‘Umay kayo’ to Café at the Park for a taste of Abra

Want to taste more local cuisine? How about trying Abra food for a change? The best place to do so is at The Café in the Park of Century Park Hotel. The hotel, together with the Abra provincial government, is hosting the "Arya Abra Food Festival."

It is not difficult to imagine that the cuisine of Abra is as varied as it is exciting. Clues are a-plenty. Weaving, a traditional art form of the province, provides information on the abundance of ingredients available for everyday cooking. Tigguian blankets are replete with animal, plant and riverine motifs. Scanning statistical information will also yield data on the plethora of Abra’s agricultural, livestock and poultry produce. Among these are rice, white and yellow corn, green and yellow vegetables, beans, camote, cassava, yams, pork, beef, carabeef, chicken meat and chevon.

Pinakbet, a popular dish in the northern Philippines, is a staple of Abra cuisine. It differs, however, from its Ilocano counterpart in the manner of cooking.

The Ilocano way is usually to build up alternating layers of meat and vegetables, add the flavorings and let the entire dish slowly simmer to perfection.

In the Abra version, flavoring agents, like tomato, lasona and ginger, are first sautéed. Bagoong is then added and the mixture is allowed to simmer for five minutes. Vegetables are added at approximately five-minute intervals, with those that cook easily tossed in last. The ubiquitousbagnet, the northern version of chicaron, is, of course, part and parcel of the Abra pinakbet.

One of the jewels in the crown of Abra cuisine is dinaldalem. People usually compare this to the lowland bopis. It is not quite similar, though. While both use pig’s lungs, dinaldalem takes it even further by adding liver, heart and other pork innards. In fact, there’s more liver than lungs in the dish. Dinaldalem is seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic, vinegar and soy.

As in other Philippine provinces, Abra has its own share of exotic delicacies. This it owes to the Tingguians, the indigenous tribe identified with the province.

Tingguian fare that the adventurous will find interesting are wild boar, venison, eel, ants’ eggs, frogs, wild fern salads and yam leaves.

Two favorites are pinipian and yam leaves in coconut milk.

Pinipian, a distant cousin of the Spanish paella, uses frog meat instead of seafood and sausages.

Yam leaves in coconut milk is a tangy viand that gets its flavor from tang-al, small river fish that is sun-dried and used to flavor it.

There is no lack of sweets to cap a delicious meal of Abra fare. Among the provinces’ famous pastries are kasaraon, masa podrida, sudul, goloria, patupat and bibingka.

Here are some repices of Abra’s popular dishes that homemakers can try at home.

Dinaldalem

1/4 kilo pork
1/4 kilo liver
1/2 kilo laman loob ng baboy (baga, puso, pali)

Dice liver, meat, heart and pali then put into a bowl and marinate with the rest of the ingredients.

Cook the fat and fry the lungs until it turns red in color. Add garlic and put in the marinated pork. Simmer until sauce is reduced.

Pinipian

1/4 kilo frog meat
1/4 kilo rice (cooked in frying pan till brown)
10 pcs. kamias
5 pcs. lasona
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup achuete
1/2 tsp. MSG
1/2 tsp. black pepper
2 Tbsp. cooking oil
Salt to taste

Sauté together garlic and lasona. Add frog meat and water, and cook for 15 minutes. Add achuete, salt, black pepper, kamias and MSG. Boil for 15 minutes, then add rice. Stir until rice is cooked.

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The Arya Abra Food Festival, featuring lunch and dinner buffets, is ongoing until March 10 at The Cafe in the Park, Century Park Hotel, P. Ocampo St., Malate, Manila. A showcase of Abra music, fashion and dance, featuring Bodyshots models, will be presented by the Fashion Designers Association of the Philippines on Feb. 28 and March 7, 7 p.m. at the Atrium lounge.