Our ‘palangga’ Chef Pauline

‘PALANGGA” means beloved, darling, or dear in the Visayan dialect. And there’s nothing closest to my heart than Ilonggo cuisine, and its primary purveyor in Manila, Chef Pauline Gorriceta-Banusing.

Chef Pauline Gorriceta Banusing explains the elements of Ilonggo cuisine.

I met Chef Pauline during last year’s Ilonggo food festival at the Mandarin Oriental Manila and was just wowed by her cooking. Nothing impresses me more than Pinoy chefs who can cook authentic Filipino (or regional) dishes really well. No more Pinoy fusion, ek-ek arte stuff, please! (And seriously, after all that rich, fat, foie gras-stuffed duck breast or edamame and pomegranate-infused pasta salads, we still come home to our traditional Filipino comfort foods like inihaw na baboy, sinigang na baka, or tortang talong, right?)

Chef Pauline got into cooking when she went home to Iloilo, after graduating from her Social Science degree from the Ateneo de Manila University. Her father had passed away by then and and she helped her mom run the latter’s fastfood and ice cream house chain called “Try Me!!!”

“At the time, we had 12 branches. Because of this experience, it dawned upon me that I really loved to be in the food and restaurant industry. Working hands-on in my mom’s restaurants showed me the reality that running a restaurant is not glamorous at all, but really hard work. I went to study abroad because I had this ambitious vision that I wanted to change the culinary scene.”

She confesses that she was not really into Ilonggo cuisine when she started cooking some 15 years ago. “Honestly, I did not know how to cook Ilonggo food. I just refused to learn. Kasi your maid will cook it, ’di ba? And hindi sosyal, and you always want to be sosyal,” she giggles at the recollection.

In fact, when she was studying at the Culinary Institute of America for her two-year course, she says she cooked sotanghon guisado and adobo, for the school’s international food festival!

When she returned to Iloilo after that CIA stint, she put up an Italian restaurant called Al Dente at the Sarabia Manor Hotel and Convention Center, which is still around to this day. Knowing the Ilonggos (my family hails from nearby Roxas City), this probably made many think her as buang (crazy).

“They thought it would last only for a year or so, since Ilonggos are very picky with food. I had to be focused and humble to reach my goal and luckily, I succeeded,” says the ever-amiable Chef Pauline. (Since then, she has opened other restaurants in Iloilo as well, such as the Maki Japanese Restaurant, Villa Regatta, 101 Luna and Steps of Rome, and conceptualized the menu for Freska here in Manila).

Kansi (tender beef shanks in a broth soured with batuan seeds. It's like sinigang na baka, or bulalo.)

As her culinary talent became more well-known, she was hired to do caterings by private companies, local governments and politicians. “[They] would hire me as their caterer and they wanted to impress their guests with our local cuisine. That started it all. So I said to myself that if I had to do it, I had to do it right and it had to be good. I didn’t want to pretend to know something that I don’t and just come up with something mediocre. So I had to learn by asking, researching and experimenting.”

She adds that she’s been fortunate in this regard because these traditional cooks have been very generous in sharing their recipes with her. “I’m just so lucky. Every time I ask this person who makes this dish well, he/she teaches me. I ask these traditional cooks, ‘How do you do this?’ I have to be honest. I tell them I want to make it well. I don’t want to make it commercialized. They’ll teach you. You just have to ask them how to make it,” says Chef Pauline.

Using only the freshest ingredients and following recipes handed down through generations from several families, Chef Pauline weaves her magic and offers up the most delightful dishes that are sure to perk up your palate, fill your tummy, and warm your heart.

Her kansi, for instance, is just to die for. During a recent media lunch to preview her dishes for an upcoming food festival, I headed straight for the steaming pot of kansi at the buffet table. The beef was so tender, and the broth just had the right hint of sourness—a soup that just fills your soul! Of course, I just had to have two bowls of that.

Lobo-lobo (Local anchovy cooked in tuba, sugar, tomatoes, and garlic, and wraped in banana leaf)

There were oysters from Aklan, diwal (angel wings) clams from Capiz that were fresh and plump, as well as prawns also from Capiz which she served with a heart-stopping aligue (crab fat) sauce. Mmmmm.

Another favorite was the kinilawin na tanigue (Spanish mackerel ceviche), where Chef Pauline used tuba (coconut vinegar) to give the dish some light sweet notes. A new find for me was the lobo-lobo, tiny anchovy-like fish akin to the dulong in Luzon which she cooked in tuba, sugar, tomatoes, and garlic, and served wrapped in a banana leaf. I ate it, atchara-style, pampaalis-suya to my rather gut-busting meal.

