kilawen a bilis, raw herring/sardine

 Bilis is the local sardine/herring fish (family clupeidae) which is usually consumed raw or cooked in vinegar. I like it raw or kilawen (kinilaw). Fresh bilis is prized for its sweetish flesh and oily texture (which is common in sardine and herring fishes). I came upon a fresh bilis catch from Aparri (Cagayan) town and immediately prepared some for kinilaw.

Here's my video of the process:

I removed head and guts and washed the fish well. You can opt to fillet the fish (remove the fishbone) for a more presentable kinilaw. But for me, this time, I'm over-eager to consume it so I didn't remove the siit anymore--I'll just take care of it when I'll eat them one by one, hehehe! After washing the decapitated and gutted fish, tossed it in vinegar, minced onions and crushed and minced garlic and ginger, some salt (add cracked pepper if you like), and chilis fermented in vinegar. It's that simple. The vinegar will simply "cook" the bilis. Put in a freezer for some minutes if you want, for all the ingredients/spices to blend well with the fish flesh.

A close up of this heavenly delicacy. See the oily skin? Great texture. The flesh is so sweetishly sour and so delicious and sumptuous with its distinct sardiny smell that blesses the palate with the taste and aroma of the raw sea:

Perfect for pulutan and as an appetizer. Mangantayon! (Originally blogged December 2, 2009) 

Some comments from the original post:

 Marlene Says:

02 December 2009 at 2:05 pm e

Saan ko pay a naramanan to fresh fish. It looks like it’s safe. i would like to try some but where can i get it here in Vancouver, Canada

 Rey Says:

02 December 2009 at 4:47 pm e

Wow ang sarap, maalala ko while i was still in the Philippines, yan ang lagi naming ginagawa specially pag season sa isdang yan. i wish mayron din yan d2 sa Vancouver.

 Vicky Says:

03 December 2009 at 5:36 pm e

Tinagan na pay kanyami no dadakel ket Baranban, ibabad ti iloko suka, pamienta ken asin overnight kinabigatan ket iprito daytoy, talaga nga naimas daytoy.

In germany this kind of fish called Herring. They eat as kilawen too,With vinegar, lots of Onion, pepper and salt.When we eat ,take the tail and start the upper part of the fish ( w/out head and bone of course)

 Sharon Rose Telan-Weibling Says:

08 December 2009 at 8:11 am e

I don’t know if this is an original Ilocano dish. When I was in Italy, they were serving this kind of dish. Meron nga lang olive oil.

 Marlene Says:

08 December 2009 at 12:25 pm e

okey that is called herring here in vancouver. i see that fish pickled and looks tasty.

 rva Says:

08 December 2009 at 12:53 pm e

bilis is classified as a sardine fish and is under the family Clupeidae which also include herrings, shads, anchovies, etc. it might be a subspecies of the pacific herring (Clupea pallasii). another species is the atlantic herring.

anyway, herring is also traditionally eaten raw in the netherlands and in some other scandinavian countries.

see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herring and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clupeidae

 aurora lambino Says:

02 January 2010 at 2:28 pm e

Thank you for this blog. I truly enjoyed looking at all your post(s), specially the pictured ilokano dishes. My mother used to cook “all” these when we were growing up in Baguio (ie my mother is a migrant from Sto Domingo, Ilocos Sur). Have not mastered any of those featured.. I do a “quasi” job with frozen ingredients I find in the supermarket doing binug-goongan nga saluyot ken marunggay, when my 96 Year old mother craves for these.. Thanks again, I will try to find squash flowers in the summer. Definitely recommending it to my friends,

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More kilawen nga ikan:

• Kilawen a tirong, picnic by the beach
• Kilawen a bilis, raw sardine/herring
• Kilawen a talibukno
• Kilawen a taburkit/munamon
• Kilawen a pusit/laki

For more Ilokano dishes and others like this kilawen, you can follow Ilokano Food page on Facebook.

Follow also Ilokano Food @ Instagram and subscribe to Ilokano Food YoutTube channel for more photos, videos, and stories about Ilokano food, cooking, cuisine, and culture.

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kilawen a tirong: a picnic by the beach [repost]

Tirong is small saltwater fish. It's called bonnet mouth fish and is the ingredient in the popular bugguong (bagoong, fish sauce/paste) called bugguong a tirong. Tirong when fully grown (to its adult size) is called "dalagang bukid" and is great for sinigang and escabeche or simply as fried. And of course, the inevitable kilawen, freshly caught tirong eaten raw with the pristine saltiness and sweetness and succulence of the raw sea.

Kilawen a tirong.

Stopping by at Candon City on our way to a writer's convention in La Union, we decided to rest awhile and while away the thick and humid Ilocos summer heat and take a dip at the Ilocos Sur sea.

We went to a beach at Barangay Calungboyan and there we were lucky enough to come upon some fishermen who just came ashore in a rakit (balsa, bamboo raft) with their sea bounty.

