By SOL VANZI
Timpla't Tikim
MANILA, Philippines -- Crispy Pata should be served with Filipino toyo, local vinegar, chopped garlic and onions; expensive Japanese soy sauce and imported vinegars cannot do the trick.”
With that simple statement, GM Christopher Park of the Waterfront Pavilion Hotel showed how much he knows, and enjoys, Filipino food. The conversation also sent my mind wandering into the wide, wonderful world of sawsawan.
In the Philippines, whether a table is set for intimate meals or elaborate buffets, the ubiquitous sawsawan plays a major role in enhancing the flavors of dishes. To the consternation of some sensitive professional chefs, many Pinoys sprinkle or pour these dips over the main course, whether or not the food needs extra seasoning. A Filipino will always ask for sawsawan to go with whatever is served, from the simple grilled fish to the elaborate Kare-Kare.
Survival – Among the poor, sawsawan is an absolute necessity, a matter of survival. When there is nothing else to eat between harvests and during calamities, a dash of patis, bagoong or soy sauce provides enough flavor (and a little protein) to the day’s plain boiled rice or root crops.
It was in Anda, an end-of-the-road town in Bohol, where I learned to eat boiled green bananas with guinamos (raw fermented salted fish) during a food crisis at the height of a cholera epidemic in the early 60s. For variety, we alternated the bananas with boiled cassava, camote, and gabi. But the sawsawan, guinamos, made the bland boiled carbohydrates bearable. Protein from the salted fish and other nutrients from squirts of calamansi kept us healthy.
Stretches main course – Unlike Europeans and Americans, Filipinos eat a larger portion of rice (and carbohydrates) and very little meat or fish. A fistful of steamed rice is taken with tiny bits of meat or fish, the flavor enhanced with dips and sauces.
Thus, a piece of tuyo or daing (dried salted fish) is often enough to accompany a big plate of rice for breakfast, thanks to spiced vinegar, mashed tomato and bagoong, chopped green mango or the juice of boiled green tamarind.
Another example is Kare-Kare (oxtail and tripe in peanut sauce), partnered with ginisang bagoong (sauted fermented baby shrimp) to balance its sweet richness. The bagoong makes it possible for 6-8 persons to share one medium bowl of meat and veggies.
Top your favorites – From Batanes to Tawi-Tawi, the hands-down favorite sawsawan are: patis, soy sauce, vinegar and bagoong. There are regional variations, depending on brand availability, local cuisine and recent foreign influences.
PATIS – Up to the 1950s, households in Cavite and neighboring communities in Las Piñas and Paranaque preferred to use Sumilang Patis over the more popular Rufina. Of course, they would rather buy unbranded, homemade patis from friendly market vendors, whenever bountiful fish harvests made home-salting profitable.
The first wave of OFWs, the Ilocano cane-cutters of Hawaii, were homesick for bagoong. Fellow Ilocanos, the Lorenzana family of Tagudin, came to their rescue by exporting bagoong and patis in 1936. The Lorenzana empire grew and moved its operations to Paranaque, where locals (like my family) had the privilege of tasting export-quality patis and bagoong. Quality, competitive pricing and local demand enabled the Lorenzanas to conquer the local market, where their products are sold under the brand name Lorins and Filtaste.
Rufina Patis, one of the first food brands to advertise on radio, was a pioneer in patis manufacturing, and dominated the market with a wide marketing and distribution network.
Murky violet patis – Our family made small batches of a very different kind of patis, which Lola Tina called Patis Labo (murky patis). It’s the sticky violet liquid squeezed out of shrimp bagoong, sautéed with garlic, onions and tomatoes and enhanced with rare chopped garlic leaves. (The bagoong solids are cooked separately; nothing is wasted.)
Bagoong – There are generally two types of bagoong: fish and shrimp. Fish bagoong has many varieties, depending on the type and size of fish (or shellfish) used.
Small rock oysters are gathered in the wild, salted and sold in flat 375 ml rum bottles as Sisi. A squeeze of calamansi is all it needs before serving. Baby mussels and clams are processed the same way in the Visayas.
Dilis (anchovy) is the main ingredient of the most common fish bagoong, marketed under the almost-generic name Bagoong Balayan, sold in recycled UFC catsup bottles. One can choose bone-in or strained Bagoong Balayan, which is served with calamansi juice and fresh crushed siling labuyo (bird or paddy chili pepper).
No Ilocano meal is complete without Bagoong flavored with hand-crushed ripe tomatoes and sliced Lasona (purple native onions), leaves and all. Chili peppers and calamansi are also added by some.
Soy sauce – Local brands sold nationwide are good not only as sawsawan, but also as ingredient in Pinoy classics Pancit, Bistek, and Adobo. As a dip, soy sauce often needs one or all of the following: calamansi, vinegar, onions, garlic.
Vinegar – Each region swears by its local vinegar. Ilocanos, are very proud of their dark cane-based Sukang Iloko; Bulacan, Pampanga and Cavite produce Sukang Sasa from swamp palms; coconut trees produce both vinegar and tuba from the sap of their flowers.
Depending on the main course, I like vinegar with patis, raw fish bagoong, sautéed shrimp bagoong, onions, chili, garlic, soy sauce, ginger.
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For comments and suggestions, email to: solvanzi2000@yahoo.com.
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