She says her only regret is that she hasn’t learned to make the suman and other native delicacies that Iloilo is known for. “They just don’t want to teach me,” she said of the original makers. Well, no matter, your meal at the foodfest will still end on a high note once you get a taste of her Yema Cake. It’s rich and sweet, with some crunchy bits that will gladden your sweet tooth.

What makes Ilonggo cuisine distinctive, she explains, is the use of batuan seeds as souring agent, and the sinamak (spiced coconut vinegar). Most Ilonggo dishes cannot be cooked without either of those two ingredients.

“This Ilonggo food festival is special to me since I had proved that Iloilo food is so loved by many, not just by Ilonggos. Therefore, I am no longer hesitant to introduce other Ilonggo dishes that would seem rather too ‘native’ for others. All throughout the festival, I will be using this tul-tol salt that I got from Guimaras—it’s a slab of homemade rock salt. The salt is made from seawater mixed with small amount of coconut cream, then boiled for day in a vat until it produces a hardened rock salt. I’ve been told to make the dishes for the festival as authentic as possible, so I decided for this year to have everything—even the salt, vinegar and honey—from Western Visayas.”

Lukon na may aligue (Prawns with crab fat sauce)

After doing a number of food fests here in Manila, she says she has an “idea” already of what the public wants and expects from an Ilonggo festival. “But at the same time, I am more confident now in introducing other dishes that may seem very new for non-Ilonggos. For example, I’m bringing the lowly sidewalk lobo-lobo delicacy to a five-star hotel and making it look and taste good. Just expect the unexpected. What makes my Ilonggo cooking different from the rest is that I adhere to healthy cooking and using healthy ingredients. Nothing too fatty, nothing too rich, nothing too deadly. [Laughs] Everything’s just right.”

Chef Pauline says she will also be highlighting the traditional method of drying seafood, or lamayo. “Before, Iloilo used to harvest lots of seafood. What did they do with the excess? Well, they put calamansi and soy sauce, then dried the seafood under the sun for 24 hours. After that, you can fry it; it’s so good!” she enthuses. Namit! (Delicious!)

When in Iloilo, what keeps our bubbly chef occupied are her restaurants, her catering service which specializes in all kinds of cuisine, and of course her family. Chef Pauline is married to Gus Palmares Banusing, a businessman “now busy training for Ironman Philippines 2012!” She lets out a laugh. They have two bright-eyed kids named Justin and Nadine.

•The Ilonggo food festival “Diwal and Other Ilonggo Flavors” will be from May 25 to June 3, available for lunch and dinner, at the Paseo Uno, Mandarin Oriental Manila. For information, call 750-8888 or e-mail momnl-fb@mohg.com.

(My column Something Like Life is published every Friday in the Life section of the BusinessMirror. This piece was originally published on May 18, 2012. All photos copyrighted by this blogger.)

Diwalicious food fest at the Mandarin Oriental

Steamed diwal (angel wings clams)

I HAD been soooo looking forward to this food fest. I had heard so much about Chef Pauline Gorriceta Banusing from my Ilonggo friends and now, she's at the Mandarin Oriental Makati's Paseo Uno, whipping up wonders in its kitchen for the outlet's Diwalicious Visayas food festival w/c started on Monday, Sept. 19.

As I looked over the entire spread of her dishes yesterday, I struggled to contain the panic rising inside me. What do I do? Where do I start? What looks like the best dish to try first? (Sadly, they all did, which made my heart race even faster).

But since it was a Diwalicious festival - highlighting the Diwal (angel wings clams) both steamed and w/ baked w/ cheese, I chose that first. Dipped in vinegar with chopped onions, I quickly downed a few of the succulent steamed diwal along with some huge scallops from Roxas City. Sweet, sweet Jesus. I prayed to myself. Thank you for these wonderful gifts from the sea.

Kansi - beef short ribs in a sour broth.

Then I had a go at Chef Pauline's Kansi - tender beef short ribs in sour broth w/ some veggies – and I was in heaven. Seriously, it was such a divine experience for me just spooning the comforting soup in my mouth, then biting into the oh-so-soft beef w/c just broke down as soon as I chewed on it. I just had to have steamed rice w/ this dish. This was comfort food at its finest. And I swear I could've gone home happy even if I just ate these two dishes alone.

