By: Telly Gonzaga-Ocampo
The best meals are those cooked by loving hands and heart
While I was confined in the hospital for five days, my mind just wandered and wondered for the food cooked at home. Food was properly served here at the hospital but one will always yearn for the home-cooked food. Even if it’s bulad or bolinaw, mangita man gyud ka ani nila. Labi na ug ikaw mismo ang naghimo sa ginamos nga bolinaw.
The selling price of fish hasn’t gone down. It is still P200 and above per kilo. It was good that we were able to buy bolinaw at P80 per kilo
There’s always some kind of regional difference in cooking. Ang mga waray magluto ug humbang nangka ug dagmay. There is a form of “ritual” attached to the cooking.
Let’s start first with humbang nangka. When you buy the nangka in the market, it is already clean and ready for cooking. Gihimay-himay na gyud. They have to peel off the hard skin including the fruit seed. This hard skin gives tartness to the nangka. Sa atoa dinhi, gilapak ang nangka nga mura pud kadagkoa sa humbang baboy ang lapak. I can eat my meal with only humbang nangka as my main dish.
Another recipe that comes to mind is the dagmay made out of young Gabi leaves that are still rolled. All these are already sold in the market. They vary in color: purple and green mint. Then, there has to be a bundle of tanglad (lemon grass). When cooking the gabi leaves, never do any stirring. Kung imo kini nga kurawon samtang imong giluto, katol nga sud-an ang resulta.
When you see that the leaves are already cooked, invert these and then add all the ingredients, sprinkle the mixture with salt. Then pour into the mixture the coconut milk (gata) up to simmering point. Don’t overcook the coconut milk otherwise the mixture will become oily. Ngilngig na pagakan-on.
For another recipe, especially in Mindanao, if you will prepare kinilaw nga isda, you need the tabontabon and biyasong. I have acquired that taste for tabontabon, but this is seldom found in our market.
At this stage in my life, I always look for food such as those I have mentioned. I planted gabi from Tacloban but I did not succeed in this field. I have my nangka tree. It’s sad that after two seasons of bearing sweet fruits, ang misunod pulos na nga natibak ug nahulog ang mga bunga. According to the neighbours maybe a pregnant woman gave attention on the fruits. Kanang giingon nila ug gipangalaan.
Now that election day is approaching, I hope I can make the humbang nangka the way it’s cooked in Tacloban. I also plan to cook dagmay with bulad. Hmmmnnn
Again, the best meals are cooked by loving hands and heart.
