IN MANILA
THAT Philippine cuisine is not better known internationally has long been the subject of a hand-wringing debate among food writers here.
This country has after all one of the world's oldest fusion cuisines. Its culinary influences reflect (though not all on one plate) a colonial past — three centuries under Spain, 50 years under America — ethnic Malay roots and pre-colonial trade ties to China.
Those tangled connections certainly make Philippine cuisine harder to pigeon-hole than — say — Thai or Japanese food.
If I had to pick the most pleasing characteristic of Filipino food, it would be the tangyness of some dishes that use vinegar and other tart ingredients as the flavour base.
But low tourist inflows compared to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand have certainly prevented Filipino culinary classics from becoming better known abroad.
Until a few years ago, visitors to Manila had a hard time finding top-end restaurants serving Philippine cuisine. The recipe books were also nothing to shout about; most in the shops look as if they were written in the 1970s judging by the photographs.
Now the good news: a glossy and very reasonably priced recipe book has been flying off the shelves here, going into its fouth re-print in just six months, and creating a much-needed buzz about the local gastronomy.
Kulinarya: A Guidebook to Philippine Cuisine, written by six prominent Filipino chefs, is part of a project of the Asia Society and others that aim to get Philippine cuisine better known internationally and improve its appreciation at home. It also has a website: www.kulinarya.net
Reading Kulinarya's recipes — a mix of traditional and regional favourites — a few days ago got me thinking about what should be the country's national dish.
This is generally considered to be adobo: meat or poultry marinaded in vinegar. But since it was introduced centuries ago by the Spanish, perhaps a dish without the colonial baggage would be more appropriate.
Some say sinigang — a light, tamarind-based fish or meat/poultry clear soup mixed with vegetables — should be the culinary flag carrier. But there's a similar dish in Malaysia called singgang.
My vote goes to kinilaw, a cold-served, vinegar-cured fish-dish that's perfect for the tropical climate. It's foremost among my memorable meals, first tasted in an open-air seafood restaurant overlooking Manila Bay on a visit to the Philippines in 1996.
Here's a recipe for this really easy-to-make dish:
Ingredients (serves four as a starter):
- 500 grams washed mackerel filets cut into 2-cm cubes.
- 250 ml vinegar (preferably white palm vinegar, if unavailable use clear vinegar)
- 2 medium-sized red onions, well but not finely chopped
- 1 large red bell pepper, cut into thin slices
- 2 tablespoons of crushed fresh ginger
- 3-4 pcs small red chillies, chopped
- half a cucumber, peeled and diced
Gently mix the ingredients in a glass or ceramic bowl and refrigerate for 2-3 hours (important: make sure the fish is bleached white - ie. "cooked" by the acid in the vinegar). Add ground black pepper on serving.