kalintubo

kalintubo - /ka-lin-tú-bo/ (Maguindanaon meal) [n.] A Maguindanaon budget meal similar to pastil or paster. It is made with freshly steamed rice (i.e., steaming hot plain rice) and topped with chicken cutlets stir-fried with soy sauce, or saucy chicken liver cooked adobo-style, then wrapped in banana leaf folded into a conic shape making it look like a small volcano - open on top. 

A Maguindanaon elder demonstrating how to prepare kalintubo topped with saucy chicken liver.

Kalintubo topped with chicken cutlets stir-fried with soy sauce.

The opening on top allows the hot rice to cool off without trapping the moisture. Thus, preventing the meal from spoiling fast. It also makes it easy to tell what topping is on the kalintubo. The sight of it makes the meal attractive as well.

The opening can also be made narrow for easy handling when on the go.

You can eat the kalintubo meal either using your fingers, provided you wash your hands first, or with a spoon and fork. The banana leaf would serve enough as a dining plate, though most would prefer to serve and dine kalintubo on a plate.

Kalintubo is often taken with a hard-boiled chicken egg as siding pair to rice

Kalintubo topped with chicken cutlets stir-fried with soy sauce.

Kalintubo topped with saucy chicken liver cooked adobo-style

Related posts:

Pastil


Pasong


Puso (plain rice)

Puso (sweetened rice)

Tapay

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Edgie Polistico  

For more about Filipino food, see  this Philippine Food, Cooking, and Dining Dictionary. It is OPEN and FREE.

natak

natak – /na-t'k, na-tâk/ Maguindanaon pith & flour) (a.k.a. natek or natuk in Maguindanaon) [n.] pounded sago palm pith.

A crudely pounded and processed pith of sago palm tree (Metroxylon sagu). It is used as the source of starch or flour ingredient for use in the making of Maguindanaon sindol, or their version of minatamis na guinataan of assorted chunks of root crops, rice, and ripe plantain.

Natak in the Cotabato City's Super Market (not Supermarket).

Natak in Cotabato City's Super market.

Natak is mixed with water and shaken in a plastic bag. The milky white juice it produced is strained and the water is used as thick broth in cooking sindol.

Natak is sometimes sold in the public market of Cotabato City stuffed in woven sago palm pouches.

The browned and darker natak palm wrapper is made with strips of old sago palm, while the greener or lighter colored natak wrapper is from young sago palm.

Natak is also processed to become flour. To do it, natak is mixed with enough water to cover it, then stirred, strained, and the milky water produced is set to stand undisturbed in the container for about a day or until sago sediment would totally settles at the bottom. The liquid that floats on top is decanted or scooped out and discarded away. The sediments are collected, put in a strainer to drip dry then sundried, crumbled, and sieved to become a very fine sago flour. 

The flour produced is further dried thoroughly by sun drying again under intense sunlight or by heating and stirring it in a pan heated on medium fire, keeping it away from getting scorched or from becoming browned. When very dry, sago flour can be stored for a year or two.

The flour produced is used in making pastries or as a thickener in lugaw or ginataan, or made into sago pearls, or added as an extender to sweetened boiled rice (sweet porridge or congee).

Natak in the Cotabato City's Super Market, a public wet market of the city.

A Maguindanaon vendor selling natak in Cotabato City's Super market.

The collected flour is dried thoroughly by sun drying under the intense heat of the sun or by heating and stirring it in the pan on medium fire, keeping it away from getting scorched or from becoming browned. When very dry, it can be stored for a year or two.


Personal notes:

I just realized after my many interactions with our Muslim brethren in Mindanao and in Metro Manila that some vowels in their spoken language that they normally don't pronounce. Natak is one of them. Maguindanaons would pronounce it as /na/t'k/, with the silent "a" in the second syllable. In particular, the Maranaos are also fond of keeping  "u" and "e" silent in their language.

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Let us know your opinion on the subject. Feel free to comment in the comment section, below. It is important for us to know what you think.

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For more about Filipino food, see  this Philippine Food, Cooking, and Dining Dictionary. It is OPEN and FREE.

Continue to follow my blogs. You can also follow and learn more by joining us in our Facebook group. Have more bits and pieces about our kind of food, ingredients, and ways of cooking, dining, and knowing food culture across the 7,641 islands of the Philippines.  

Encouragement and enthusiasm are not enough. I also need moral support, prayers, and anything else that can uplift my spirit and keep my good reasons. Keep them coming. All I know is that I am happy with what I am sharing and giving away. If you are pleased and happy with what I am doing, just smile and please share the happiness. Keep sharing and include to share the PHILIPPINE FOOD ILLUSTRATED. I feel energized when my blog becomes one of the reasons why you are happy and smiling. 

Edgie Polistico

pastil

pastil – /pas-tíl/ (Maguindanaon packed meal) [n.] rice topped with sautéed shredded meat.

 

Similar dishes: 

• also spelled as pastel in Maguindanaon
• patel or pater in Maranao
• paster in Iranun

It is closely similar to the Tagalog binalot sa dahon except for the way how it is wrapped in banana leaf.

A scoop (about a cup) of steamed or boiled plain rice is placed on the center of a spread of banana leaf and topped with shreds or flakes of sautéed meat or fish called kagikit. 

The cut of banana leaf is wilted first in fire or ember to soften and make it a pliant wrapper. 

