It’s a small world after all

One hot afternoon, I couldn’t stay indoors due to the oppressive heat since we don’t have air condi-tioning in our house except in our bedrooms. I put down my paint-brush and invited my Darleng to step outside with me for a quick shower from the garden hose. As we got ourselves wet, I intentionally watered my bonsais, too, to save on water. We talked about the alarming global weather changes. She suggested that we should live on some other planet instead.

"Can you name all the planets?" she asked me.

"Yes," I said. But I could not enumerate all of them. She bragged that she could even name them in sequence from the sun. I dared her to name them.

"Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto," she recited without pausing.

"How did you do that?" I asked.

"Easy," she said. "I just remember: My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nine Pandesals."

Two days later, I had an invite to a press lunch for the ASEAN Food Festival at the Mandarin Oriental, Manila in Makati City. Knowing how much my Darleng is partial to Asian food and how much she enjoys the all-glass ambience of Paseo Uno, I told her, "If you can name all the ASEAN countries, I will take you with me." I knew she didn’t have a chance because she did poorly in geography in high school.

"Of course I can," she declared in her usual confident manner. "Myanmar, Laos, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, and Cambodia." She didn’t even miss a beat. I was quite impressed — my Darleng still amazes me at times.

"And how many pandesals this time?" I asked sarcastically, still incredulous at how she did it.

"Ten," she said. "Mommy Lovingly Brought My Visitors Ten Pandesals Soaked In Coffee." I had to hand it to her ingenuity and agreed to bring her along.

If all our previous lunches featured the cuisine of one particular country, this time it was of 10 neighboring countries. Indeed, the world is getting smaller.

The first dish on the menu was nhoam krauch th’long (pomelo salad) from Cambodia. Filipinos are familiar with the Thai-style pomelo salad.

The first time I tried it in Bangkok, I instantly took a liking to it because Thai pomelos are very juicy and sweet, just like those that come from Davao, particularly the Nenita brand of the Floirendos. I made my own version of the salad, but added grated toasted coconut and glazed pili nuts for a contrasting crisp texture, with some dried chili flakes for that added kick. It turned out to be good, too, but quite different from the Thai version I was trying to replicate.

The Cambodian pomelo salad is somewhat similar to the Thai version, but lacked its conviction. It had slivers of singkamas with a very mild dressing made from the natural sweet juices of the pomelo and singkamas, made a bit savory with fried shallots.

"This will make the Thais sleepy," said one lady at our long table. The first dish is always light and almost neutral in taste to help you better appreciate the dishes to come. Unable to resist the fresh red chilies that decorated the table, I pinched one and mashed it into my salad for that nice sipa (kick) I was looking for.

The second dish followed: khao soi kai, a Thai curry noodle soup with chicken. This one got the nodding approval of all 21 diners at the table. It was very flavorful, with a nice balance of subtle curry and chili tastes. It was indeed a good follow-up to the light but rather bland pomelo salad.

The next appetizer was hor mok talay, a Thai steamed seafood soufflé (a custard would be a more apt description) with coconut cream, steamed in banana leaves for that extra nice smell. It was smooth and firm. Obviously, the chef got the mixture and the temperature right, two very crucial aspects in making custards. This one had no strong taste or flavor whatsoever, but had hints of shrimp or crabmeat in it and the creamy gata. I looked around and saw the other guests taking big spoonfuls of it, finding it obviously to their liking. Without having read the menu, I could guess then that the next dish would be a spicy one.

Indeed, what came out was a wonderful beef rendang from Indonesia.

"Rendang is one of my favorites," said Rita Dy, the elegant lady of Singapore Airlines, excitedly as she ate the beef slices with basmati rice, cooked al dente with cashews and sultanas.

The beef was very tasty and tender, and the thick coconut milk and spices coated and clung to each beef cube like paste due to the long simmering during its preparation. This one certainly got everyone’s approval.

The next dish was our very own bringhe, a glutinous rice dish cooked with coconut cream and chicken. Bringhe is a dish common in Central Luzon, especially in Pampanga and Bulacan. My Darleng’s memory of bringhe is that it is always served in the houses of farmers during wakes and big celebrations, like weddings and fiestas. It was a filler dish that could literally feed an army, and quite appropriately. It is invariably cooked in those large cast-iron vats or kawa.

Bringhe must be deceptively difficult to cook. Farmers’ wives then must have mastered it to perfection. A paella may seem much easier to do as one sees paella in a lot of restaurants in Manila, but not bringhe.

Representing Indonesia was ayam mbok berek, a very flavorful fried chicken, which tasted quite similar to Chinese-style fried chicken but was coated with a thick batter. Another dish from Thailand, hoi lai phad namprik paow, fried clams in roasted chili paste, got Mary Ann all excited and swooning over it. It was her favorite of all the dishes served that day.

We were already helping ourselves to the next dish, nasi manyak, a specialty from Brunei, while she was on still on her third helping of the clams. The amused waiter decided to leave the serving plate before her. When she realized she could have it all to herself, she got spoonfuls of the chili paste sauce and poured it over her serving of basmati rice.

"Now, this is really, really good," she said as she dripped patis with fresh chilies and munched fresh coriander on the side. "This dish alone is worth my trip to Manila," she whispered to me. I was on my steamed glutinous rice cake dessert, banh it nung dua from Thailand.

This meal was just a teaser for the riches this food festival has to offer. Some of the 80 traditional home-cooked family recipes culled from the newly launched book Foodlore and Flavors: Inside the Southeast Asian Kitchen will be prepared by Asian chef specialist Jeff Catral and his young Filipino apprentices from the American Hospitality Academy, Philippines at the dinner buffet of Paseo Uno at the Mandarin Oriental, Manila until April 29. As an added attraction, Singapore’s famous food stylist and chef Chris Tan has been flown in by Singapore Airlines just for the event.

The beautiful coffee-table book was published by ArtPostAsia and was written by internationally known food writers and culinary experts from each of the respective ASEAN member countries. Our good friend Michaela Fenix wrote the Philippine section, and the delicious photographs in the book were by Neal Oshima, shot and kitchen-tested at the Miele Active Kitchen in Singapore.

"I take it back," Mary Ann said, deadpan, on our way home to Pampanga, as she loosened her belt. "I don’t want to live on another planet anymore. They might not have Asian food there. Never mind if it gets 40 degrees here."

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Foodlore and Flavors: Inside the Southeast Asian Kitchen will be available at major bookstores next month. For details, call ArtPostAsia at 811-5876.

The Asean Food Festival at Paseo Uno of the Mandarin Oriental, Manila is available for dinner buffet until April 29. For reservations and inquiries, call 750-8888.