Fiesta Food Part Three
0, July 19, 2009
Fiesta Food Part Three
This article on food is fast turning out to be more than just food and I hope you appreciate the little history and cultural lessons about the Philippines. Food is really very easy to talk about but they essentially become meaningless if you do not know where and why such food has been created. You need to know also why such is liked by Filipinos and why they are presented during fiestas. There is something distinctly special and Filipino about the food and the background of the dishes and this is more important than the recipes themselves.
Filipinos are all about family. Even if you go to the houses of Filipinos abroad, it would not be uncommon for you to see that in their house there will be more than one family. Here’ll be uncles and aunts with their own families in the compound. The grandparents of course will also be there and while they aren’t the ones in charge anymore, their presence is still felt. Especially in the cooking.
When Fiestas come, it’s like their army reserve men who have been called into action. It’s their show. For almost the entire year grandma will just be doing some knitting or at most watering the plants but as soon as Fiesta season comes up, its like the found the fountain of youth and are as energetic as ever. The recipes that they have would come out and they mostly have them memorized down to the brand names and amounts. Even more importantly, the rest of the family is at the grandma’s (lola’s) beck and call. Everything would now go through grandma. If someone is asked to help, he or she has to do it grandma’s way or they’ll be scolded.
Moreover, as we have said before, this is like a special class for daughters and granddaughters. They all try to follow grandma’s tips and pieces of advice. They all want to get grandma’s approval when it comes to cooking. Even the ones who have families already become little children again seeking their mother’s approval. I guess this is how it is with Filipino Families. They never all grow up but they never grow old.
Here are now some recipes that are the favorite of my own grandmother. We never really learned how to do this even though we tried.
7) Embutido
If you’re new to Filipino food, embutido is definitely one of the weirdest dishes you’ll ever come across. At first look, you wouldn’t know what to make of it. The color itself is indistinct. It’s yellowish, and slightly brown with streaks of red, green and brown, depending on what’s in it. There are also two distinct forms of shapes with which it comes.
One is the “lanera” shape. A “lanera” is basically a small metallic container that is generally used for a lot of different Filipino delicacies such as ube and leche flan. It is also now used for dishes such as embutido. This is the perfect container for embutido because this container is perfect for steaming which is one of the best ways to cook this dish.
Personally, I like having embutido fried. I like my embutido fried. I like the crispy and crunchy exterior combined with the softer middle part. If this is the way it’s cooked and it’s right off the pan, I could eat a lot of it. However, the lanera-style embutido is not the style for frying it. Frying is suited for the second style.
The second way of packaging embutido is by making it into a meatloaf. Embutido is also essentially a meatloaf as it is basically meat that has undergone several processes. This other ay is done by forming it into a tube with about an and a half in diameter and about eight inches in length. Yu use the aluminum foil to cover it. Mostly it is frozen after preparation and then steamed or fried right after.
The spirit of the Fiesta is embodied well in the embutido. The embutido has a lot of ingredients that wouldn’t seem to go together but in the end they fit in perfectly. It’s basically like a family. There may be different characters and sometimes they may not seem like they belong to the same family but in the end, they are all perfect together.
Here’s one embutido recipe that you will surely enjoy with or without a fiesta.
Embutido Recipe:
Ingredients :
· 1 lb. ground pork
· 1/2 cup finely chopped carrots
· 1 cup (6 slices) finely chopped (sweet or cooked) ham
· 3 tbsp. minced green bell pepper
· 3 tbsp. minced red bell pepper
· 1/3 cup sweet pickle relish
· 1/4 cup raisins
· 3 whole eggs
· 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
· dash of liquid seasoning
· salt & pepper, to taste
· 1 tbsp. cornstarch
· slices (wedges) of hard-cooked eggs
· slices (wedges) of Vienna sausage
· aluminum foil, 10" x 12" sizes
Cooking Procedures :
1. Prepare a steamer and set aside. Alternatively, prepare a baking pan and a wire rack and preheat oven to 350°F.
2. In a bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix until well blended.
3. Divide the mixture into 2 to 4 portions (depending on how many you want to make).
4. Spread and flatten the mixture onto the center of each foil, divide the slices of hard cook eggs and Vienna sausages. Place each slices at the center of each mixture. Hold the foil onto your hand and roll until the ends of the mixture covers the eggs and sausages. Alternatively, by holding each ends of the foil, roll the mixture back and forth until it covers the slices of eggs and sausages in the center.
5. Finally, roll the aluminum foil into a tightly packed log about 1" to 2" in diameter, sealing on both ends. Repeat with the remaining pork mixture.
6. Place the embutido in a steamer and steam for an hour. Alternatively, place embutido in a wire rack on a baking pan, half filled with hot water. Cover with aluminum foil (Be sure the steam will not escape). Steam-bake in the center of the oven for an hour.
7. Remove from the oven. Let it cool and slice into rings. Serve with your favorite catsup or sauces.
8. Refrigerate unused embutido.
You can also microwave embutido but never put the lanera or the aluminum foil in it. This is dangerous and you don’t want to know what could happen.
SopasWe’re trying to give you a good impression as to what types of food you will see in a fiesta. We don’t just want to throw in different types of food. We want you to be able to host an actual fiesta celebration. So we’re giving you different dishes.
