nabaraniwan a leddeg, black snails soup with lemon grass

Nabaraniwan a leddeg.

Common black snails or mollusk abundant in rivers, creeks, irrigation canals, rice paddies, ponds is great as a dinengdeng of sort or as a soup with lots of tomatoes, onions and ginger. And with baraniw or lemon grass.

One kind of snail, the leddeg (Angulyagra oxytropis), the other common one is bisukol, is usually cooked with baraniw. This black snail has a bittery taste in its tail, where its intestines lie (the bisukol is not) part which is preferred by some true Ilokano snail "gourmands."

Here, I chanced upon some freshly picked pond leddegs being sold by roadside vendors one Sunday morning, I immediately bought three glassfuls (PhP10 per glassful), it has been years since my last leddeg consumption:

Wash the leddeg throughly, rinse it for several times to discard dirt:

Firstly, boil the usual ingredients, with a little bugguong (some don't want bugguong and use patis or just plain salt instead):

Put in the leddeg, boil for a few minutes, and then put in some baraniw stalks and simmer:

Put off fire immediately, don't overcook the leddeg or its tiny meat will shrink or "kumuttong" (become "thin"):

Serve hot and begin sucking out the sweet and bittery black morsel.

The proper way to eat leddeg is you crack open its tail so air can pass when you suck from its lip or mouth the meat out.

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unnok/ginukan, freshwater shellfish

Unnok or ginukan (Delillia sp.) is a freshwater mollusk or bivalve that grows in rivers, it is believed to be endemic in the Cagayan River especially along the towns of Lal-lo and Camalaniugan (unnok is abundant as well in the Abulug River), although it can be usually found in rivers close to the coastlines (deltas) in Northern Luzon. But nowadays unnok is becoming rare in Cagayan itself, reportedly because of the ongoing quarrying/dredging activities (actually mining of magnetite or black sand which is reportedly wreaking environmental havoc) along the Cagayan River which affect not just unnok but also the kabibi (Batissa violacea), another important shellfish endemic in the area (and other shells and fish, like the rare and expensive ludong). Quarrying/dredging/mining of sand in the river disturbs the habitat of these shells endangering their very existence.

This is somehow true because I myself rarely can find unnok for sale in the wet markets, whereas in the past years it's sold in abundance in regular market days.

And imagine my pleasant surprise when I found this in the Allacapan (Cagayan) market and was told that it came all the way from Laoag City (Ilocos Norte)! The vendor said unnok is almost a thing of the past in Cagayan, it's not readily available anymore as it were, and she's not exaggerating, I guess. I bought the whole remaining lot for fifty pesos:

We made it into a soup with lots of tomatoes and onions, and some bugguong juice to taste. The broth is so savory with a hint of sweet and sour tomato goodness.

The tiny bits of flesh has a distinct taste and texture among other freshwater shells that makes unnok a kind of delicacy, especially now that it's diminishing and becoming a rarity.

And of course, unnok meat is also prized because it's great to be made into a bugguong (salted). The vendor also sells bugguong nga unnok at one hundred fifty pesos a bottle (yes, it's that expensive). But I was able to convince her for a hundred bucks plus the fresh shells, so this is it, I got one, it's been years since the last time I saw bugguong nga unnok being sold.

It's perfect with a squeeze of calamansi and it's a great appetizer, just like bugguong nga ipon.

What an opportunity to once again blessed with this bounty, now that some greedy people are destroying nature that nurtures its very existence... What a pity that future generations might not enjoy this delicacy anymore, when it's already extinct in the Cagayan River... 

Meanwhile, here's a video by Youtuber mjrfmpaul123 of unnok (ginukan) being prepared as a kind of "salad":

Enjoy!

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agurong in coconut milk con marunggay leaves

Agurong is a common black freshwater mollusk with elongated spiral shell usually found in abundance in creeks (waig) and rivers (karayan). We also call it leddangan in Nueva Vizcaya. It is similar in shape to the smaller and slender suso and the more smaller duriken. But agurong's meat is different from suso's or duriken's. Suso's is somewhat pumal-it or bittery. While duriken, well, you cannot even eat duriken's tiny meat as duriken is usually cracked and boiled or blanched just for its tasty, bittery soup. Nowadays, you can find agurong sold in the local markets, but suso shell is very rare. And I have yet to see a duriken for sale (when I was a young lad, in our place, we used to pick suso and duriken in a river nearby, and agurong in a creek a few meters away from our house).

Agurong is cooked in a variety of ways. It can be simply boiled in lots of tomatoes and gingers and onions and with baraniw (lemon grass) just like tukmem (bennek, dukkiang, or bukkaig; small freshwater clams).

And it's perfect in coconut milk as well, just like leddeg or bisukol (freshwater black shells). And usually, with marunggay leaves, just like marunggay in crabs cooked with coconut milk. Using getta (ccoconut milk) may not be exclusively Ilokano, by the way, as it is more identified with Bikol cuisine. But Ilokanos do also love getta like in ginettaan (another term is "sinursuran") nga aba or taro leaves/stalks/root/shoots cooked in coconut milk.

So here's how I came with my agurong in coconut milk with marunggay leaves. First of all, prepare agurong by washing and rinsing it throughly (you do arasaw, just like rinsing any shellfish) and repeatedly until the wash water is somewhat clear. See to it also that you discard any dead agurong (dead ones usually smell and float).

Next, the cutting . You have to cut off its "tail end," the apex of its spiral shell. This is so it is possible for you to suck the meat out later (through your mouth or lips; mind you, eating agurong is a "lips-to-lips" activity, although you can pick the meat out by using a toothpick or the thorn of the sua or pomelo tree). Severing off the tail will let air pass to easily extract the meat out when you sultop (suck out) it. Use a large enough knife or preferably a bolo because the agurong's shell is thick and kind of hard.

When you are through with the cutting, wash the shells again to discard shell bits and remnants.

Then, the cooking. At this juncture, we assume you already have made the coconut milk earlier and the getta (gata in Tagalog) is ready (or if you prefered instant gata mix, you already diluted the coconut milk powder in water). Boil the getta for some time. Do not boil all the mixture, separate some amount of milk (preferably the first squeezeful or the umuna a pespes [kakang gata in Tagalog], if you made it from fresh coconut), about a cupful will do. While boiling you can blend in sliced onions, crushed garlic, and crushed ginger. Afterwhich you can now add in the agurong shells. Cook until tender (but do not overcook the shell, else the meat will "kumuttong" or become "thin" or shrunken). Season with salt. Just before you serve, add in the marunggay leaves and pour in the reserved coconut milk. Do not overcook the marunggay.

Here's the end result:

Ahh, what a plenty of sweety oily and fragrant lips to kiss!

(Originally blogged December 17, 2008)

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