Filipino food champion,food and travel writer Yasmin Newman.Anne Charlotte CompanThe period when Filipino food was little known outside its homeland is over,says food and travel writer Yasmin Newman.
Her new collection,Under Coconut Skies, explores the ins and outs of Filipino cooking,from the sweet,sour and salty combinations that make the flavours so enjoyable,to the herbs,teas and ubiquitous ginger and turmeric roots that provide nourishment and healing.
"It is a tribute to the cooking found in new restaurants in the Philippines and homes of other second-generation and young Filipinos around the world just like me,as we proudly shape,share and champion our cuisine,"she writes.
Here,Newman shares four recipes to build your own Filipino feast.
Photo:Smith Street BooksPritong manok (Fried chicken with banana chilli catsup glaze)
For us,fried chicken is the taste of happiness. It's memories of afternoon merienda (snacks) with friends and family dinners. It came into our consciousness in the early 20th century with the American occupation,when two fried chicken houses also emerged. Today,they characterise the two camps:crunchy Jollibee Chickenjoy or light Max's Restaurant-style. I chow into both,but when it comes to pulutan (beer food),a favourite food group in the Philippines,I can't go past the crust and shattering crackle of the former. As soon as it comes out of the oil,I plunge it in sweet and sticky banana catsup (ketchup) to glaze instead of serving it on the side,and douse it in kalamansi juice and fiery sili (chilli).
INGREDIENTS
Serves 4-6
Photo:Smith Street BooksLechon liempo (Lechon with shiitake and black rice stuffing)
There are few greater pleasures in life than our whole roasted suckling pig known as lechon. Requiring hours of tender love and care – preparing,then turning over coals to ensure the skin is perfectly crisp and the meat is succulent and tender – it's the centrepiece of our fiestas and savoured from head to toe. When a whole hog is too much,there's our lechon liempo. Much like Italian porchetta,pork belly is rolled,then roasted with equally crackling-meets-juicy effect,whether over traditional flames or in the oven. In the home of the flamboyant Dedet de la Fuente,aka Lechon Diva,I was treated to her world-famous lechon stuffed with truffle rice – hands-down the best I have ever tried. Inspired by the perfume it lent the meat,along with the side of rice used as a stuffing,this is my version with black rice and shiitake mushrooms,made liempo-style for home.
INGREDIENTS
Charred greens with coconut and palapa oil
Researching7000 Islands, very little was documented on the cuisine of the Philippines'far south and I was eager to learn and share more. It was through a friend in Manila that I got my first taste of the Maranao tribe's secret weapon:palapa,a condiment heavy with sili labuyo (chilli),ginger and sakurab,a spring onion (scallion) native only to Mindanao. You'll find grated coconut meat in some versions like mine here,adding scrumptious texture. In fact,palapa forms the base of most of their blazing dishes,including pindyalokan manok,rendang (beef curry) and phesasati-a-odang (prawn and coconut cakes). Really,it can be used with almost anything with delicious effect,and made ahead and stored in the fridge so it's ready for action. Tossed through warm Asian greens,it's a scintillating vegetarian dish.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 bunch bok choy,halved or quartered lengthways
- 1 bunch gai lan (Chinese broccoli),halved or quartered lengthways
- 1 bunch broccolini,halved or quartered lengthways
Palapa oil
Kioning (Turmeric and cassia bark rice)
Not a meal goes by that's not served with rice,whether freshly steamed (kanin) or glistening with garlic and oil (sinangag). In the south,you'll often see it in yellow mounds,tinted and perfumed with turmeric – my eyes always gravitate to this beautiful sight. It's sometimes called Java rice,made famous by The Aristocrat Restaurant in Manila and owing to its similarity to Indonesian nasi kuning. Like much of the food throughout Mindanao and the Malay peninsula,the dishes are indeed related;kioning is the name given by the Maranao tribe,who shape their brilliant yellow rice into cone-shaped pyramids using banana leaves. It's variously enriched with lemongrass,cassia leaf or bay leaf,but this alluring version is scented with cassia bark and made creamy from evaporated milk. Make sure to use fresh turmeric – a far cry from ground when it comes to flavour. Once you try it,you won't want to make rice any other way again.
INGREDIENTS
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 small red onion,thinly sliced
- sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
- 2 garlic cloves,finely chopped
- 3cm piece of ginger,peeled,finely grated
- 4cm piece of turmeric,peeled,finely grated
- 1 cassia bark stick or ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 500g jasmine rice
- 725ml vegetable or chicken stock
- 125ml evaporated milk,plus extra to serve
- micro coriander leaves,to serve (optional)
METHOD
- Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion,season with salt and pepper and cook,stirring,for 4 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic,ginger,turmeric and cassia bark or cinnamon and cook,stirring,for 1 minute or until fragrant and the oil is yellow. Add the rice and stir until well coated in the yellow oil.
- Add the stock and evaporated milk and bring to the boil,then reduce the heat to low and cook,covered,for 12 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed. Remove the pan from the heat and stand,covered,for 5 minutes or until the rice is tender.
- Pile the rice onto a serving platter or shape into individual mounds using a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper,drizzle over the extra evaporated milk and scatter with the micro coriander (if using).
Photo:Smith Street BooksServes6
This is an edited extract fromUnder Coconut Skies by Yasmin Newman,Smith Street Books,RRP $55.00. Food photography:Georgia Gold and Rochelle Eagle. Portrait photography:Camille Robiou du Pont.Buy now