kinilaw

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Kinilaw.com is back from hiatus. Great posts and photos very soon.

Video: "Kinilaw" author Edilberto Alegre

GMA "kapuso" Jessica Soho features kinilaw in an episode with Edilberto Alegre, co-author (with the late Doreen Fernandez) of "Kinilaw, a Philippine Cuisine of Freshness". Drool alert:P

Watch the video

Thanksgiving, kinilaw, atbp.

THANKSGIVING KINILAW - Angie Hamoy, a Pinay nurse in Des Plaines, Illinois, grimaces at hot chili peppers for kinilaw on Thanksgiving. Like any immigrant celebration, ethnic delicacies are served side by side with turkey, stuffing and other fare made traditional by the original immigrant feast in America over two centuries ago. ©2007 ABF

[Featured on Inquirer.net/Global Nation]

The Kindness of (Filipino) Strangers

I arrived in the Philippines keen to try kinilaw, a dish of protein (usually fish, but it may be otherwise) 'cooked' with a souring agent. Kinilaw could be considered one of the country's national dishes - there are as many variations as there are Philippine regions, perhaps even as many variations as there are Filipino cooks. My appetite for the dish had been whetted by a thorough reading of Edilberto Alegre and Doreen Fernandez' Kinalaw: A Cuisine of Freshness, a used copy of which a Filipino friend had kindly (or cruelly, considering the dearth of Philippine ingredients available in Kuala Lumpur) sent me months before, when we were preparing for our trip.

Cora was game, and served up a fantastic version made with mackerel, cane vinegar (other Philippine vinegars are made from nipa and coconut palms), kalamansi juice, lots of fragrant ginger, and tiny chilies called siling labuyu that are so wickedly hot they make Thai prik kee nuu seem seem like candy (opening photo). The balance of sour, spicy, and fruity (from the kalamansi) in this dish - not to mention the sparkling freshness of the fish - made this dish what Dave delicately terms a 'shoveller' (as in, you just want to keep shovelling it in). I could have eaten the whole bowlful, had I been left alone in the room with it.

But I had to leave room for a light, ginger-fragrant stew of mussels and green papaya.

Robyn Eckhardt

Read the full article at EatingAsia.com

Photo:  David Hagerman
© 2007

You say kilawin, I say kinilaw...

'Tis the season for pool parties, weekend trips to the beach and afternoons with the outdoor grill. Although in these Philippine islands we can really do all that throughout the year, summer is when it's foremost in our minds. We're always looking for relief from the heat, and it's such a shame to hide in air-conditioned rooms all day.

During past summers in Dumaguete, specifically during Easter, my cousins and I would often rent a balsa (bamboo raft) and let it float away from shore, where the water is cooler and deep enough to dive into. On other days we would take it a step further, rent a banca (outrigger) and head over to Sumilon island and dock at the sandbar there for the day. Food and drink were always overflowing. We brought coolers filled with beer and soda, and tupperwares that contained all sorts of pulutan (finger food or bar chow). So we would laze around on the white powdery beach, or bob along on inner tubes with a drink in our hands or by our side, and food everywhere. On those hot summer nights, we did pretty much the same thing except on land. We hung out, we ate, we drank, we had a great time.

A favorite pulutan then and now is kinilaw (or kilawin). It is light, refreshing and probably the healthiest pulutan you'll find in these shores. For the benefit of those who have not heard of kinilaw, it is basically fish steeped in vinegar in which it naturally "cooks". Similar to ceviche, kinilaw's South American cousin that I first learned about from my Peruvian best friend. Many different types of fish can be used for this such as tuna or tanigue and in this case, bangus (milk fish). What is important is the to clean the fish thoroughly and to eliminate all bones. In the Philippines, it is a staple in many restaurants and bars in the metropolis, though probably best loved by Filipinos eaten by the sea and washed down with a bottle of San Miguel Beer.

Christine Wuthrich
Read more at her blog, "ramblings from a gypsy soul"

Photo courtesy of the author
© 2007

Memories of Philippine Kitchens

KQED food blogger Thy Tran was at Amy and Romy's book launching and posted this report:

"Yesterday, I attended the best cookbook event ever. Book signings are now more a professional obligation than a fun diversion, but I'm very glad I stopped in at the Bayanihan Community Center to see Amy Besa and Romy Dorotan. This wasn't your usual book event. Grandparents brought their grandkids, and Tagalog was spoken unabashedly. The tastings were generous--I enjoyed thirds on those adobo ribs--and there was much laughter in the air. Their discussion and demonstration were a powerful reminder of the way sharing recipes, memories, and food keep a community together over time and distance.