Kansi can be compared to Sinigang na baka except that the souring agent used is the fruit called batuan, which is mostly found in the Visayas, although Chef Pauline says some can also be found in Ilocos and Bohol. Batuan is much more complex than the usual guava or tamarind Tagalogs use for their sinigang. It not only adds sourness to the broth but depth as well. It's difficult to describe it - one must just try it to get what I mean by "depth". Anyhoo, I made Chef Pauline promise to send me her recipe of her kansi so I could replicate it at home.

Pinalmahan na Pink Salmon

But there was more. I tasted the Pinamalhan na Pink Salmon w/c I actually never had before, but as far as my research goes, is prepared using vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and a host of other ingredients. It's been described as 'paksiw made dry.' The pink salmon was lusciously tender, but despite the supposedly 'dry' style pinalmahan should be, it was actually masarsa, which I liked.

Another soothing treat was the La Paz Batchoy, basically a noodle soup w/ pork innards, and some chicken or pork cuts, with a sprinkling of chicharon and chopped green onions. The broth was just as heartwarming as that of the kansi, only clearer. Batchoy could probably be described like Vietnam's ubiquitous Pho, except that even in the Visayas, there are so many styles of how the dish is made although it originated in La Paz, a district in Iloilo.

La Paz batchoy

Using fat juicy crabs from Roxas City, Capiz - where my own father's family hails from – Chef Pauline also cooked up some ginataang alimango - I forget now the actual name of the dish. It was sweet, earthy, and quite succulent. Of course, I just had to put down my silverware and used my hands to get to the innermost bits of crab meat, and sucked every tiny bit of morsel I could manage out of the crab's corners. I was just so into it, I completely forgot I was in a five-star hotel's dining outlet. But I just thought it would've been a waste to pretend to be all proper and dainty eating the crabs (I even had a claw cracked open) when there was so much goodness to savor from the crabs.

I had two other dishes as well - the chicken inasal and fresh lumpiang ubod – but w/ what I already ate above, I was quite happy...ecstatic even, with the entire experience. And I was quite delighted to see even some Japanese guests at the hotel, savoring each of the the Ilonggo dishes served, instead of concentrating on the usual Western or Oriental portions of the daily buffet.

KBL! Kadios (pigeon peas), Baboy (pork pata), and Langka (jackfruit)

I thought it was so apropos that one of the dishes served was the kansi, bec. I think that it is the best dish that represents how we are as Filipinos - our warmth, open heart, and embracing nature. It is something that foreigners like them would love to experience over and over again.

Chef Pauline says people on a diet needn't worry about increased calories from the buffet because "Ilonggo food is healthy." It basically presents a good balance of protein and a whole lot of vegetables. Diabetics, however, should steer clear of the yema cake. Although it is just as wonderful as the main dishes, it is made w/ loads of sugar. (In fact the actual recipe calls for condensed milk but Chef Pauline, rightly so, used evaporated milk. Whew.)

Check out the Visayas food fest ASAP. It ends tomorrow, Sunday, Sept. 25. Lunch buffet is P1818 ++. Also available for dinner. Happy tummy! ;p

Fresh lumpia ubod (egg spring rolls w/ palm hearts)

Yema or caramel cake

Chef Pauline Gorriceta Banusing, chats with us at lunch. More on Chef Pauline in a future entry. Note: All pics herein are copyrighted by this blogger.

A gathering of families

SOMETIME in the 1860s, a gentleman named Eleuterio Acuña, he of regal European bearing with the almond eyes, met then married the fair Ramona Villaruz, a native of the town of Capiz (now known as Roxas City), in the province which bears the same name.

By most accounts, Acuña was not a native of Capiz but was from Luzon who had frequently visited the town in the course of his business. There are also differing versions of what trade he had actually practiced – one being that he was a purchaser of molasses for Manila-based distilleries, the Panay region being a center for sugar plantations, or a hatmaker from Binondo, leading his descendants to believe that he may have been a Chinese mestizo.

Another version also puts him as a civil servant, having been sent by the Spanish government to supervise infrastructure projects in the town.

Or perhaps, he was all three at different times in his life, which perhaps will come as no surprise to his descendants today, many of whom are in similar pursuits - government, business, politics, as well as education, medicine and the arts.

