Chef Jessie showcases the best of Bulacan kitchen

FOODIES CONVENE Ernie Fajardo and Lourdes Fajardo (right) of Maya Kitchen launch online series Philippine Food Tour with the author (left) and Chef Jessie Sincioco; from left, sinampalukang manok , inihaw na bangus, kilawing puso ng saging
—photos by Margaux Salcedo

On Friday, I had the joy of hosting the premiere episode of the online series Philippine Food Tour by the Maya Kitchen with Chef Jessie Sincioco. The first stop of the Philippine Food Tour was Bulacan so Maya selected Chef Jessie, who is from Angat, and yours truly from Sta. Maria (incidentally, we are from the same district!). What a delight to go down memory lane and recall the dishes we grew up with and to taste Chef Jessie’s version of her family’s comfort food!

I’ve written repeatedly about Sta. Maria, so this time I will share what I learned from Chef Jessie about Angat.

Angat is north of Sta. Maria and just by the Sierra Madre mountains. Chef Jessie noted that because their town is right beside the Angat River, the soil is very fertile. She grew up with many trees in their backyard and their menu would simply depend on what was ready for the picking. This is a practice she has carried on to this day, with the keen ability to identify trees even around an urban neighborhood, and quick to note what to pick for the day’s menu.

The chef’s magic

For the Philippine Food Tour of Bulacan, her menu started with a warm salad of banana blossoms or, in Filipino, kilawing puso ng saging. (You can find all the recipes on the Facebook page of The Maya Kitchen.) She peeled off the layers of the banana blossom until she got to the ‘young’ inner portion, which was then simply cut into strips, soaked in brine for a few minutes, drained and then cooked with sauteed garlic and onion, fish sauce and vegetable broth. It is interesting to note that while kinilaw predominantly refers to a raw seafood dish, in Angat, the kilawin is prepared using banana blossoms and may be a purely vegan dish!

Another staple of the Bulacan kitchen is the inihaw na bangus or grilled fish. I confess that when I first heard that she would prepare this, I thought it was way too simple to even demo. But like any work of art, the simplicity is more apparent than real! There are many details that go into this seemingly simple dish. First, of course, is that you must have good quality bangus. Second, you open up the bangus to stuff the inside with everything that makes it even more delicious than it already is on its own: tomatoes, onions, ginger. Chef Jessie also added sampaloc leaves. Then you wrap it in banana leaves and foil and cook it over charcoal. The result is a juicy fish with layers of flavor and exceptional jus.

Back in our kitchen in Sta. Maria, I remember Nana Meng, my grand aunt, being very particular about cooking over wood, as opposed to using gas. She noted the difference in flavor. For this demo, Chef Jessie used an indoor smokeless charcoal grill, so even if you live in a condo, you can execute this dish!

The star of the show was the sinampalukang manok or tamarind soup with chicken. This is similar to sinigang, a sour soup with either pork, chicken or fish, but for this particular version, the souring agent is tamarind—its fruit and leaves. This dish is comfort food both of Angat and Sta. Maria and I distinctly remember this on our family table, sometimes with frog legs instead of chicken.

Hometown faves

Finally, Chef Jessie served leche flan, a quintessential Filipino dessert not only in Bulacan but the whole country. Chef Jessie noted that in a Bulacan home, we use dayap to break the sweetness of the leche flan. Dayap rind is used as a final touch to the dish. Then, as a personal touch, Chef Jessie added vanilla and for presentation, added a gorgeous rose-shaped mango cutout.

Leche flan is something that we Filipinos inherited from the Spanish, who were here for over 300 years. It is said to be one of the dishes that became popular as egg whites were used for construction of Spanish churches, hence the need to create something so that the egg yolks would not go to waste. As such, desserts such as leche flan and tocino del cielo became very popular.

While cooking, Chef Jessie and I reminisced over our respective childhood favorites from our hometowns. She mentioned binayabas, which is again another kind of sinigang but the souring agent is guava; also a favorite of mine growing up. Her memories also include pinapatisan, which is simply meat cooked in fish sauce (patis).

Meanwhile, I needed to honor our neighbor, Marilao, for the delightful kakanin or sweet rice cakes that they offer, including many varieties of suman, bibingka malagkit, sapin-sapin and more. Chef Jessie, however, noted that Angat also makes a delightful sapin-sapin that is not multicolored but simply white but with incredibly delicious layers, a masterpiece of her own mother, Carmen.

Over in San Miguel, another town of Bulacan, you will taste the most delicious pastillas de leche. And in my hometown of Sta. Maria, we are very proud of our chicharon with full backfat and I am very proud of the tsokolate or hot chocolate of my grand aunt, also named Carmen or Nana Meng. This tsokolate is distinctly made with pure cacao and ground peanuts.

Now that we can go out—and let’s hope this lasts—perhaps you can now do a food tour, not just virtually but ‘in real life’ of Bulacan! Incidentally, the Vatican has generously extended the grant for plenary indulgence when you visit a church with a Holy Door up to December of this year and there are many historical churches in Bulacan. We’re a province of food and faith so you can be certain your pilgrimage itinerary will also include delicious food stops! Viva Bulacan! INQ

All recipes for Chef Jessie’s Angat dishes are on Facebook.com/Mayakitchen.