Amy and Romy's book, Memories of Philippine Kitchens, has been years in the making, and once you open the covers, you undertand immediately the amount of time and effort that went into gathering the stories. It's a rare example of a cookbook that encompasses geography, politics, culture, oral history, and excellent recipes in a book that is as beautiful as it is generous and loving. Publishers Stewart, Tabori & Chang did an excellent job with it; they allowed Amy to include the region's complex history, a multitude of photos, and a voice centered in her own community's experience rather than bent toward explaining her cuisine to non-Filipinos..."

Read Thy's full article at Bay Area Bites

LINK

"Anghang"

You know when people really love their food when they sing about it:

"Kakain ako wag kang manuyo, siling labuyo
Amoy kili-kili at kawili-wili
Pagkain ng shaolin
Merong milk, merong coconut, sari-saring sangkap
Merong milk, merong coconut, siling may gata
Lalo akong lumuletse?, namumula ang pisngi
Kahit sa shawarma tataob si darna
Lamunin mo na nga to prang di ka arabo
Wag mo kong pagalitan parang di mo ko kaibigan
Teka, wag ka madrama, wag ka ng madrama
Ako madrama? ikaw nga tong madrama.."

"Anghang" (Hot) by Michael V.
(Spoof to the tune of "My Humps")

Photo by Renelli @ Kinilaw/FLICKR
© All rights reserved

Sutukil

Kilawing Tangigue

The word sutukil is derived from three Cebuano words - sugba, tuwa, and kilaw.   

Sutukil is a place known for its fresh sea harvest. Sutukil restaurants populate the place offering customers a variety of fishes, crustaceans, shellfish, and seaweeds prepared the way diners want them.

(From Farl: "sugba= grill over hot charcoal; tuwa= cook fish in a sour soup suing vinegar and spices like the sour "iba" or kamias fruit; kilaw= eat raw without heat but only after soaking the meat in sour vinegar with spices like onions, garlic, salt and chili.")

By BingBing
Visit his FLICKR page

[You are welcome to send your photos and stories. Just email them to kinilawmail@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our FLICKR group]

GenSan's tuna festival

"The tuna's contribution to the city's economy is huge.

Six of the eight tuna canneries in the country are located here. Of the 15 processing plants in the country, 10 are located here.

In general, the Philippines annually produces approximately 400,000 metric tons of tuna with a value of P18 billion (about $330 million), of which about 85% (roughly P15 billion or $280 million) is exported to various regions, including Japan, the US, and Europe, according to the Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

The tuna industry provides direct and indirect employment to at least 100,000 in this city and neighboring areas.

Due to tuna's contribution, the city annually holds a tuna congress, usually attended by hundreds of industry players...

Essentially, this city's tuna festival heats up the senses to the sights of giant tuna and other marine creature replicas via the float parade.

It is also the time to showcase mouthwatering tuna delicacies that would surely whet the appetites.

Talking about delicacies, visitors should not miss the tuna kinilaw, a menu where raw tuna is normally spiced with vinegar, lemon, ginger, onion plus chili if one wants it hot on the taste bud.

Kinilaw, which the generals know best to prepare, is available all-year round even in small eateries for as low as P20 per serving.

The tuna festival attracts foreigners of all colors-from Asian, Europeans and Americans.

It is an annual event of the ocean's wealth and life that is distinctively GenSan..."

SunStar.com
9.7.06
LINK

Art: K. Spencer

Got Kinilaw?

You know the feeling. You own a book so dear you don't even put it out on the shelves. Then in a moment of weakness you lend it to somebody  and that's the last you see of it. This is what happened to my copy of "Kinilaw". That this classic is now out-of-print and very difficult to find makes the loss even  worse. After a long search I found one online and got it in the mail today.  One read-through and its off to the vault.

"To be, purely to be - aye, that is sweetness like no other. The pristine in all its quiet fullness - of the be-ing...The silent, vibrating warmth of tangerine-colored sea-urchin roe. The oyster lying there - in its just-opened shell, already undulating in the mind, titillating the tongue..."

Kinilaw: A Philippine Cuisine of Freshness (Illustrated)
Doreen G. Fernandez, Edilberto N. Alegre
Book  /  133 Pages  /  January 1991  /  9715690149