tarang bulan

tarang bulan - /ta-ráng bu-lan/ Ta'u-sug snack; dw Bahasa Melayo tarang [bright] + Tausug bulan [moon]) [n.] bright moon pancake \stuffed folded golden pancake.

Other local name:

• Muslim hotcake in Chavacano [Zamboangueño]

A traditional pancake made with a runny batter of flour mixed with some water (or fresh milk), baking powder, sugar, and yellow-orange food color.

A Tausug lass selling tarang bulan in Zamboanga City public market.

A pan is pre-heated and brushed with butter (or margarine) on the surface. A scoop of the batter is poured on the pan and set to cook on medium fire until the batter formed into a round patty of pancake with bubbly perforation on its surface and smooth on the underside. The pancake is removed from the pan and the top side is spread with sweetened boiled mongo beans (mung beans) then folded halfway making it look like a half-moon.

When serving, the tarang bulan is sliced into parts.

This snack originated in neighboring Asian countries and can be found also in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Tausug tarang bulan in the corner of Zamboanga City's public market (2013). 

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The name tarang bulan is from the Bahasa Melayo tarang meaning "bright" and Tausug bulan meaning "moon." The shape and its bright yellow-orange color are enough explanations for why this folded stuffed pancake is aptly called the bright moon.

What makes tarang bulang different from the usual pancake we have in other regions is that it has a spread of sweetened boiled mongo beans inside the fold.

Personal notes:

If you need to look for this in Metro Manila, don't go far, you can find them on weekends in Maharlika Village near the Blue Mosque.

If you prepare the pancake of tarang bulan by yourself, you can follow the way western pancake or the Tagalog and Visayan hot cake is done. Just make it way a lot bigger and thicker than those you found in the morning menu of Jollibee and McDo. You sprinkle the batter with a little amount of ground salt to make the patty pancake more savory. Adding a dash of cinnamon powder or droplets of vanilla extract would make the pancake lusciously aromatic. Boiled pandan leaf extract will do it too.

For the sweetened mongo beans, you can prepare them like the way minatamis na monggo is done for the traditional summer halo-halo or of pan de mongo and hopia monggo. It's the same sweetened mongo you can find stuffed in ensaymadang monggo.

If you're fed up with mung beans all your life or afraid of having gout pains later in your joints, you can vary the fillings.  Instead of sweetened mung beans, use haleyang ube, strawberry jam (from Benguet), minatamis na buko or macapuno, peanut butter, cheese, omellete, chocolate spread, or leche flan.

For fresh milk, you can substitute it with milk powder mixed with water.  Try kakang gata, it will do wonder too.

Related posts:

Parirutong

Bibingka royal


Daral

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curacha

curacha – /ku-rát-tsa/ (Zamboanga and Sulu sea crab, seafood; dw Span. cucaracha [cockroach]) [n.] spanner crab (sc.name: Ranina ranina) \red frog crab.

canduyon in Surigaonon (Surigao City, Surigao del norte)
ipis dagat in Batangueño (northern part of Batangas) 

ipis in Zambaleno (Sambal of Zambales)
kusimay in Ilocano 

pawik in Waray (Northern Samar) 

kagang pama or  bawa in Tausug

A deep-sea crab with an orange to red colored shell even when uncooked.

In the Philippines, this crab used to be known as endemic to the seas of Zamboanga del Sur and Sulu sea, but my research and later discoveries disproved this contention. Similar or closely-related species are also found in other parts of Mindanao, Visayas (particularly in the Pacific side), and the northeastern part of Luzon, though scarce and hardly seen or caught. Some species are also found thriving on the coasts of Hawaii and Australia.

So called curacha, from Spanish cucaracha, which means  "cockroach," because this crustacean looks like a huge cockroach. 

