INASASUT : THE SCIENCE BEHIND IT

Inasasut is a Kalinga term for salted dried meat. It can be eaten raw or cooked.  Other Cordillerans call it Innasin or etag.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND:

Salting is used because most bacteria, fungi and other potentially pathogenic organisms cannot survive in a highly salty environment, due to the hypertonic nature of salt. Any living cell in such an environment will become dehydrated through osmosis and die or become temporarily inactivated.

 

WHAT YOU NEED:

- Pork  

- Plenty of Salt

- Storage container- preferably wooden

 

HOW IT IS DONE: 

1.     Rub the meat with generous amount of salt.

2.    Look for a suitable place where the meat can be hanged so it will undergo the curing process.

 

My Mom would usually smoke it for about two weeks as what Ykalingas would traditionally do. They hang it over their “dalpong” earthen stove. In the early times, instead of pork, they used the meat of “ugsa” or wild deer and “baboy ramo” or wild pig.

 

If you choose to smoke it, make sure it is free from dust and insects for the meat can be eaten raw or cooked with beans such as munggo (Mung Beans).

 

Dinakdakang Puso ng Saging

Kalinga is a place with temperate climate ideal for fruit- bearing trees. With its vast rainforest, fruit trees are everywhere. One of which are BANANAS!!!!

In my childhood days, we are fed with different varieties of bananas. Small bananas, big bananas, mashed bananas, banana chips, banana bread, sweetened banana.. Even raw bananas, fried in cooking oil. But what I enjoy most are Mom's deliciously cooked Puso ng Saging.

Puso ng saging when literally translated is "Banana's heart."  
In some English source books however, it is known as banana bud/ banana blossom.

And I say Mother is so creative to have thought of turning Puso ng Saging into a dinakdakan. This is however, not new to Filipinos.

Ingredients:
Onion; thinly sliced
ginger
Salt and black pepper
mayonnaise
coconut milk
raisins
calamansi or lemon juice or vinegar
3 pcs banana blossom
 

Procedure:

1. Chop banana blossom into small pieces.
2. Boil.
3. Squeeze out the water.
4. Add calamansi juice, sliced onions, and ginger.
5. Mix in mayonnaise (quantity depends on how much is needed).
6. Season with salt and black pepper.
7. Pour in the coconut milk.
8. Sprinkle with raisins.
9. Chill. Serve.

Kalinga's Inandila

Photo courtesy of Dina Raguro

 

 

 

 

Inandila with taktakong leaves for wrapping and a  honey-like smell


Inandila [ee-nuhn-dee-luh]- noun
A type of suman (rice-cake) made from pounded sticky rice galapong; it is  a delicacy native to the Kalinga people and is usually served in special occasions like in a wedding or during a bodong or a peace pact session

Inandila is short for "SINANDILA" which means just like a tongue.

 

 

 

INGREDIENTS:

1. pounded malagkit

2. taktakkong leaves or banana leaves

3. coconut cream and brown sugar.



STEPS:
1. Mix some water with pounded malagkit. Use enough water to make it one big malagkit dough.
2. Portion into fist sized balls, then shape it into a tongue.
3. Wrap it with taktakong leaves or banana leaves. Heat the leaves over a fire to make them pliable and smear the inside of the leaves with a drop of oil.
2. Put the wrapped inandila sumans in a cauldron.
3. Pour some water in it, enough to steam-cook the suman. Cooking time usually takes approximately 30 minutes,depending on the amount of inandila you are cooking.
4. Remove from fire when cooked.

Dipping Sauce (ladek/ latik)

1. Cook the coconut cream and sugar together.
2. Remove from heat when coconut cream is already oily. Make sure it  has not entirely transformed into coconut oil.

How to serve:
1. Unwrap the inandila. Place it on a serving plate.
2. Pour in the latik.
3. Enjoy eating!!!!


Mom's Dinengdeng

 

Dinengdeng or inabraw is a Filipino vegetable dish that originated from the Ilocos region in the Philippines. It is composed of different vegetables that are usually grown in one’s backyard.