There, the precious tirong, about 3 kilos of it, the only catch so far of the jolly Ilokano mangngalap (fisherman), besides a single pana-pana (sea urchin) and a baby kurita (octopus).

We bought all the tirong, of course, as we are so over-eager to have a taste of its freshness, its inviting deliciousness, its mouth-watering rawness...

We unanimously voted to have it as kilawen. No way should its freshness and succulence be wasted! And so we simply made it with available condiments. We poured vinegar on the tirong and it's done, it's that simple. With some salt and chili by the side.

You have to pick the tirong by hand, have some salt on it and eat it right on, have your mouth and palate some guilty pleasures. Its flesh is sweetish, a little bitter because of its intact entrails, briny with the natural taste of the raw sea. Eat it all, fishhead and fishbone, it's so small you can chew all its goodness.


And but of course, it's more palatable and with drinks, its inevitable partner. We've got a case of Red Horse Litro to down the great kilawen a tirong.

Ah! Goodness gracious, how refreshing and delectable life could be at the seashore. Life's a beach, indeed!

Drinkers. :-)

Calongbuyan Beach
Candon City, Ilocos Sur.

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More kilawen nga ikan:

• Kilawen a bilis, raw sardine/herring
• Kilawen a talibukno
• Kilawen a bilis manen, sardine/herring ceviche
• Kilawen a taburkit/munamon
• Kilawen a pusit/laki

For more Ilokano dishes and others like this kilawen, you can follow Ilokano Food page on Facebook.

Follow also Ilokano Food @ Instagram and subscribe to Ilokano Food YoutTube channel for more photos, videos, and stories about Ilokano food, cooking, cuisine, and culture.

....

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idiay tiendaan, palengke, talipapa, public market: pannakitienda/pannakiplasa/pannakidapon series (repost)

I'm always fascinated with markets, local or "wet" market in the poblacion. When I was a little child I always see to it that my mother or my father will have me tagging along when they go to the market every Sunday or on market days like Wednesdays and Thursdays and Friday, to buy basic stuff and food, usually with some meat, fish or other something pricey and "special" for the day's lunch. It would be a reward for say, having pulled out a considerable number of "white" hair, having gathered enough firewood, having watered down the masetas, having gathered weed for the carabao, and other farm and house and livelihood chores a boy can do to please his parents, he-heh! I would be rewarded, among others, with my favorite sorbetes ("dirty ice cream), some rice cakes like "tinudok" or "baduya" with lots of sweetened mongo as palaman. Mind you, there were no Jollibees or McDos yet in those olden times, there are no cheap China-imported apples even (apples are only available at Christmas-time, imported from the U.S. and it was quite a rarity in the barrios).

And yes, with those merchandise, farm produce by small-time vendors, a little harvest freshly picked form their vegetable patches or green and shoots and fruits and shells and fish gathered or caught in the wild... I'm always awed at those industrious vendors who earn some centavos and pesos, and at the way my wise mother make "tawar" to buy things with her tight budget, so typically Ilokano, thrifty and frugal but not a tightwad.

Until now that I'm old and having a family of my own, I'm still a "market boy" as I do the "marketing" and still immensely enjoy going to the "palengke" or "tiendaan" to personally pick goodies for my next dinengdeng or pinakbet. And here are some photos to document my market forays:

Various veggies, Don Domingo Public Market, Tuguegarao City.
[click photo for a larger view]

Kalkalunay, Don Domingo Public Market, Tuguegarao City.
[click photo for a larger view]

Mais, along the highway, Larion,Tuguegarao City.
[click photo for a larger view]

Uong, along National Highway, Gattaran, Cagayan. 
[click photo for a larger view]

Papait and paria a balang, along National Highway, Gattaran, Cagayan.
[click photo for a larger view]

Tukmem and narnar, Don Domingo Public Market, Tuguegarao City.
[click photo for a larger view]

Tarong, Don Domingo Public Market, Tuguegarao City.
[click photo for a larger view]

Pokpoklo and gamet, Don Domingo Public Market, Tuguegarao City.
[click photo for a larger view]

Ipon and taburkit, Dugo Public Market, Camalaniugan, Cagayan.
[click photo for a larger view]

Bilis vendor, National Highway in Santa Ana, Cagayan.
[click photo for a larger view]

Kabibi and tukmem, Allacapan Public Market, Allacapan, Cagayan.
[click photo for a larger view]

Taburkit, bulong-unas, Allacapan Public Market, Allacapan, Cagayan.
[click photo for a larger view]

.....

More market stories:

• Idiay tiendaan, talipapa, merkado publiko, market (part 2)
• Manen, idiay tiendaan, talipapa, merkado publiko, market (part 3)
• Ket manen sadiay tiendaan, public markets/roadside vendors (part 4)
• Laklako iti ig-igid, public markets/roadside vendors (part 5)

 

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dinengdeng/baradibud a kamangeg, samsamping, parda ken kabatiti; wild yam with blue pea, hyacinth bean and sponge gourd

Samsamping, parda ken kabatiti a nabaradibudan iti bagas ti kamangeg.

