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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pakbol

pakbol - /pak-bol/ (Maranao snack) [n.] fried cassava-coated plantain.

The cassava root is peeled, grated into pulp, and squeezed the juice out. The extracted juice is discarded away. A handful of cassava pulp is pressed between palms and molded flat into a mat. A peeled rareripe saba (plantain) is placed in the middle of the flattened cassava pulp and then rolled altogether until the banana is entirely wrapped in the cassava pulp. Pakbol is deep-fried in cooking oil until cooked or golden brown.

When serving, pakbol is pressed and rolled on a bed of white or brown sugar.

Related posts:

Tindok

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biyaki

biyaki – /bi-ya-kî/ (Maranao snack) [n.] steamed cassava with young corn.

The cassava roots are peeled, grated, pounded, then mixed with grated young corn kernels and sugar.

A ladle scoop of the mixture is rolled in banana leaf (or cornhusk) and then folded on both ends, forming a rectangular thick packet. 

The packets are boiled for about an hour in a pot half-filled with water or until biyaki is cooked.

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daludal

Bundles of daludal in Santiago City Isabela public market.

daludal – /da-lú-dal/ (Ilocano vegetable) [n.] taro runner.

takway in Negrense, Capizeño, & Tagalog

pusaw in Maranao

 

It is the long stalk of a young taro runner that grows away sideward from the mother plant. A newly sprouting stalk of gabi (taro) that is slender with an unopened young leaf.

Dadulal is often taken and used in cooking as a vegetable and is referred to as the Philippine native asparagus. It is harvested and cooked into a variety of vegetable dishes, much like that of Ilocano aba.

In Negros and Panay islands where it is called takway, it is often boiled and then seasoned with suka (vinegar) and asin (salt) or included in making Ilonggo laswa (boiled assorted vegetables).

A vendor cleaning some takways she is selling at Silay City public market during one of my travels in the province of Negros Occidental.

 

A heap of takway being sold on the sidewalk of Silay City public market in one of my travels in Negros Occidental province.

The stalks can also be cooked with coconut milk to become ginataan or made into adobo by simmering the cutlets in vinegar and soy sauce with or without sagpaw or sahog.

The peeled takway. Just wash them clean and they are ready for cooking

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duck egg casserole

These balut eggs are out in their shells and into another shells - the glass bottles.

duck egg casserole - /dak eg ka-se-rol/ Tagalog dish) [n.] shelled balut eggs cooked in casserole.

a.k.a. balut casserole in Tagalog

It is usually a soupy or saucy dish, such as the balut caldereta, balut afritada, balut a la pobre, adobo, brined, etc.

Balut eggs can also be served in several ways. When peeled off its shell, it can be cooked in tomato sauce to become balut caldereta or balut afritada, in a soup like a balut a la pobre, cooked adobo-style, or into a paste or spread for bread, as in balut pate.

Bottled duck egg casserole is a perfect way to bring balut as pasalubong for Pinoys and friends abroad.

Bottled duck eggs casserole cooked in different ways and variant of flavors on display in the grocery section of Market-Market Supermarket in Bonifacio Global City (BGC), Taguig City.

The latest innovation in balut is the bottled duck egg casserole cooked in different ways and variant flavors. There is a balut caldereta, balut afritada, and balut in brine or just boiled and preserved in a brine solution (water and salt).

Bottled egg casserole are often sold in select big supermarkets in the Philippines and are likely available in Asian grocery stores abroad.

If you cannot find one, you can make one yourself at home. It is very easy to make. What is difficult is how and where to find balut eggs if you are far from places where balut are sold.

To know more about balut eggs, click here.

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wild chili ale

wild chili ale – /wayld tsi-li a-le/ Tagalog  beverage; dw Eng. wild + chili + ale)  [n.] chili-flavored craft beer. Chili beer.

 

a.k.a. chili beer in Tagalog

Craft beers are those manufactured in a craft brewery (a.k.a. microbrewery), a brewery that produces a small amount of beer. Craft beer brewery in the country actually uses imported grains (barley, hop, etc.) for brewing.  For chili beers, the wild chilies are sourced locally that may include our very own intensely spicy hot siling labuyo (Philippine bird's eye chili).  Other ingredients, such as sugar, yeast, water, and herbs can also be sourced locally.

The label suggests this beer is served better with those familiar Pilipino delicacies.

