Gabi (taro) and bangus (milkfish) cakes
September 29, 2004
Filed under Purely experimental
In one of my cookbooks, there is an Irish recipe called family fish cakes made with mashed boiled potatoes and flaked boiled fish. When we go to Chinese restaurants, I often order one of my favorite fried dimsum treats called taro puffs–ground pork and vegetables wrapped in grated boiled taro then deep fried until golden. I said I’d re-define Filipino cuisine, and here is one attempt. A fish and vegetable dish cooked with native Filipino ingredients using a non-traditional technique (meaning this is neither a soup, de-sarsa or deep fried). This is a dish made with boiled and mashed gabi (taro) mixed with flaked boiled bangus (milkfish), chopped bell peppers, onions, wansuy (cilantro) and beaten eggs, then pan-fried in very little oil just until set and golden. I’m just so sick of people talking about the limitations of Filipino cooking. It’s about time we get more creative and innovative. It’s not as if it’s my first time to experiments with ingredients and techniques. Some of my experiments failed (the ones I don’t bother to blog about), others were moderately successful and some others were real hits not just with my family but with dinner guests as well. This dish is now included in the list of hits.
Cooking this dish was even sweeter because I had to do everything myself. While the househelp ordinarily assists with the chopping of the onions (I really don’t like doing that because it hurts my eyes) and the cleaning-as-you-go stuff, she was busy running after one of our dogs who got loose from the leash and decided to terrorize our pet chickens. It took some time before the dog was securely leashed.
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