Kinilaw na Talaba

Yes, another oyster (talaba) dish!

This time in the style of "kinilaw".  What is kinilaw?  Hmmm... I've asked that question many times myself.  And I've always been told, it's a way of "cooking" using acid, specifically sukang tuba or coconut sap vinegar.  It's mostly used for fish or seafood.  Basically the fish or seafood is left marinating in a mix of sukang tuba, calamansi, chilis, ginger, garlic, salt and pepper.

And it's pretty easy to make, the secret being fresh, really fresh, oysters!  (And in my case, the fresh ones that are already shelled are the best!)

Here's the recipe

300 to 350 grams shelled oysters

3/4 cup sukang tuba (coconut sap vinegar),
          substitute native vinegar if unavailable
5 pieces medium to large calamansi
1 thumb-sized ginger, julienned
5 pieces sibuyas tagalog (native onions), sliced
8 cloves garlic, smashed
2 pieces siling haba/pangsigang (finger chili)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Mix together the vinegar, calamansi, ginger, native onions, garlic, chili, salt and pepper.  Let stand 5 to 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, rinse and drain the shelled oysters.  Add to the vinegar mix and chill for at least 1 hour.  Consume within 6 hours.

Homemade Sinamak

How could I not have thought of it before?

Actually, I did not think of it at all.  The idea came from A-te J.  After trying out the various kinds of suka, and figuring out which I like best, and then deciding to buy Sukang Tuba and Sinamak on my next supermarket day, A-te J told me to make my own.  And when she told me, I actually smacked my forehead!

After all, how hard would it be to make your own spiced vinegar???

A cursory look at the label made me realize that it was totally doable!  After all, if I could make my own vanilla extract, surely I could make sinamak.  A-te J, who hails from the southern regions where sinamak is popular, told me that it was as easy as placing ginger, onions, garlic, peppercorns, green and red siling labuyo (or similar) in a bottle and pouring in my suka of choice (tuba, of course!) and waiting a couple of weeks!  In her home province, they mix their own all the time (they ferment their own suka, too!).  And here's the best part, A-te J says that when their bottle runs low on the suka, they just top it up with more suka and it's good to go!

As for the recipe?  According to A-te J, just dump in matchstick slices of ginger, garlic, and onions into a glass bottle.  Add black peppercorns (I added white peppercorns also) and birds eye chilies (or the local labuyo) with the stalks removed and pour in the suka (vinegar) of your choice (mine is obviously tuba).

So here is my bottle of homemade sinamak -

Now I just have to wait a couple of weeks!

Datu Puti Special Suka Series

I saw these in the supermarket!  They came in a set, sort of a trial pack.

And I couldn't help it, I bought the set.  I wanted to try the various kinds, and this was perfect!  If I didn't like a particular variant, there'd be just a small amount to use up and if I liked a specific kind, I'd go and buy the regular bottle!

Suka, with the stress on the second syllable, is the local term for vinegar (the same term with stress on the first syllable means vomit!).  I'm not really an expert or even halfway knowledgeable about the different kinds because I grew up knowing 3 kinds of vinegar - the American white distilled (Heinz) vinegar, the Del Monte reddish brown cane vinegar and the sukang paombong, vinegar from coconut water, which we got from the nearby wet market.  I only learned about other kinds of suka when I traveled to various provinces - the sinamak I discovered when I went to my mom's home province a good 25 years ago...  the sukang tuba (from the sap of the coconut, same raw material as for lambanog!) when we were given a gift from a local farm... the sukang iloko when we went to Vigan with friends several years ago...  To know more about vinegars, here's a site that I found.

The one that I prefer mostly is still the sukang paombong, although sometimes it's pretty hard to find, so I settle for the sukang maasim of Datu Puti.  My most common use for it is as a dipping sauce (with garlic, onions, etc.) - for inihaw, fried fish, longganisa or tocino or daing (!), or as a cooking ingredient, mainly for paksiw and adobo!  Recently, though I discovered that I like it as an ingredient for bagoong vinaigrette!

Anyway, hubby asked me which one of the set was my favorite.  Obviously, I love the sukang tuba! (almost half the bottle gone!)  followed by the sinamak... And gues what?  I've discovered that if I mix the sukang tuba and sinamak in the ratio of 2:1, it's the best one for me!!!