A bottle of Bicol Express Wild Chili Ale served for sampling during the McKinley Hill Beer Festival in 2014 at the Venice Piazza in McKinley Hill, Bonifacio Global City (BGC), Taguig City. Other craft beers are the (+63), a single hop IPA beer that represents Philippines using the Philippine international telephone country code +63, and the Poto Pale Ale. All three craft beers are manufactured by the Great Island Craft Brewery in Parañaque City, Metro Manila.

Related posts:

Siling labuyo

Taguto

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chicharon buchi

A serving of chicharon buchi or buchiron with a dipping of sukang Iloko from a participating food stall during the launching of Mercato Centrale's Mezza Norte in Trinoma, Quezon City - May 3, 2013.

chicharon buchi – /tsi-tsa-rón but-tsé/ Tagalog delicacy; dw Span. buche [crop]  [n.] crisp fried chicken crop.

also spelled as tsitsaron butse in Tagalog 

a.k.a. butse, butse chicharon, butseron or buchiron in Tagalog

Buchi is the Tagalog word for the chicken crop or craw of fowls and other birds. It is the small pouch-like gullet of fowls and birds, a part of the esophagus where freshly swallowed food is temporarily stored for later digestion in the gizzard or for regurgitation as when feeding the nestlings.

It is also in the butse that swallowed food is lightly fermented or softened by gland secretions before it passes through the gizzard for grinding. 

Pinoys would collect butse, clean it thoroughly then deep fry it to become chicharon also known in Tagalog by the same name, butse or chicharon buchi.

Because you can harvest only one butse for each chicken, several dozens of chickens have to be slaughtered to get a heap of this another Pinoy favorite pulutan. The mass production of fast-growing chickens provides an ample supply of chicken crops as another by-product of chicken meat. Pinoys transformed this what used to be a waste and dirty offal into a tasty and sought street food in the country.

Chicharon buchi is also called butse, butseron, or buchiron in Tagalog. Butseron is the short name for butse chicharon, (likewise, buchiron is from buchi chicharon) with the chicken crop usually split open or cut lengthwise into halves and fried until browned and crisp.

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snake wine

A snake wine with the Philippine king cobra in a bottle. The snake is called banakon in Cebuano or ulupong in Tagalog. The slender snake is called iliw in Cebuano. Both snakes are known to be extremely venomous.

snake wine - /es-nek wayn/ Cebuano and Tagalog wine [n.] a spirit soaked with a snake.

A freshly killed snake (complete with its scales, skin, flesh, bones, and internal organs) is steeped in spirit or clear (transparent) distilled wine until the juice from the body of the snake partly became the flavor of the wine.

Snake wine is taken as a potent drink and is believed to have some medicinal benefits, add vitality, energy, and as an aphrodisiac or something that boosts one’s sexual appetite.

The authentic "Cobra Energy Drink." Unlike the commercially bottled cobra energy drink, this snake wine will not cause you to worry about having diabetes. The snake wine has no sugar added in it. What you will get is a real cobra in a bottle -  not just a label with a drawing or printed illustration of snake.

The usual kind of snakes used in making snake wine are those that are highly poisonous like the dreaded Philippine king cobra (Naja philippinensis) known as banakon in Cebuano or ulupong in Tagalog. Another known highly venomous snake is the Cebuano iliw.

The usual spirits used as a base for this potent drink are the hinebra (gin), vodka, lambanog (Philippine coconut arrack), anisado (anise wine), and naturally fermented rice wine.

I found this man peddling a bottle of snake wine on the sidewalk of Ormoc City in western part of Leyte, Philippines.  He told me that he used a local gin with a brand name Mallorca as base spirit for this potent drink.

To convince me that it is safe to drink snake wine, this man swigs a shot of snake wine.

Few seconds later, the drink started to warm his body. This man told me it would keep him active for a day. Awesome. Honestly, I was actually stunned when he did that. I thought the potent spirit he drank would later take his spirit away. But no, he stayed alive.

In 2018, while on the strawberry farm of La Trinidad, Benguet (about 10 Kilometers or 6 miles north of Baguio City), I found more variations of local snake wines. They are quite expensive. The smallest bottle (350 ml) of snake wine is sold at PHP1,000.00 each and the biggest ones are between PHP3,000 to PHP4,000.

More bottled snake wines in La Trinidad, Benguet using different kinds of venomous Cordilleran snakes.

See me sampling a shot of snake wine that is made with rattle snake from Kiangan, Benguet. Click or tap the photo, below, to watch the Facebook video.

SNAKE WINE from Kiangan, Benguet is very expensive. This one is of rattle snake in lambanog with ginseng root. I don't know how they got rattle snake here in Benguet. A shot glass is P150.00. Every drip counts. (June 08, 2018)

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Edgie Polistico 

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