Your obligatory blog on Recipes of the Old Homeland

Any cursory reading of blogs authored by compatriots, whether still domiciled in the old homeland or abroad, will  provide snippets of time-worn recipes longingly remembered from a storied past where food played such a focal role in either growing up or simply in living and interacting with other people. For others who are more knowledgeable, passionate and thorough, allocate a formal venue for detailing varied recipes, complete with pictures of the finished creative products. 

 No doubt, food and its partaking play a central theme in any social life, or simply as a means of breaking the ice in social settings, not much different with the subject of the weather as a safe intro to any initial conversation with any new acquaintance.

Maybe as a result of the islands very diverse peoples and local cultures, isolated from each other by wide expanse of water or rough terrain, the corresponding local cuisine are just as varied, exotic, and reflective of the local cultures.

I am of the mind that sites that do either regularly or sporadically feature such recipes usually fail to attribute the geographical origins of such specific recipes. While the dish itself may be universally known as such, specific recipes are indigenous to the specific localities that they originate. Thus, a dish in Luzon may be prepared with specified ingredients in a specific way, while the same dish may be prepared differently in different areas in Mindanao, with their own specific ingredients not necessarily the same as the one in Luzon. Needless to state, the dish will be known in the distinct dialects of the unique areas. To illustrate, Dinugo-an is known as Sampayna in Mindanao.

This then is an attempt to provide proper attribution to the recipes. Full credit and origination are given to the Food and Nutrition Institute of the National Science Development Board, whose main concern is food and nutrition. And the attribution of such recipes was then based on studies made by the above body.

And to start off, and the choice was easy, recipes from our beloved Northern Mindanao Region X. Later blogs will detail other recipes distinct to the other regions of the archipelago.

TANGKONG - LINAMBONAN
3 cups of tangkong stems and leaves, cut into 2" lengths
1/2 cup sliced tomatoes
1 tablespoon sliced onion
1 teaspoon chopped ginger
1 cup fresh alamang
3/4 cup coconut milk (1st extraction)
2 tablespoons kalamansi juice
2-1/2 teaspoons salt
6 pieces banana leaves, wilted

Wash and cut tangkong stems and leaves into 2-inch lengths.
Add the rest of the ingredients.
Wrap mixture in 2 layers of banana leaves, securing all edges with string of banana stalk.
Cook over live charcoal for 10 minutes. 5 minutes on each side.
Serve hot. Six servings.

BAS-UY
1/2 cup sliced pork liver
1/2 cup sliced pork, medium fat
3 cups water
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon garlic
1 cup sliced upo
1 cup sliced patola
2 tablespoons sliced onion
1/4 cup sliced tomatoes
1 teaspoon sliced ginger
1 small ginger leaf
1 stalk tanglad leaves`

Place liver and pork in a saucepan.
Add water, salt, and garlic and bring to a boil.
When meat is tender, add upo, patola, onion, tomatoes and ginger.
Cook for 5 minutes.
Add ginger leaf and tanglad and cook for another 5 minutes.
Serve hot. Six servings.


LINAT-AN
6 slices pork chops
6 cups rice washings
2 medium gabi tubers, quartered
2-1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup sliced tomatoes
3 cups cut sitaw (2" lengths)
1 tablespoon sliced sweet pepper
1 tanglad leaf
1 sprig yerba buena
1/4 cup green onions

Boil meat in rice washing for 40 minutes.
Add gabi tubers and salt.
Cook 5 minutes.
Add sitaw and pepper.
Cook 3 minutes.
Add herbs, tomatoes, and green onions.
Cook 3 minutes longer.
Serve hot. Six servings.


HUMBA NA NANGKA
10 tanglad leaves
2-1/2 cups cut young nangka, (2" x 1" wedges)
2 cups coconut milk, 2nd extraction
3 tablespoons sliced onion
1 tablespoon crushed ginger
1 tablespoon crushed tumeric
2 tablespoons bagoong-sauce
3 teaspoon ona (whole fermented fish)
1 cup coconut milk, 1st extraction
1/2 cup sliced tomatoes
1 small tumeric leaf
1 leaf oregano
1 sprig yerba buena

Line bottom of a pan with tanglad leaves.
Arrange nangka in pan and add 2nd extraction of coconut milk, onion, ginger and tumeric.
Cook 20 minutes.
Season with fish sauce and whole fish of fermented bagoong.
Add the rest of the ingredients.
Cook 2 minutes longer.
Serve hot. Six servings.

SAMPAYNA
1 cup cut pork's small intestines (cleaned, boiled and cut crosswise, 1cm lengths)
1 cup cut pork's lung (cleaned, boiled and cut into small cubes)
2 tablespoons cooking fat
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
2 teaspoons sliced onions
1 teaspoon sliced ginger
2 tablespoons sliced tomatoes
1/2 cup cut pork liver (cubes)
3 cups sliced banana heart
1 cup vinegar mixed with 2 cups pork's blood
2-1/2teaspoons salt
1/2 cup olasiman stems and leaves

Boil intestines and lungs until tender or for about 30 minutes.
Sauté garlic, onion, ginger and tomatoes
Add intestines, lungs, liver and banana heart.
Add well-mixed vinegar-blood mixture and bring to a boil without stirring for about 15 minutes.
Add salt, stir and add olasiman.
Cook 5 minutes longer.
Serve hot. Six servings.

BINAKI
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup powdered milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 ears young corn, grated and ground
- enough water to cover for boiling

Combine sugar, powdered milk and baking powder.
Add corn and mix thoroughly.
Pile 2 cornhusks and put in 2 tablespoons of the mixture.
Wrap and tie.
Repeat the same procedure with the rest of the mixture.
Arrange in a saucepan and add just enough water for boiling.
Cook for 35 minutes
Six servings, 2 pieces per serving.