced by your excitement, seriously.

Sprinkle the fish with sea salt, kosher salt or Salt Sense – grill it or broil  it for those who do not own a grill.  Put the deliciously smelling grilled fish in the bottom of a pot. Submerge it with one half to a cup of water. Use your common sense, this is not sinigang or nilaga.  If you put too much water, you might have to dive for the fish to find it in the pot. Bring it to a boil.

While waiting for the fish/water to boil, wash the veggies and cut the eggplant lengthwise, no other shape will be as exotic and be graded an “A.”  As the fish starts boiling in the pot, lay the eggplants over it, spreading it gently ( to avoid being burned, and for nothing else).  Then spread the jute leaves over it.  Lay the okra over it.  To those who are closet OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) sufferers, I know what you are thinking, “This is not diningding if I do not add the bagoong!” So add a tiny little bit and pray you do not have a high blood pressure the next day. If you wake up with stiff fingers, you overdid it, i-jot! (idiot in my Ilocano speak) so drink a lot of water with the left over lime/lemon juice.

Simmer and keep opening the lid- Ok lang.  Hey, we all do it because we are so impatient and so hungry for the beautiful savory simple dish.  Serve with a huwataw  steamed rice and a little bagoong in a sauce dish.

Tip:  If you want an awesome experience, eat it “kamayan” style and if you like, you should put your other foot on the seat of your chair, much like what the peasants do when they eat sitting on the floor using a low table (dulang). 

Caution: Do this only with your best friend who will not call you “lumpen” or “pisante” while he or she is doing the same thing or do it only if you are eating alone and happy that you do not have to share your diningding with anyone. 

It is okay if your “subo” is as big a kitten’s head (kasinglaki ng ulo ng pusa –your Mom would have decked you on the head, “Hoy, namumuwalan ka, kasing laki ng ulo ng pusa, mahihirinan ka!) while at the same time, she is quietly pleased that you love what she prepared for you.

To be on the safe side, eat with a ripe banana on the side just in case you do a Mama Cass.  Kain na!

 Alay ko sa aking mga kaibigan at ka-pamilya na kaugnay ko sa kasaysayan! Naimas 'dyay!