— witsandnuts

I am used to hearing and eating pinaupong manok, abnoy and other kooky dishes. But bobotong bangus, paksing demonyo/acharang demonyo, nilasing na mangga, and tibuk tibok? Have you tasted any of these? I chanced watching a feature on the tales of these food over a Filipino channel few weeks ago. Then a replay was aired that I thought of sharing and asking you if you have heard any of these stories.

Story telling begins.

A group of women cannot decide on how they were going to cook the milkfish. That was when women had no voting rights yet. Hence, they did cast their votes on which ingredients they will mix for the milkfish. That coined the so-called dish bobotong bangus. It looks like a sinigang na bangus to me.

Another tale originated from a province in Luzon that says that the (lady) cook left the kitchen while the fish is being cooked/boiled with the vegetables. It was so delicious that its aroma attracted a demon that made him ate the fish. When the lady returned, she made such conclusion. She tried correcting the blend of vegetables by adding more bitter gourd. It is now known as paksing demonyo/acharang gulay/acharang demonyo.

In another province during the early colonization, the intruders were said to have came while a group of Filipinos were drinking tuba/lambanog or its equivalent with hilaw na mangga and sugar on the side, not necessarily pulutan. The group had to hide themselves and the food to leave no trail that they put inside the nearby jar all the drinks, hilaw na mangga and sugar. When they checked the jar after some time, they were surprised that the mangoes tasted great. Currently, beer is being used to come up with a nilasing na mangga.

Tibuk tibok looks like a maja blanca to me. But the word itself was coined to describe the appearance of the dessert as it is boils. I think that, generally bubbles during boiling signifies the same, a beating heart. The dessert is called tibuk tibok though because the guy who cooked this was inspired by his intense courtship of a Filipina.

End of mga kwento ni Lola Basyang.

These kooky names are interesting and will always be part of Filipino culture. After all, Philippines is rich in tales. I even have my own. Jo’s Chilled Mango Cake. The story? Just because I made it and I revamped a recipe of crema de fruta and transformed it into not so ordinary refrigerator cake by involving a little boiling. That’s easy peasy. Heehee.

Do you have other yummy tales to share?