The shell (carapace)  of curacha is goblet-shaped, with an average size of about the size of a human palm. Some are twice as big as the average ones. The shell has hairy short bristles on the edges, has a pair of large pincers on the sides that extend toward the front. It also has three sets of legs, two of which are attached to a segmented hard-shelled tail similar to that of a lobster but smaller and shorter.

Watch Youtube video:

curacha - redfrog crab, spanner crab

When cooked, curacaha is more of shells than meat but is highly sought after for its delectable taste.

Unlike most crabs, such as the alimasag and the alimango that walk sideward,  curacha only moves forward and backward.

The biggest ones are priced at PHP689.00 a kilogram in 2015 in the Shopwise supermarket of Festival Mall, Alabang, Muntinlupa City.

Curacha crabs being sold at the Shopwise supermarket in Festival Mall, Alabang at PHP689.00 a kilogram in 2015.

My Personal Notes:

Many years back, I thought this crab was named after a classic dance with fancy moves. I thought the crab would just move like that or it would be you doing the dancing steps after dining it or when you're pinched by this crab. I was wrong.

I tried also to look for it in the public market of Zamboanga City in my few travels to the Zamboanga peninsula but could hardly find it there these last few years.  If I only knew that I could easily find it in the supermarket, a few hundred meters away from my workplace here in Metro Manila, I would not look for this crab that far.    

When in Zamboanga, try the Chavacano dish curacha con salsa de gata (spanner crab in coconut cream sauce). [Photo courtesy of Officina de Turismo Local of Zamboanga City Local Government]  

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

martillos

martillos - /mar-til-yos/ (Zamboangueño [Chavacano] wafer) [n.] hammer-molded wafer.

A delicate disc wafer embossed with design and curled into a tube. 

The wafer is made with flattened flour dough that is then pressed on a wooden mold and hammered with a mallet to mold the dough with an embossed decorative design. Thus, it is called martillos from the Spanish martillo, which means “hammer.” The wooden mold is carved with a decorative design that makes the mold look like that of the Capampangan pan de San Nicolas biscuit embossed with a design on its surface. The molded dough is trimmed into circular or disc shape and rolled on a metallic tube and deep-fried until it is browned and became a tubular crisp wafer. The wafer looks closely similar to that of rolled Norwegian krumkake and to Italian pizzelle if unrolled or flat, only that martillos is more like a sweet wafer, and delicately crisp.

Some of the martillos I bought from a stall nearby the Fort Pilar in Zamboanga City

Martillos tastes much like a sugary ice cone wafer and can be eaten as is or used to scoop ice cream or as a wafer for a taco or burrito. 

Most vendors selling martillos across Fort Pilar could hardly tell how this curled wafer was originally produced. Nowadays, they don't know it is called martillos. They simply called it apa (wafer) and mistook it as another version of barquillos (wafer roll). 

The modern process of making martillos no longer requires the tapping of the mallet (wooden hammer), rather the flour dough is pressed repeatedly with a rolling pin forming into a thin sheet, then pressed on a wooden mold with the rolling pin for the embossed design, and cut into discs and then wrapped around on a wooden or metallic tube and deep fried in electric fryer until crisp and golden brown. This explains why martillos are in uniform design, shape, size, and the way it is curled.

 

It is so delicate that it would brittle easily and be difficult to bring as pasalubong (bring home gift) without breaking a few pieces of it along the way.

A pile of martillos on display along with the colored candles for sale to locals, tourists, visitors, and devotees of Fort Pilar in Zamboanga City.

Some of the martillos I bought from a stall nearby the Fort Pilar in Zamboanga City

The embossed design is attributed to the al fresco shrine of Fort Pilar with an altar embossed with sculptures on the massive wall of this unique open space church of Zamboanga City 

The roofless shrine of Fort Pilar in Zamboanga City where the Holy Mass is regularly celebrated everyday.

 

My first visit to the altar of the Shrine of Fort Pilar in Zamboanga City. Behind me is the main altar with embossed sculptures on its massive stone wall.

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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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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