Rare Dishes for the Ilocano Balikbayan (SVWorld Series)

PUL-OY (Breeze)

San Vicente Ilocos Sur RP to the World Series

Rare Dishes for the Ilocano Balikbayan 

 "A prodigal son I atone for my past;

join me, for the world's a stage of fun."  

Dr Abe V Rotor

 Living with Nature School on Blog

Caliente, ox hide. Hide is cleaned, and softened under low fire for hours, sliced thinly, spiced heavily with onion and pepper, and salt.

Favorite goat recipes: kilawin (left) or medium rare; and pinapa-itan (soup made of entrails and chyme, which gives the bitter taste. Chyme is extracted from the partially digested grass, and heated to pasteurization temperature, around 70 degrees Celsius. Gall is often used as substitute.)

Ngarusangis shellfish is washed and cooked until shell opens. Skillful winnowing completely separates the shell. This shellfish is gathered in  unpolluted shallow 

 estuaries.

Let me go back to my origin

with old folks of my time;

only then can I claim myself a GI,

and all the world's mine.

I live in the past with pinapa-itan,

jumping salad and ipusan

caliente, pulutan and basi wine

my version of Bacchanalian.

With the vernacular Bannawag,

live the great Angalo and Lam-ang,

heroes always are to the Ilocano,

with pinakbet and pinulpugan.

Ay, kakabsat, take a break just now,

I am your kail-lian, a balikbayan;

a prodigal son I atone for my past;

join me, for the world's a stage of fun. ~

• GI - Genuine Ilocano
• Jumping salad - live shrimps served on the table with salt and calamansi
• Ipusan - long tail guppies caught on the river
• Caliente - oxhide (carabao hide) softened with prolong coiling, garnished with red pepper, Ilocos vinegar, chopped onions and ginger, and a dash of refined salt (asin ti Ilocos).
• Pulutan - appetizer that goes well with basi (Ilocano wine)
• Bannawag (Dawn) - weekly magazine in Ilocano language read locally and internationally.
• pinakbet - a potpourri of native vegetables notably eggplant, ampalaya, with sweet potato (camote) to thicken the soup. Cooked with bagoong (fish paste) and topped with bagnet (lechon kawali - roasted pork in kettle)
• pinulpugan (imbaliktad) - medium rare fresh meat or large fish, such as dalag (snakehead)
• Bacchanalian - lavish feast in honor of Greek God Bacchus
• Angalo, Lam-ang - Ilocano epic heroes
• Kabsat - brother; in a brotherhood perspective (kakabsat)
• Balikbayan - an overseas resident or transient visiting his homeland
• Kail-lian - town mate

 Have you tried Jumping Salad? 

                             

This is a favorite dish of Ilocanos known as “jumping salad.”

What is it really? In Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (school-on-the-air) program, five callers phoned in to give their answers. Except one who said he learned about this rare dish from a friend, the callers apparently Ilocanos, said they have actually tasted jumping salad.

Newly caught juvenile shrimps, promptly dressed with tomato or calamansi and a dash of salt. Pick them up individually by the head, put it into the mouth in reverse, severe the rostrum (unicorn) and antennae with the teeth to avoid injury. It is the kicking in the mouth that gives this unique dish its name jumping salad.
This dish is prepared from newly caught small to medium shrimps from the estuaries and rivers, and while they are still very much alive are served right there and then with calamansi and salt, momentarily agitating the ill-fated creatures.

Pronto! The shrimps, on removing the cover, frantically jump out of the plate, save the dazed ones. You should be skillful in catching them from the table (and even on the floor) deftly picking them by the head, taking caution so as not to get hurt by their sharp rostrum. You can imagine the danger you face as the creature makes its last attempt to escape. You must get a firm hold before putting the struggling creature into your mouth, tail first and quickly bite off the head, severing the sharp dagger in your hold. The creature wriggles in the cave of your mouth and you can actually feel its convulsion fading as it undergoes the initial process of digestion.

Being an Ilocano myself, eating jumping salad is an adventure and rarely do you experience having one nowadays, unless you are living near the sea, river or lake, or a good friend brings live shrimps to town in banana stalk container to keep them alive.

Try jumping salad. It’s one for the Book of Guinness.~

Acknowledgement: shrimp photo
Lesson, former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday