yet another buridibod, with marunggay pods, shucked clam meat and grilled malaga (repost)

I'm so in love with buridibud (buribod, baradibud; vegetables and root crop stew) that I always cook/consume this authentic Ilokano dish--as often as when I came upon any available ingredients in my regular forays in the veggie/wet local markets. Especially when it's alukon season, I always make a buridibod with alukon flowerettes and other greens like marunggay leaves and pechay (especially the small murumor ones, pechay sowed and grown like seedlings; or petchay with flowers).

And it's also perfect with young/immature marunggay pod or fruit (more popularly known as "drumstick" elsewhere outside the Philippines, especially in India).

I was a bit lucky that market day because aside from the abundance of marunggay pods and camotes, I also chanced upon heaps of shucked and dried small freshwater clam meat; and in the fish section, a bountiful supply of one of the fish I love--malaga (rabbitfish; rare and pricey in this parts).

The dried clam meat is from the tukmem (or bennek, or dukkiang). It's called "narnar" in Cagayan (also called "gasagas" or "ginasagas" owing to the process of how it was shucked from its shell, using a bigao-like bamboo strainer similar to "karadikad"). It's usually added to dinengdeng, or made into a delicious ukoy (fritter or patty).

"Narnar"

A close-up look at the "narnar"

Malaga fish to be grilled

These would be great for my buridibod! The malaga will be grilled a put atop a narnar-suffused buridibud!

Camote and marunggay pod (fruit)

This is how I "muri" or prepare the marunggay pods.

The grilled malaga

As with my other versions of buridibod, I boil bugguong first, and then put in the camote, and the marunggay pods after the camote is slightly cooked. (You can lightly mash some of the tender camote cubes if you want a more pulpy and sweeter broth.) The pods should not be overcooked. Next, I put in the the "narnar," and a few minutes before serving I put atop the grilled malaga. (You can put the fish earlier as in other sagpaw, but malaga is very delicate in that its flesh will become "maburbor" (disintegrated) if it's cooked for quite a longer time.)

And here's it, steaming right from the pot, ready to be served hot.

Here's the final product:

A closer look to savor its sumptous beauty:

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eel soured with palali (catmon) fruit

Igat (eel, palos) is unusually abundant these days in Cagayan Valley (Region 2, Philippines), what with a reported one ton daily export to countries who relish this rather slimy but very tasty fish, especially the Japanese, Chinese, Koreans. And these are eels gathered in the rice paddies in the region, mostly growing wild. A kind of small eel called kiwet is even considered now as a pest in the ricefields in the valley, especially in Nueva Vizcaya and Isabela, because this eel burrow and bore in the soil, making holes and thus draining the rice paddies. Farmers gather it as a delicacy though and one of the preferred way of cooking it is deep frying it in oil to make it crispy and crunchy.

Some do not like eels because of its distinct sliminess and overwhelming langsi or lang-es (fishy stench, lansa). But proper cleaning and cooking can rid these and turn it into a very tasty fish dish, like adobo, paksiw, even sinigang (sour soup). It can also simply be grilled. And it’s perfect for  tapa or daing (sun-dried, salted or smoked).

Eel adobo soured with palali fruit.

One Sunday morning, I saw these gorgeous eels for sale along the highway in Iguig, Cagayan. Live eels in various sizes still wriggling. I was told these were caught in the nearby Cagayan River, unusually larger than the known kiwet variety that thrives in the rice fields (but I was later informed that this is the same kiwet, anyway). I bought one stringful of three eels for PhP100. I like to think it’s a bargain. These are kind of exotic fish and is prized by some gourmands who claim it’s an aphrodisiac food and therefore insanely expensive in some countries:

I cut and cleaned the eels, repeatedly rinsed it in water to get rid of the slime and draining all its blood thoroughly (kiwet it really is because of its unusual sliminess!):

I intend to cook it into an adobo, dry and a bit salty stew which is just apt for the firm texture of this fish. I decided not to use vinegar as a souring agent and instead opted to use palali (catmon) fruit:

I cooked my adobo nga igat in slow fire for all the flavors and spices (soy sauce, garlic, black peppercorn) and sourness to seep in. As it cooks, the fish will literally ooze its fat:

Simmered into a dry, palali-soured adobo, the igat is here rendered phenomenally tasty and delicious, I say that the the palali fruit as a souring agent further removed the fishy smell than a vinegar can, adding more flavor into the delicate but firm eel flesh:

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dinengdeng a mais, white corn stew/soup

Mais, corn, young corn kernel, is one of the best for soups, well, Ilokano-wise, Pinoy-wise. Well, besides being boiled and/or grilled on the cob. And the best, for me, is the small "native" diket (malagkit, "sticky") white corn. The dish is popular all over, it's called "sinuwam na mais" by the Tagalogs, the Ilokanos simply call it as "dinengdeng a mais."

