Imagine a peaceful morning with your aunt or grandma. You wait patiently and watch as she lovingly prepares a delightful dish. A dish that has been passed down throughout the generations. A dish that is only prepared once a year during the Lenten season. But let's break the tradition as these days things are already out of the ordinary. If you love healthy food, you are in for a treat. Join me as my aunt prepares a traditional dish called "Bacalao".
Please watch the video for the full experience.
Philippine food is a fusion of different cultures but Spain has influenced us the most. Centuries of occupation have evolved our culture, architecture and most especially food.
The authentic Bacalao dish requires dried Codfish. I recall my grandfather demanded that Cod fish be used. My grandfather is very particular with the ingredients. One of the stories I was told, one time my grandma used the wrong oil for the dish. He was very angry and said that only olive oil was to be used.
In this recipe we will be using canned tuna as dried Codfish will be very difficult to find these days. A mortal sin if my grandfather was still around.
To add color to the dish annatto seeds will be used.
Onions are ground and a lot of onions are used for this dish.
Potatoes are diced and soaked in water before frying.
Chickpeas are also used as an ingredient. I didn't like chickpeas when I was young but eventually, I grew fond of the taste.
The chickpeas are fried lightly for a few minutes in low heat. My aunt said that this would prevent the dish from spoiling.
Next the potatoes are half cooked and set aside.
Fresh cabbage are chopped and set aside.
Adding a few cloves of garlic brings aroma to the dish.
Red bell peppers are very important. As my aunt said the more peppers, the better.
This is the process of extracting the coloring from the Annatto seeds.
The garlic is fried, followed by the ground onions and then the Annatto extract is added that brings out that orange color on the dish. Just our secret we only used palm oil which is another mortal sin. I could only imagine how upset my grandpa would be knowing we used palm oil.
The fish and vegetables are then added. This is then cooked for more than 30 minutes until you could see the oil come up.
Best eaten with bread and a glass of wine. This is truly a dish that I consider as a portion of Philippine comfort food. A dish that will take you back thru time with every bite.
I hope you enjoyed the video and please do ask me anything. I would love to hear what you think.