This is Life...: February 2015

When I was young, Sunday lunch was always special. We lived in my Grandmother’s house then and Sundays means all are present. My 3 Uncles have no work, my Mom and Dad and my sisters, we are all at home. My Tito Boy usually is the self-appointed cook every Sunday and I am the self-appointed Coke runner (Coca-Cola that is). I usually will grab a rattan basket and buy 2 bottles of Coke Litro at either Ka Linda’s Store or Ka Inggo’s.

A break from the usual “halabos” na alimango was the Sinigang na Alimango sa Bayabas. I always like slurping the sweet tangy soup of this dish and pouring it on a heaping serving of rice. Taking off the shell always creates anticipation as to how much “alige” there is. We always eat with our hands to easily take off the meat from the shell of the crab even if it’s difficult to scoop the rice due to the soup. Of course the meal would not be complete without “patis” to dip your fingers at before taking a handful of wet rice and putting it in your mouth and swallowing it. As always, you finish the meal with a glass of ice-cold Coke.

As I was in the market one Sunday morning, I saw a lady selling it and suddenly, I know what to cook for lunch. Here is my take on the dish with a little help from my Mom as I called her to recall how it is done.

Ingredients:

1 kilo Alimango (Mud Crabs)

½ kilo ripe guava

2 medium size onions

1 liter water for the soup

¼ cup patis

2 teaspoon rock salt

¼ cup sugar

Procedure:

1. Boil water.

2. Slice guava and put in water. Boil until cooked.

3. Remove from water using a strainer. Mash on a bowl and strain the juice back on the soup.

4. Add patis, rock salt and sugar. Reduce or add quantity according to taste. (It should be sweet-salty-fruity taste).

5. Put in onions.

6. Bring to a boil.

7. Add the Alimango (if the crabs are too big, cut them in half if you like).

8. Boil until it’s done. ( the crabs are done when they turned orange)

9. Serve with rice and patis. Ice cold Coke is a must!

10. Enjoy!

T I N U M I S

Tinumis is one of the foods I grew up eating. When I was young, my Tito Boy used to cook it every Saturday. He usually finished cooking it around 10:30 am and I remember getting a cupful of this hot black soup and eating it while watching cartoons. I’ll be eating a lot with rice during lunch time and adding to the yum factor is the “sawsawang patis na may pinigang siling panigang”.

Now, my Mom cooks it and has become a somewhat a staple food in every occasion lately. Oddly enough, it is served not only during our lunch or dinner time, it is requested whenever there are birthdays, fiesta and get togethers.

As I grew fondly of cooking, I was eager to learn how cook this somewhat ‘heirloom recipe’ if we may call it. With the basic knowledge from my Inang (that’s how we call our Lola Elena) Tito Boy, Ninong Baby and Tito Tony (yes, all in the family knows how to cook and they all have their specialties), this made it easy for me to learn how to cook it from my mother. The secret of it all as she says is the “pangsangkutsa” or pre-cooking of the meat. “Sangkutsahin mo hanggang lumabas ang mantika” was always her reminder for the flavour of the meat to be enhanced.

Tinumis may be similar in appearance with Dinuguan, but as I learned from experience and by family tradition, they are different because of the ingredients mainly the souring agent. Tinumis uses Sampalok while Dinuguan uses Suka or Vinegar. So far, in other places I visited, their Tinumis were almost the same as ours. But some use pork instead of the Cara Beef we usually use.

This is how to cook Tinumis as I learned from my Mother.

INGREDIENTS:

1 kilo Cara Beef (Carabao’s meat. You could use beef or pork)

1 bowl Pig’s blood

Half a head of Garlic

1 Onion

3 Tomatoes

3 bunch Mustasa

1/2 kilo Sampalok

Isang tumpok na Sampalok Leaves (usbong ng Sampalok)

1 Liter water

1/2 cup Patis

4 pieces Siling Panigang

Salt to taste.

PROCEDURE:

1. Sautee garlic, Onion and tomatoes. Make sure they are cooked thoroughly. Mash the tomatoes until they are pureed.

2. Put meat. Add ½ cup of patis. ( I never use vetsin, Patis is my vetsin).

3. “Sangkutsahin mo hanggang lumabas ang katas ng karne.” Save some of the juice coming from the meat during the "sangkutsa" process. This will make the soup tasty.

4. When all the juice from meat has come out and meat oil comes sizzling, fry the meat a little until it turned slightly brown. Then pour the blood, stirring constantly to prevent coagulation. Cook blood thoroughly. Blood is cooked when it turned chocolaty brown.

5. As the water boils, sing “sampalok ay… inyong nilalaga, pinipiga, sinasala.” If you have a bad voice, buy the instant sampalok instead. But I suggest, you do a little voice lesson because natural sampalok is way better than the instant. The difference in taste is miles away. (Sing that also). Seriously, use the REAL SAMPALOK! Just don’t sing na lang.

6. Add water and bring to a boil until the meat is tender. Put the saved meat juice.

7. Put salt and additional patis according to your liking.

8. Cut the mustasa leaves an inch. It is somewhat bitter and to get rid of its bitter taste, put it in a container, pour hot water and salt over. Crush it by hand gently and wash with cold water.

9. Put in the boiling soup and then lower the fire. Put the usbong ng Sampalok after being finely cut.

10. After 5 minutes turn the fire off.

11. Then it is ready. Enjoy!