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pinakbet ingredients

These, typically, are the vegetable ingredients of the famous pinakbet, the basic of which, are tarong (eggplant), paria (bitter melon), kamatis (tomato), okra and the obligatory lasona/sibuyas (onion), bawang (garlic) and laya (ginger). These the basic ingredients of an authentic Ilokano pinakbet. Or may be even reduced to only paria, tarong kamatis, in some cases where no other vegatables are readily available to be picked in the garden when the bugguong broth is already boiling. These are the basic essentials, Ilokano-wise, period. Sweet chili (sili nga aruy-oy) may be an staple but it's only an add on, just like utong or kardis. And please, please, no karabasa (squash fruit), because a real Ilokano pinakbet has no karabasa in it but only in a Tagalog pakbet (which is usually sautéed, bagoong-alamang-flavored, and with broth akin to a soup, etc.). And only "native" round paria is used, not the hybrid longish ones which is not that any bitter at all. Pait (bitterness) after all defines Ilokano palate.

Paria.

Tarong. The longish, slender ones are preferred for pinakbet. Also the small green (white) round ones.

Okra.

Kamatis, lasona, bawang.

With laya.

Some of the other optional ingredients:

Kardis (kadyos, pigeon pea)

Bagas ti kamote (kaong, camote, sweet potato). This is used in an Ilokano pinakbet, instead of karabasa, to sweeten and thicken the broth.

Sili nga aruy-oy.

Bunga ti marunggay.

Bunga ti utong.

Kabatiti.

Patani. 

Pallang (winged bean)

Alukon (Photo by Leilanie Adriano)

Bunga ti Singkamas (Photo from Ilokano Food)

And now, to the pinakbets!

.....

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labay, plateful, various plates of ilokano dishes

Labay means plate, the plate where you are eating right at the moment, breakfast, lunch or dinner. Or the act of mixing broth or soup of your sida (viand) into you rice. Whatever, here are several instances of my own labays, showcasing various Ilokano dishes I consumed the passed days or months in different places (if my memory won't fail me):

This is lunch time in my residence in Iguig, Cagayan. I've got here boiled balatong with paria leaves, boiled cabbages with sliced tomatoes and bugguong, and fried tilapia.
(Click on photo for a larger view)

Lunch, Iguig, Cagayan. Boiled young tarong with bugguong as a dip.
(Click on photo for a larger view)

Breakfast, Iguig, Cagayan. Steamed camote tops with sliced tomatoes and bugguong, grilled okra, and fried daing.
(Click on photo for a larger view)

Lunch, Tuguegarao City. Baradibod nga ube with alukon and shrimps, pinapaitan a baka, kappukan a baka, and grilled tilapia.
(Click on photo for a larger view)

Dinner, Santa ana, Cagayan. kalkalunay salad, pakbet nga alukon, and bopis.
(Click on photo for a larger view)

Lunch, Currimao, Ilocos Norte. Paksiw a malaga, Ginettaan nga aba (laing), baradibod a bunga ti marunggay, and pork adobo.
(Click on photo for a larger view)

Lunch, Currimao, Ilocos Norte.  Pokpoklo with tomatoes, grilled bangus, and sweet golden watermelon (dessert).
(Click on photo for a larger view)

Lunch, Currimao, Ilocos Norte.  Pinakbet, dinengdeng a rabong ken saluyot, and lechon carajay.
(Click on photo for a larger view)

Breakfast, Tuguegarao City. Nabaraniwan a leddeg, and pinapaitan/sinanglaw a baka.
(Click on photo for a larger view)

Lunch, Gonzaga, Cagayan. Paksiw a malaga, steamed crab, boiled ipon, chicken tinola, pinapaitan a baka, and chopsuey.
(Click on photo for a larger view)

Mealtime in Pasuquin, Ilocos Norte (not mine, photo from Pasuquin Facebook page). Dinengdeng, pinakbet, ginettaan nga aba, seaweed salas, pinakbet a paria, grilled tilapia. 
(Click on photo for a larger view)

.....posted from Bloggeroid

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saluyot and rabong variation--with bulong-sili, kalunay and utong

Now, talking more about dinengdeng, when rabong (bamboo shoots) is mentioned, among Ilokano folks, it is usually and readily thought so as being the righteous or de facto pair of the quintessential and ever-ubiquitous saluyot (Corchorus olitorius), that's it, dinengdeng a rabong ken saluyot: partners.


But then, as a veggie, rabong can go with almost any other veggies for that exclusively Ilokano-branded dinengdeng or inabraw.


Like, for instance, rabong with kalunay (Amaranthus spinosus) or kalkalunay (Spinacia oleracea) and the tender leaves of sili ti sairo/abuyo (bird's eye chili, Capsicum frutescens), and with bunga ti utong (string beans):

These freshly picked veggie goodies, with a little big help of bugguong...

Kalunay, local spinach.

Bulong/uggot ti sili, bird's eye chili.

Bunga ti utong, string beans.

... will turn into a delectable dinengdeng like this, with fried galunggong (round scad) to flavor:

Still, the open secret is that you have to cook it the veggies briskly and briefly, don't overcook, especially the leafy ones. Boil the shredded rabong first (some folks parboil rabong before cooking it as dinengdeng, to rid of its bitterness; but that depends on the variety of bamboo, some like the bayog (Bambusa spinosa) kind, sometimes doesn't need to be parboiled and rinsed; some Ilokano folks even prefer their rabong to be a bit bitter, anyway). When the rabong is tender, put in the utong, simmer for some minutes, and then put in the kalunay and sili leaves. Simmer for a minute then put off fire and remove the pot's cover so the leaves don't wilt. Serve immediately.

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