While stuck at home, try your hand in cooking some of the iconic dishes of the Paradise of the North.
Aside from it jaw-dropping picturesque scenes, among the main attractions of Batanes is its unique and flavorful Ivatan cuisine. That’s among the reasons thousands of tourists, local and foreign, has Batanes on their travel bucket list.
But due to the pandemic, many have had to cancel or postpone their tour to “the Paradise of the North” because of the travel restrictions imposed as precautionary measures against further virus transmission.
But do you know you can cook Ivatan dishes in your own kitchen?
If you’re afflicted with wanderlust, aching for a taste of Batanes, especially the Ivatan cuisine, don’t worry! You can cook some of the dishes yourself using the available ingredients in your local stores.
Let me teach you how to cook the tasty bula-bula soup and the iconic supas or the turmeric rice of the Ivatans, so you can enjoy in your homes while imagining a virtual tour of Batanes.
BULA-BULA SOUP
This incredible dish was traditionally made of finely chopped ubod ng saging or banana corm symbolizing the resourcefulness of the Ivatans as they adapt to their stormy environment. Instead of just ignoring the destroyed banana trees, the Ivatans dig for its corm and cook a special dish from it for their plates. But bula bula soup was not only served in stormy weather, but also during festive occasions as part of their culinary tradition. In this story, I will teach you how to make the dish, but using the more common and available puso ng saging (heart of the banana) instead of banana corm due to its unavailability in our local market outside Batanes. This recipe is inspired by Jerome Tabuso, an Ivatan who is currently residing in Metro Manila, thus recreating his beloved soup dish out of the ingredients more easily found in the markets in Manila.
For this dish, you will need two medium-sized puso ng saging, half a kilo of ground pork, half a kilo of ground milkfish meat (bangus), finely minced garlic (the measurement is depending on your preference but more garlic is best for this dish), a medium-sized onion (finely minced), garlic chives (finely minced), two small carrots (minced), one medium sized ginger (julienne), three to four pieces of tomatoes (sliced), two to three tablespoon of salt (depending on your taste preference), half a tablespoon of ground black pepper, two eggs, half a liter of water, and cooking oil.
Before cooking, prepare the puso ng saging by slicing it thinly before juicing it up with salt. When the juice from it comes out, squeeze it portion per portion ensuring that the juices are extracted to the last drop. After that, mince the prepared puso ng saging before mixing it with the ground pork, ground fish meat, minced garlic and onion, garlic chives, minced carrots, salt, black pepper, and the eggs. Mix well and then make small balls out of the mixture. Set aside.
In cooking, start sautéing ginger, garlic, onion, and tomatoes in a hot pot with cooking oil. When the tomatoes soften, add half a liter of water and bring it to boil.
As the soup base is boiling, add salt and pepper to taste then put the prepared balls one by one to ensure it will not lose its shape and bring it again to boil, letting it cook for at least 30 minutes. Voila! There you have it! Your own version of the bula-bula soup of the Ivatans.
SUPAS
But wait! A mouthwatering dish like that is incomplete without rice. But this time, instead of cooking plain white rice, we will have the iconic supas of Batanes with the flavor of turmeric and pork.
For this, you will need rice, 1/4 kilo of pork meat (diced), chopped garlic and onion, turmeric powder, salt, and water.
To prepare supas, first put the meat in the pot and let it cook with its own fat. When it turns brown after several minutes, add a little cooking oil and start sautéing the garlic and onion for at least two minutes before adding turmeric powder. The measurement of the powder will depend on the measurement of the rice to be cooked.
Using 2:1 ratio of water to rice, add water and bring it to boil. After that, put the washed grains of rice then season it with salt and let it boil again.
When it starts to boil, stir it to make sure that the turmeric color is equally distributed. Let it simmer until it cooks. There you have it! The fantastic supas for your great Ivatan meal!
These incredible dishes will surely make you crave for more Ivatan food and will make you want to explore Batanes right after the pandemic.
Kuman tana as makabsuy kamu (Let’s eat and enjoy the meal)!