There is something about the sound of rain that immediately pulls you toward the kitchen. It makes you crave the comfort of home, with the soft music playing from another room, and the familiar aromas of childhood.
Trying to frame a perfect view for a windy, rainy morning here on this side of the planet. It's a perfect day to cook a family-favorite ulam, which is none other than the delectable laing. And because I hail from the province of Oriental Mindoro, I also call it pinangat, or pangat for short. The main ingredient of this well-loved Filipino dish is the lowly dahon ng gabi that propagates in your swampy backyard or in your neighborhood's unkempt vacant lot. If you are friends with your neighbor who grows a gabi patch, you can score it for free. The same situation applies to your malunggay and dahon ng saging cooking needs.
Gabi, or taro in English, is primarily a starchy root vegetable that has huge green leaves and tuberous stalks. It is loaded with essential nutrients, dietary fibers, and vitamins B, C, and E, as well as iron, calcium, and phosphorus. It is low in sodium, low in saturated fat, and low in cholesterol. The list goes on and on. It also has a long list of medicinal uses, but that is for another day.
It is the perfect ulam to warm the cold and rainy season, as the kakang gata and the little dynamites of green siling haba, red-hot chilies, and diced ginger are added to complete the laing DNA. Crunchy liempo and dilis are also added to the ensemble of laing ingredients, which makes it filling and comforting at the same time—especially when you eat it with steaming rice. I call it a marriage made in heaven.
The big schools just culminated their celebration of Nutrition Month last week. And for the month of August, it is Buwan ng Wika. Tiny schools like ours—which we fondly call The De Chavez Family Homeschool (established in 2005 with two enrollees, namely one 5th grader and one senior high schooler in the 11th grade)—try making it big by cooking a large batch of laing that is enough to feed an entire village! 😉 We will store the batch in quart-sized Ziplocs and stick them in the freezer to preserve the flavors of freshly cooked laing. Then, we will just thaw and heat a portion in the microwave anytime our cravings kick in. Mas masarap 'pag nabahaw ang laing.
But let me warn you that this leafy green Pinoy dish is not for the impatient and fast-food-oriented brood of foodies. Timing plays a crucial role in achieving the perfect texture and luster of the laing. It is a labor of love, as Tita Bebs describes it. You have to keep stirring it every so often for at least an hour, eyeballing it to avoid any hint of burning while the kakang gata cooks it through. Although it is such a simple recipe, patience has been put to good use here in order to achieve a certain laing luster. According to Tita Bebs, that was what she was looking for: kailangan may kaunting kislap. I cannot argue with her as to why her version of the laing is on the pastier consistency side. She is a true-blue Romblomanon but has lived in Occidental Mindoro for most of her life—two provinces in Southern Luzon that are both rich in agricultural resources like coconuts and, of course, chilies. So, she has my full trust on this laing recipe, among many other things.
The biko with latik for dessert is perfect with coffee or tea. Back in the day, when it was time to eat and we had to call everyone to the family table, we hollered, "Hayin na!!!" or on some days, "Dulog na kayo dine!!!"...
Is this Filipino enough? 😉
(Video Note: The small blue pot to the left is boiling kapeng barako, our natural kitchen deodorizer—and you would know what I'm talking about if you like frying crunchy dilis on rainy days. The aroma of kapeng barako neutralizes the fishy odor that would otherwise stick to your kitchen walls. And of course, fume hoods are too noisy, and they are just there for show.)