Filipinos love soup. They eat it alone or sometimes, pour it on the rice. This is a staple for Filipinos and one of the most common soups that Filipinos have is what they call, sopas. Sopas is a milky soup that is usually made with elbow macaroni. This is best served with hot rice although when the rice gets cold already, the best way to eat sopas, pouring it over the cold rice, becomes more of a necessity.
Just like with puto and barbecue, sopas is one of the best types of food to have if you want to go around and talk with your friends and relatives. The host would usually give you a cup of sopas with a fork so you can go around and eat at the same time. Sopas is a very light soup and in itself can already be the viand. It is also one of the most complete types of dishes because it already contains some ground pork or chicken, eggs, milk as well as carrots.
The importance of sopas is recognized more when the celebration goes into the night. Fiestas can go on all day and sometimes can also go overnight especially for the men who would be drinking with their visitors. In the cold of the night, when one is too full to eat anything else, sopas is the best kind of food to have. There are some visitors who arrive late for one reason or another or arrive under difficult circumstances and when this happens, sopas is the most welcome of all foods. You don’t really have an appetite yet to eat the lechon or the dinuguan. You just want something warm in you and the soup would give you the relaxation that you seek.
Just like with other dishes, families have different recipes of this dish. They do not vary as much as the other dishes however and it could all taste similar as well. One more thing: Before you eat it check the temperature by sipping small amounts only. You don’t want to burn your tongue with the first dish that you taste in a fiesta. That would definitely ruin the entire fiesta for you.
Chicken Sopas
200-250 grams chicken (chicken breast is best, but any part should be okay)
3-4 cups water
1 chicken stock cube (optional)
1 small onion, sliced
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed/minced
1 tsp cooking oil (vegetable or canola)
1 cup elbow pasta
1 carrot, cubed (as in, small cubes)
1 stalk celery, sliced (leaves and bottom part removed)
1/2 cup shredded cabbage
3-4 cups water
1 chicken stock cube (optional)
1 small onion, sliced
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed/minced
1 tsp cooking oil (vegetable or canola)
1 cup elbow pasta
1 carrot, cubed (as in, small cubes)
1 stalk celery, sliced (leaves and bottom part removed)
1/2 cup shredded cabbage
12-15 quail eggs
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp fish sauce, aka patis (optional)
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp fish sauce, aka patis (optional)
Step-by-Step Cooking:
1) Boil the chicken in the water. You can already add the salt and pepper, if you like.
2) Once the chicken is cooked, take it out of the water to shred or to slice. Save the water as stock for later. Set aside the shredded chicken.
3) In a large saucepan, heat the oil. Add the garlic and saute until slightly brown, then add the onions.
4) Add the shredded chicken.
5) When the chicken is slightly brown, add the water (chicken stock). Add the chicken stock cube, if preferred.
6) When the water boils, add the pasta. Make sure that there’s enough water left for the pasta to cook. Just keep adding 1/2 cup of plain water (preferably hot), if/when needed. Make sure that you have enough liquid for a soup.
7) As soon as the pasta is ‘al dente’ (not quite cooked, but already softened), add the carrots and celery. Stir.
After 2-3 minutes, add the shredded cabbage. Keep stirring.
9) Add the egg. Make sure that you stir and break the egg – so you don’t get one lump of egg in your soup.
10) Once the egg is “stirred in” the soup, slowly add the milk and keep stirring. Remember not to add the milk all at once and you must stir, stir, stir. Otherwise, the milk might “curdle”. And, that’s not a pretty sight!
11) When you’ve successfully added all the ingredients, check if you need to add salt and/or pepper. Some people also opt to use fish sauce.
2) Once the chicken is cooked, take it out of the water to shred or to slice. Save the water as stock for later. Set aside the shredded chicken.
3) In a large saucepan, heat the oil. Add the garlic and saute until slightly brown, then add the onions.
4) Add the shredded chicken.
5) When the chicken is slightly brown, add the water (chicken stock). Add the chicken stock cube, if preferred.
6) When the water boils, add the pasta. Make sure that there’s enough water left for the pasta to cook. Just keep adding 1/2 cup of plain water (preferably hot), if/when needed. Make sure that you have enough liquid for a soup.
7) As soon as the pasta is ‘al dente’ (not quite cooked, but already softened), add the carrots and celery. Stir.
After 2-3 minutes, add the shredded cabbage. Keep stirring.
9) Add the egg. Make sure that you stir and break the egg – so you don’t get one lump of egg in your soup.
10) Once the egg is “stirred in” the soup, slowly add the milk and keep stirring. Remember not to add the milk all at once and you must stir, stir, stir. Otherwise, the milk might “curdle”. And, that’s not a pretty sight!
11) When you’ve successfully added all the ingredients, check if you need to add salt and/or pepper. Some people also opt to use fish sauce.
If you’re the host remember to reheat the soup every now and then, Preferably, you can heat it when it’s around lunch time, merienda time (Afternoon snack time) and dinner time. If the fiesta goes on well into the night, reheat it again while adding some extra water or milk so as not to dry it out. Be careful when you reheat it because sometimes you can ruin the dish by doing so.
My lola cooks great sopas and he adds some quail eggs in it which I really love. It’s much more fun to eat plus I am totally crazy over quail eggs. It’s great to have as a merienda and it’s something that is also fun to cook. Sure it looks complicated at first but in truth it is very easy and you can put a number of adjustments that would not ruin the dish unlike the other dishes above mentioned. Filipinos love sopas and if you have it, it would definitely be a big, big, plus.
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