Yet another rare chance, opportunity, if you will, to find something like these wild bounty of the land right in a local market in the city--yessir, that's the rare wild yam kamangeg (Dioscorea luzonensis), a one of a kind edible tuber that grows wild just in the wild "deeply embedded in hardened soil in forested and mountainous areas" in the Ilocos; and to top it, there's another wild vegetable that yet again just grows wildly: samsamping (Clitoria ternatea Linn; in some areas it is called kalumpagi; blue pea in English).

I always see a yet another delicious starchy dinengdeng called buridibud when I see kamangeg, So this is yet another opportunity to make one, what with the perfect willd veggie fruit of a samsamping to pair it.

Luckily, I also got another so-called "native" Ilokano vegetable fruit: parda (Dolichos lablab Linn; hyacinth bean) which is just so good a pair for my buridibud.

So, there, this parda:

And the samsamping:

I also got the smaller and sweter native kabatiti (sponge gourd; not photographed) as another veggie fruit for that perfect buridibud. Together they will grace my platefuls of steamed rice. But first things first, I boiled some bugguong in a minimal amount of water, with some slices of onions for aroma and flavor. Afterwhich I simmered into the bubbling bugguong mixture the cut kamangeg, let it cook for about 20-30 minutes and then into it the kabatiti, samsamping and parda. Here it is, stewing and becoming thick and starchy:

And here's it, done! The broth is just as rich and thick and so flavorful and deliciously starchy and sweet. The fruit veggies are just cooked right not overcooked, to retain it's gorgeous color and crispness:

A really simple and easy dish but so good and healthy. Just plain dinengdeng/buridibud without sagpaws or add-ons to really savor the veggies and the rare kamangeg. Absolutely amazing Ilokano food!

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dinengdeng a sabunganay, banana blossom stew

Dinengdeng a sabunganay with sabong-karabasa and pallang.

Sabunganay or susop, banana blossom or inflorescence, can be prepared in a variety of ways as a vegetable. Be it inggisa (sauteed), kinilnat (boiled) as a salad, veggie for sinigang or other soups, and ingredient in the famous kare-kare, as an ukoy (fritter), as a bola bola (meatballs), as a kinilaw, and others.

I most prefer it as a plain dinengdeng anyway. Again, this is a childhood staple. We used to have a lot of banana "trees" (mostly plaintain variety called "dippig") in our place in Nueva Vizcaya which bear sabunganays all year round. My mother will dengdeng it with saluyot most of the time and sour it with young salamagi fruit. Or with young singkamas (jicama) pods when it's in season. Just a plain dinengdeng, without sagpaws. And what I liked most about this dinengdeng is the "puso," the innermost part of it, the bud, the core, which is the most tender and sweet. My younger brother and I crave for it and we usually "fight" over it and our mother will just halve it for us to have fair shares of the precious and delicious banana heart.

But preparing the sabunganay for a dinengdeng is a challenge of sort. It's kind of complicated task. Your hand, fingers, especially your nails is in danger of being stained with its sap, a sticky and brownish stain difficult to wash off. But the muri process is an art by itself: you open the blossom's bracts and pick out the clusters of the male flowers (the female flowers are the ones developed into fruit) and remove the stamen (or is it pistil?) or the "palito" out of each flowerettes. Discard the tougher and outer purple bracts, retain the white tender ones:

And here it is, cleaned and ready for the washing and rinsing off its sap (the sap should be discarded as it is kind of bitter or unpalatable):

Now this where you sacrifice that delicate and smooth hand and finger and manicured nail of yours--the squeezing to get rid of the sap. Put in some salt to help in the process, minimizing the bitterness later and sap stain:

Discard the sap out by rinsing it with water after every squeeze:

Squeezed dry, this is it, and there's the heart which I didn't slice, it should be intact to retain its sweet succulence:

We'll have pallang and karabasa flowers and tops to accompany our sabunganay:

I cooked it the way a dinengdeng should be: boiled water and diluted the bugguong, put in some onion slices and then the sabunganay, further boiled it, simmered (at this juncture, I halved the "heart" for it to evenly cook), and when it's tender enough, I put in the pallang and the karabasa and cooked it quickly to just kind of wilt it to retain crispness:

Here's the dinengdeng served, with that prized puso waiting for my eager plate and palate:

Of course, the heart is mine, alone, this time. No, I heartily shared the other half, I'm that generous still, I do have a heart.

And once again, I delighted in my childhood's dinengdeng a sabunganay. I swear I made it the way my mother intended it to be. My palate's memory of taste is as strong as today as it was. Come, share with me this grace.

[See higher resolution (larger and clearer) version, and more, of these photographs.]

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