TILAPIA KING PIGA
BULANGLANG BANGUS
HEALTHY EATING AND
Holy Week Menu KAPAMPANGAN CUISINE IS not just about rich food. We cook healthy, too, using all-natural ingredients. In 2010, Apag Marangle received the Healthy Eating Place Award from the Pampanga Provincial Board. For this Lenten season, choose from a healthful array of comfort food, from tilapia king piga (tilapia in coconut milk), bulanglang bangus (milkfish), putcherong bulig (mudfish in a tomato stew with banana plantain and pechay), sigang pangasius king miso (cream dory sour soup with soy bean paste), ningnang hito o bulig ampong sampaluk at baguk (grilled catfish or mudfish with tamarind and shrimp paste dip), balatung ampong pritung bangus (mung bean soup and fried milkfish), suam mais ampong pritung tilapia (corn soup and fried tilapia).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Christine Nunag CHRISTINE NUNAG is a Doreen Fernandez Food Writing Awardee whose works have appeared in local and international publications. A BS Tourism graduate of UP Diliman, this former fivestar hotel frontliner provides food-focused custom services from copywriting, workshops, gastronomic tour events, to culinary travel planning. Visit her websites at 100poundfoodie.com and christinenunag.com. (Author’s photo by Neal Oshima.)
10 PAMPANGA PEP | APRIL 2011
it cooked and eat it). When your food is ready, eat your meal with TAUSI DIP FOR PESANG DALAG your bare hands, with Kapampangan music in the background while taking in the provincial aroma of grass and trees, water, sun and breeze. Together with an all-Kapampangan staff, Mark personally oversees the cooking alongside Cherry who learned to cook from her mom at the age of nine. Family recipes and modern innovations using fresh ingredients cooked-hot-off-the-stove are prepared the traditional way. No short cuts, no MSG. “(Processed flavor mixes) are for those who can’t cook,” Cherry reasons. Among the big feast that was presented for this visit, three particular dishes struck me HUMBA in surprising ways. I never liked mudfish, but Apag Marangle’s version of pesang dalag changed my mind. Cooked binulu (in bamboo), the fish broth arrived steaming in a black balanga (earthen pot). Thick, yellow roe oozed out of the plump belly slices. The pechay and potato were not pale and overcooked. Nowadays, rice wash is rarely added to pesang dalag. Instead, Cherry wanted the broth very light because it is supposed to be “seasoned” with a salty misi (fermented yellow beans) dip blended with fresh tomatoes and garlic, which was served inside a hollowed, uncooked potato. However, she had to adjust the saltiness to suit the majority preference. Despite this, a subtle bamboo-woodsy taste remained. Most of all, the essence of ginger masked the lansa (raw, fishy taste) such that every spoonful of the hot broth soothed the throat. Bulanglang bangus came in the form of fat Dagupan milkfish cooked in a broth sweetened by fresh pink guava and served with crisp battered kangkong. While this had me craving and cooking my own pot while writing this piece, it was the humba that made me ache inside just by thinking about it. It was love at first sight (and scent) when I first laid eyes on the twin “baked” garlic bulbs standing proudly on a bed of brown pork meat that glistened and smelled of sweet, salty dark soy, star anise, and black peppercorns blending into tausi (salted black beans) and tajure (soybean curd). The magic lies in the skill with which it was cooked. Chunky SIZZLING BALUT pork belly marinated in precisely measured portions was placed atop a sheet of bamboo weave that sits at the bottom of the clay pot. It is then left to simmer and steam over the stove, untouched for four hours until all the marinade and juices drip to the bottom of the pot. The same delectably intense sauce is then poured over the fork-tender meat when served. Meanwhile, pelutungan manuk (crispy fried chicken) and pork barbecue are all-time bestsellers among kids while exoticas such as spicy sizzling balut and their bestselling betute (stuffed frogs) are recommended for both drinkers and the adventurous. The native BETUTE frogs, pregnant with a ground pork mixture and aromatic tangle (alagaw or fragrant premna), are best eaten hot-off-the-fryer as they are, or dipped in a very light, tangy-sweet sauce. The buko sherbet with dayap (lime) makes for a refreshing palate cleanser in between meals as well as dessert. Food choices at Apag Marangle are varied and wide, cooked with love, served in sharing portions at an average of just Php150 to Php250 per person. The flavors are uncomplicated; they are not masked by too many things which overwhelm your senses. For instance, pakbet, a popular vegetable stew, was intentionally cooked dry. The crisp, brightly colored kalabasa (squash), apalya (bitter gourd) and kamanyang (string beans) were grown by the staff just a stone’s throw away. Beyond their passion for Kapampangan cuisine, the people behind Apag Marangle also demonstrate compassion for the PEPALUKLUK MANUK environment. Waste segregation, recycling and composting are just a few of the green practices in place. In no small measures, they also try to help build the lives of undergraduates by providing KALDERETANG BIBI them work and a place to stay as well as teaching them how to save. When the time comes for them to leave the workplace, they are better persons with brighter hopes for the future. Overall, Apag Marangle represents the Kapampangans’ generous way of life— from the way we cook and serve our food, to the way we treat our people as family, and how we take care of our guests. When eating takes on such a new meaning, I find this a great reason to go back. PEP