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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sweet tuba

sweet tuba - /swet tu-bâ/ (Pangasinese sap/drink) [n.] fresh toddy of raffia palm.

tuba or tuba ng buri in Tagalog and Batangueño
a.k.a. tuba silag in Pangasinense

It is the sweet freshly gathered toddy of buri palm (raffia). When freshly gathered in the morning, it can be taken as a naturally sweet refreshing drink. 

A serving of sweet tuba in a glass filled with cracked ice in Balungao, Pangasinan

Passing motorists, locals, and tourists would often come and stay for while in a cluster of roadside stalls, such as this one, along the highway in Balungao, Pangasinan to savor or try the taste of refreshing sweet tuba.  It is refreshingly tasty like coco water with distinct aftertaste closely similar to that of a ripe rambutan fruit

Sweet tuba needs to be chilled in ice or stored in freezer to extend shelf life for few more hours, or to last for at least late in the afternoon. Otherwise, it would start to sour by high noon, and by early evening the toddy would become a slighltly sour vinegar. However,   despite employing the chilling technique, the toddy still would start to sour by evening. Freezimg would only delay souring a little more.

 

While still fresh and sweet, the Pangasinenses would boil the sweet tuba till thick and sticky, as in the way they used it as their sticky sweetener in making the Pangasinense patupat (glutinous rice in square-woven strips of coconut palm).

In Batangas, it is made into Batangueño pakaskas (raffia sap jiggery, which is now replaced with juice extracted from sugarcane), or processed into bagkat (raffia sap taffy). Sweet tuba will not last long in a day. By afternoon, or past noon, the toddy would start to sour that by evening it becomes a lightly soured vinegar. 

In a few more days, it will be a full-pledged vinegar known in Ilocano as sukang buli (raffia palm vinegar) or tuka silag in Pangasinense.

A serving of sweet tuba in a glass filled with cracked ice.

Sweet tuba sold in glass bottle (using recycled soda bottles) in Balungao, Pangasinan.

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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

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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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

daral

daral – /da-rál/ Ta’u-sug snack) [n.] Tausug crêpe; rice crêpe rolled with coconut sweetmeat filling.

Other local names:

• sulabai or dadal in Maguindanaon
• dadal in Iranun 
• balolon or dadal in Maranao

Daral is a traditional Tausug rice crêpe. It is made with rice flour and filled with hinti and rolled into cylindrical form like a small log. Hinti is a coconut sweetmeat similar to Tagalog bukayo but soft, moist, and loose. 

Preparation starts with the grinding of hulled rice grains (not glutinous) into rice flour. The flour is then mixed gradually with enough amount of water to produce a rice batter. Traditionally, the batter is unsweetened, though sugar or any other sweetener may be added if desired.   

A ladle scoop of the batter is poured into a pre-heated pan brushed with oil, and let spread flat and round until it solidifies into a crêpe. The crêpe is done when it holds its shape when the underside is budged and pried. It would look like a fresh lumpia wrapper (spring roll crêpe).

When the bottom side is cooked, the crepe is topped with a spoonful of hinti (grated coconut sweetmeat similar to Tagalog bukayo). The opposite edges of daral are then folded and the crepe is rolled into a small log and would look like a rolled hot face towel with those tiny surface holes on the outer side.

Daral is traditionally served as a snack.

Originally, the crepe is made purely with ground rice, but later on, it is mixed or replaced with flour making the crepe look like closer to a pancake.

A daral in a food stall of Pagadian City public market, made with pure ground rice (rice flour).

Daral on display on a roadside food stall in Maharlika Village in Taguig City, made with ground rice mixed with all-purpose flour. 

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Related posts:

Parirutong

Bibingka royal

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

Continue to follow my blogs. You can also follow and learn more by joining us in our Facebook group account of Philippine Food Illustrated (Private) and Philippine Food Illustrated (Public). It is my pleasure rediscovering the known and least known things or the unheard ones and put them here for every one to find, learn, and treasure. 

Thank you for all the encouragement and enthusiasm. I need also moral support, prayers, and what else that can uplift my spirit and keep my good reasons. 

If you are pleased or happy with this blog, please share the PHILIPPINE FOOD ILLUSTRATED. It is energizing that my blog is shared with others. 

Edgie Polistico  

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. I will search for more and continue to share my finds. It is my pleasure rediscovering the known and least known things or the unheard ones and putting them here for every one to find, learn, and treasure. 

Encouragement and enthusiasm is not enough. I also need moral support, prayers, and what else that can uplift my spirit and keep my good reasons. Keep them coming. All I know is that I am happy of what I am sharing and giving away. If you are pleased and happy of 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