One thing is for certain, Acuña, rose to prominence and with his wife, became one of the most respected couples in Capiz. That marriage spawned 12 children, each with his or her own unique personalities and characteristics, which are also apparent in their own progeny to this day.

There was Rosario (Roxas-Picazo), the eldest, who was dignified, strong in character and dispassionate; these traits served her well when her first husband was gunned down by two drunken guardia civil, and instead of becoming hysterical, she calmly fetched his lifeless body. She was followed by Tito the first among the siblings to be sent abroad to study medicine, and unsurprisingly, became a classmate of our national hero Jose Rizal. The second daughter of the Acuñas was Socorro (Yotoko), dubbed “La Aristocrata” for her imposing discipline, but with a flair for the arts.

Then came Josefa (Hernandez/Viterbo) who was also well-educated like her sisters, but whose main virtue was said to be her frugality. The third son was called Rafael who finished Dramatic Arts in Spain but perhaps owing to parental pressure, resumed his law studies when he returned to the Philippines. The sixth child was Paz, who married a Cebuano Manuel Valiare, but the couple died childless.

Ricarda (Arnaldo) was apparently the most headstrong among the siblings, having rebelled against her father’s wishes by marrying a rising politician Manuel Arnaldo. She was followed by Pilar (Roxas-Moreno) who is remembered most for being always optimistic and pleasant. Alejandro was the bohemian of the family, living a life of wine and other pleasures, favoring a laidback lifestyle unlike his more serious brothers.

Soledad (Sanz) was always cool as a cucumber, that people believed that the world could end the next day, yet she would still remain calm. Jovita (Barrios), lived in exotic Mindanao for a short time with her husband a lawyer then judge, which enabled her to amass interesting stories to regale her children with. Fortunato, grew up under his sisters' care after their mother Doña Ramona died while giving birth to him; although the last of the Acuña children, he was the first to own a car in Capiz, among many other “firsts”. (Source: The Acuñas of Capiz, Prems 1983 souvenir program)

* * * *
THE first time I attended our clan reunion was in April 1983 – a three-day affair, dubbed “Prems ‘83”, held by the beach in Roxas City. (“Prems” is a derivative of “primo”, the Visayan term for cousin.) It was the summer before I was about to begin my university studies, so it was the best time to goof off with impunity with my cousins and newfound relatives. Our parents were in the prime of their lives, gamely performing onstage, and leading the charge in the fun activities for each day, with our grandparents shimmying not too far behind.

Twenty-six years later, a number of those in the second and third generation have passed on, but their exuberance still lives on. This was most evident in our latest clan reunion held last Saturday, with some 500 relatives filling up the convention hall of St. Paul’s College, Pasig. (I am told there are about 300 more living abroad.) It was a massive affair due to the sheer number of people that had to be contacted; and took over a year to plan.

It was a great time to reconnect with our cousins from the other branches of the clan, especially now that many of us are much older, have families and little ones, or like some, are just visiting for the holidays, being residents of far-away lands.

While it was a much-scaled down event unlike our first Prems gathering, everyone still had a grand time. I especially enjoyed the stage performances from the little tykes who bravely shook their little butts to nobody, nobody but us. And of course, no family affair would be complete without our San Miguel beers and Coca-Colas to keep us sublimely lubricated throughout the evening.

Having not seen many of these aunts, uncles and cousins for the longest time, there is not enough time to actually catch up with all. Then again, there were those who simply did not know what to say when meeting up with a relative one had not seen in ages. How to begin the conversation?

The key to attending affairs of this nature is to just put on your widest smile, and pucker up. Kiss and say hello to everybody, whether or not you actually know him or her. It’s the right time to shake off one’s shyness and just strike a conversation with the person next to you in the buffet line.

I used to shirk away from family reunions because I found them boring and just filled with ancients who kept asking when I was going to get married. Now that I’m older, I find that such gatherings give me a sense of identity. As we share a common heritage, these social interactions provide us with positive affirmations of who we are and how we are distinctly special from other families.

In our first clan reunion, there were still no cellphones, computers, much less the Internet, so the relatives we met then were difficult to keep in touch with. With Facebook and smartphones these days, it’ll be much easier to keep abreast of what’s happening in each other’s lives.

So cheers dear cousins! Don’t be a stranger.

(This piece was originally published in the BusinessMirror, in Jan. 2010. My column Something Like Life, is published every Friday, in the Life section of the BusinessMirror.)

Reunion of the Acuña clan of Capiz. (Other photos contributed by Mary Rose Peña.)