The scoop of cooked rice is then molded by folding the banana leaf. Before finally wrapping the rice, it is topped with kagikit (sautéed shredded meat) usually that of shredded meat of braised fish or chicken. Then the leaf is finally rolled around the topped rice. It is sealed by folding both ends similar to that of suman (Tagalog rice stick), only that the pastil is wider and flatter in shape than that of suman.

The special version of pastil has more meat, plus a hard-boiled chicken egg (shelled and cut into halves) as toppings, and the rice is mixed with a little amount of glutinous rice that would bind well the molded meal.

Pastil is considered the budget combo meal of our Muslim brothers in Mindanao.

In Manila, it is sold and readily available in the ubiquitous Halal restaurants and eateries near the Golden Mosque in the Quiapo district and in Maharlika Village in Taguig City.

Pastil is usually served and eaten by pouring some soy sauce right before eating and paired with hard-boiled chicken egg.  It can also be eaten on the go by holding a piece of pastil and peeling it just like when you open a banana and eat it while standing, walking, or on a ride.   

A Maguindanaon food stall vendor skillfully prepares pastil.

A mold of rice is topped with kagikit of sautéed shredded chicken meat from Cotabato City

A mold of rice is topped with kagikit of shredded fish adobo. This one is from Quiapo, Manila.

This mound of pastil is sold at a Halal eatery at the Welcome Rotunda in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat. Boiled eggs complement with the packed meal.

Mounds of pastil is a common sight at the many foodstands along Sinsuat Ave ext. cor Quezon Ave. in Cotabato City.

In Metro Manila, you can have pastil from the ubiquitous food stalls and eateries near the Golden Mosque in Quiapo, Manila. I bought a bag of my first pastil experience from this place.

In Metro Manila, you can also buy pastil in Maharlika Market and in talipapa and eateries nearby the Blue Mosque in the Maharlika Village in Taguig City. 

You can eat pastil with bare hands, but make sure to wash your hands before eating to conform with the Muslim law on hygiene in dining Halal food. Here, I'm eating pastil with a pair of spoon and fork at home.

Related posts:

Kalintubo

puso (sweetened rice)

Puso (plain rice)

Pasong

Tapay

tinagtag

tinagtag –  /ti-nág-tag/ Maguindanaon snack) [n.] rice fritter.

Other local names

ja in Tausug (Suluanon, Joloanon, and Tawi-tawianon)
amik in Davao del Sur & South Cotabato
lukot-lukot in Chavacano (Zamboangueño)
tagaktak in Cebuano

This native snack of Maguindanaons looks like a triangular net of fine and curly strands of browned pancit bihon. This is similar to Cebuano’s tagaktak which is also folded into a triangle. 

This delicacy is made with finely ground rice, sugar, and some water, mix well to become a thick but flowing batter. The batter is placed in a pangulayan (a native coconut shell strainer). The batter would pass through the tiny perforation drilled at the bottom of the coconut shell, coming out like a string of noodles falling directly into the hot pan with cooking oil. The pangulayan is quickly swayed in crisscrossing or circular motion so the falling strands would create a net-like pattern on the pan. The falling strands of batter are quickly fried and cooked until it is golden brown and crisp. Using gagawi (long wooden ladle), the rice fritter is removed from the pan and immediately folded into a half-moon (done by folding once into a semi-circle) or rolled to form a tube.  Tinagtag would stiffen and turn crisp as soon as it cool down. 

Maguindanaon vendors of native delicacies at the Cotabato City's Super Market (not supermarket).

As part of the ceremonial cooking, the Maguindanaons would ask first for the blessings of Allah before cooking this delicacy. They also profess that the presence of a wicked person or someone who has a bad disposition, while tinagtag is being prepared, would cause the tinagtag to have an unpleasant taste or easily get spoiled. 

A good and finely cooked rice fritter has a shelf life of one month or even more. Maguindanaons traditionally would prepare and offer this delicacy during special occasions such as weddings, feasts, and during the observance of Eid al Fitr or the end of Ramadan or Maulidin Nabi. 

They traditionally have to perform the ceremonial preparation and cooking of tinagtag while listening to the rhythmic beat of balabad (wooden drumstick) and dabakan (a native drum made with dried animal skin).

Two shapes of tinagtag sold by Maguindanaon vendor at the Cotabato City Public Supermarket in Cotabato City, Maguindanao province. Above, is the half-moon or semi-circle (folded disc-shaped tinagtag). Below, is a tubular or rolled tinagtag. 

All photos by Edgie Polistico are copyrighted. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

See Index of Entries here

If you liked this post and our site, share it.

Let us know your opinion on the subject. Feel free to comment in the comment section, below. It is important for us to know what you think.

Tell us what other topics you would like us to write, share, and discuss about.

For more about Filipino food, see  this Philippine Food, Cooking, and Dining Dictionary. It is OPEN and FREE.

Continue to follow my blogs. You can also follow and learn more by joining us in our Facebook group. Have more bits and pieces about our kind of food, ingredients, and ways of cooking, dining, and knowing food culture across the 7,641 islands of the Philippines.

Encouragement and enthusiasm are not enough. I also need moral support, prayers, and anything else that can uplift my spirit and keep my good reasons. Keep them coming. All I know is that I am happy with what I am sharing and giving away. If you are pleased and happy with what I am doing, just smile and please share the happiness. Keep sharing and include to share the PHILIPPINE FOOD ILLUSTRATED. I feel energized when my blog becomes one of the reasons why you are happy and smiling.

Edgie Polistico