“Mindanao gets a bad rap for having a long history of political turmoil and tensions,” food and beverage consultant Cathie Carpio says. She is currently researching Mindanaon cuisine and one of her conclusions so far is that as a result, food from the south rarely get included in the narrative on Philippine cuisine and culture.
One of the things mainstream Filipino cooking is missing, says Cathie, is a condiment specific to the Maranao people of Lanao del Sur: palapa. It is made with native scallions called sakurab and often used for dishes like the coconut-based piaparan and the Indonesian-inspired beef rendang.
According to Cathie’s research, there are many iterations of palapa but the one with sakurab is the most common among Maranaos. “As sakurab is central to Maranao cuisine, it is pertinent to keep referring to this condiment when making Maranao dishes,” she says.
“If our goal is to make Filipino cuisine more holistically diverse in terms of representation, there should be greater caution when it comes to adaptation, so keeping sakurab in the narrative would do Maranao cuisine more justice.”
Outside of Mindanaon cooking, the condiment made with scallions, galangal, chilies and oil can be used in a variety of ways to brighten up or add spice to anything.
In an episode of Comfort Kitchen, Cathie shares one of the ways she utilizes palapa: in a pandesal toast with scrambled eggs and kesong puti.
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“It’s buttery, but still very eggy as there’s no cream in these scrambled eggs. It’s savory and a bit tart because of kesong puti, and earthy and sneakily spicy because of palapa. It’s my kind of breakfast.”
Pandesal toast with scrambled eggs, palapa and kesong puti
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Ingredients
4 eggs
30g butter
2 tsp palapa
2 pcs pandesal, cut in half
2 tbsp crumbled kesong puti
Salt
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Procedure
- Add butter to pieces of pandesal and toast it on a pan over a medium heat. Once your toast is done, set them aside
- For the scrambled eggs, cook whisked eggs slowly over medium-low heat and add butter
- Once you’re nearing your desired doneness of the eggs, add salt and palapa. Take the pan off the heat as the residual heat will continue to cook the eggs
- Pour scrambled eggs directly to pieces of pandesal toast and add crumbled kesong puti. Serve and enjoy!
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Nolisoli Comfort Kitchen comes out Monday and Thursday nights on our IGTV
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