 

Aside from being healthy, this dish is also easy to prepare.

 

 

Here's what I have learned from watching my mother cook.

 

Ingredients:

 

1 onion; sliced
1 cup squash; cut in cubes
1 big ampalaya; cut in 2” rectangular lengths

1 cup jute leaves (saluyot)
1 root ginger; crushed

Bagoong isda

3 cups water
2 large tomatoes; sliced
         

Instructions:

1. Boil water in a casserole.

2. Add onion, ginger, and tomatoes. 

3. Let it stand for 3 minutes.  

4. Season  with bagoong and continue boiling for 5 minutes. 

5. Remove the scum that rises on top of the liquid and then place the milkfish.  

6. Simmer for 5 minutes, then add vegetables.

7. Cook until vegetables are done. 

8. Season according to taste.

9. Serve hot!

 

 

 

 

kamyas sauted with bagoong

Kamias – Scientific name: Averrhoa bilimbi

English: Cucumber Tree
Tagalog: Kamias

Small tree growing 5 to 12 meters high. Leaves are pinnate, 20-60 cm long, with hairy rachis and leaflets. Leaflets are opposite, 10 to 17 pairs, oblong, 5 to 10 cm in length. Flowers, about 1.5 cm long, and slightly fragrant. Fruit, green and edible, about 4 cm long, subcylindric with 5 obscure, broad, rounded, longitudinal lobes.

 

 

Again, Mom does her wonders and turns kamias into a delicious recipe.

 

So Simple!

What you need:

1. garlic

2. onions

3. bagoong

4. 1 kilo kamias

 

What to do:

1. Wash the kamias thoroughly.

2. Chop and mash with a little salt.

3. Squeeze out the juice.

4. Saute garlic and onions.

5. Put kamias.

6. Cook then add bagoong.

7. Add a little spice with siling labuyo.

8. Serve.

 

And even without any other side dishes, hmmmm you can enjoy Kamias Con Bagoong with lots of steamed rice.

 

 

 

 

 

Go Crazy With Binungur

Ykalingas love SPICY-LI-CIOUS foods. Their meal is not complete without a red hot chili pepper.

In fact, in every Kalinga home, the leleddesan (a coconut shell which is used for grinding sili)  is always on the table with the sijut ready as condiment for the family.  

And so this exotic BINUNGUR, a dish which is actually a mixture of anything from langka or pakak, laing or gabi, susu, labong and sili finds its way to every Ykalinga's tummy.

From what I have gathered, the ingredients may actually vary. The common denominator however is the "susu" and sili.

 

 

Here's  Mom's Version

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups sliced langka (raw jackfruit)

2. 2 cups sliced labong (bamboo shoots)

3. 1 cup chopped puso ng saging

4. 2 cups susu (freshwater shell)

5. 1/2 to 1 cup of siling labuyo (wild chili)

6. 1 cup tengang daga (a variety of mushroom)

7. salt for seasoning

8. garlic

9. onions

10. ginger

11. 1/4 beef innards (Mother uses this to make her binungur tastier)

     following beef innards; cut in 1" cube

• tripe
• liver
• kidney
• heart
• pancreas
• intestines

 

Procedure:

1. Prepare all ingredients.

2. Wash and mash the raw innards with salt and banana leaves to get rid of the odor. When cleaned, boil in a large kettle with ginger until tender.
3. Saute ginger, garlic, and onion. When onion appears translucent, drop the beef innards.
4. Put sliced langka, labong, puso ng saging, tengang daga and susu.
5. Spice with salt and pepper and continue sautéing until enough broth comes out from the innards.
6. Pour enough water to cover the mixture.
7. Let it boil.
8. Mix the 1/2 cup siling labuyo.
9. Stew the mixture until cooked, then serve.

Each Kalinga tribe, of course, would have its own version. But Mom's binungur is still the best!

Pinikpikan

A Cordilleran feast is never complete without a tasty "pinikpikan."

This legendary dish  derives its flavor from the coagulated blood, the burned feathers and skin, plus the Etag, which is a  cured and smoked meat, aged and kept underground in earthen jars.

Its name came from the process of light beating called "pikpik." The beating is important because it keeps the blood inside the chicken. And if done properly, the chicken will not have broken bones when sliced and it will not be bloody.

A man doing the "pikpik"
(Source: https://www.google.com.ph/search?q=cordillera+food&biw)

Ingredients:

1. A live Chicken 
2. Sayote- cubed
3. A head of Chinese cabbage/pechay 
4. 1/2 to 1 kilo of innasin/etag

 

What else do you need?

1. wood for fire

2. a clean, flat surface, preferably smooth

3. a piece of stick for beating.

Instructions:

1. Start a fire.
2. Put one wing of the chicken on the flat surface. Using the stick, beat the wing from the inside, not to soft, but not to hard that it will break the bones and the skin of the chicken. Beat it from the tip of the wing to the side, then back. Do it again. Now do the same to the other wing. After beating the wings, lay the neck of the chicken sideways on the flat surface. Beat the neck from end to end.
3. To kill the chicken, hold the chicken by the feet and wings in one hand. Hit the back of the head with the stick, just below the comb. Not too hard, or the chicken will bleed, and not too soft either, or the chicken will get mad, and may peck at you. One well placed blow will do it without breaking the skin.
4. Afterwards, burn all of the feathers off the chicken on the fire you made. You can use your gas range, but it will be very messy afterwards. Better burn the feathers off using an outside fire.
5. After the feathers are removed, remove excess charred feathers from the chicken. Chances are, the chicken has also started to look like roast chicken.
6. Now, butcher the chicken, slice it, and put the slices into a cooking container.
7. Cut the innasin/etag into pieces as large as the chicken pieces. Put them into the cooking container. Do not put the sayote if there is very little innasin/etag.
8. On the other hand, if you think it will be very salty, add sayote to minimize the salty taste.
9. Clean the vegetables and separate the leaves. It is better to cook this over heavy heat.
10. When the meat is done, Put the vegetables into the container, remove from the fire/heat, and cover. Leave for two minutes. Stir, and serve.

 

The Ritual Way:

            In earlier times, the tribes would use a native chicken, smaller in variety with tastier, darker meat.With a simple stick lightly beat the live chicken under both wings and in the neck until these areas turn dark blue with the bloood rising to just under the skin. Deliver the coup de grace by hitting the head hard with the stick. The eyeballs are checked for signs of life.

 

           The pinions are then removed and the whole chicken is thrown into an open fire until all the feathers are burned off, making sure that the boots are properly singed so that they can be separated from the skin by hand. The chicken is the then washed and cleaned to remove soot and dirt, then the claws, beak and crown are removed. The intestines are inverted and cleaned, while the gizzard is sliced open and cleaned. The intestines are then tied around the gizzard. All these will eventually be included in the soup.

           Then the ritual cutting up of the chicken begins. Remove the chicken head and set aside for cooking. Slice the skin to dislocate the thighs, then slice under the neck to remove the innards (stomach, intestines and gizzard). Guide the knife to slice under the shoulder blade to separate the rib cage from the chest. Remove the chest, leaving the rib cage intact with the internal organs (heart, liver, lungs).

           The tribal priest is then called to read the bile and liver. Calubis when the liver is covering the bile, and Cherweyis when the bile is completely visible, which is a sign of good luck. This then determines the tribe's course of action (i.e. hunting, planting, etc.). If the prognosis is Calub, the whole process is repeated, and other chickens cooked this way, until Cherweyis achieved.

 

           Then limbs are separated from body, and all edible chicken parts, including the head and innards, are thrown into a pot of water flavored with Etag or Itag and boiled. The singed feathers are also used to give the soup a smoked flavor.

           The headman is served what is considered the best part, which is the whole center portion (ribs and innards). The rest of the chicken is served as a viand.