Bartolo's kinilaw

My love affair with the "kinilaw" began when I tasted it during a trip to Calico-an, an island in Guiuian, Eastern Samar. Since then I have been on the look out for even tastier conconctions of this raw fish salad cooked by the fermenting action of local vinegar. I needn't have looked very far, as the hubby whipped up a very tasty one four weekends ago. Under pain of sleeping outside the kulambo (hehehe), he cooked one again for me for this piece, this time slowly demonstrating to me the process of soaking the fish in suoy in just the right amount of time, not to little as it would come out raw and not too long such that it becomes overcooked. They key here is watching out for the color of the fish such that when it turns from slightly pink to almost white, it is already "done" and you must now add the coconut milk. I say almost 'cause if it is already white, then the suoy has been "overstaying" already. The hubby loves to eat it with his bare hands but I prefer it the "American" way, with spoon and fork. Any which way it still is a hearty meal filling enough after a second serving.

They say the kinilaw is not something that the region can call its own as the dish is present all over the country, but I beg to disagree. A major ingredient is coconut milk for which Eastern Visays is abundant and I have heard of the tale of how kinilaw came to be, it goes like this:

One day a fisherman left his day's catch just below a coconut tree while he went back to his boat to retrieve something. In the meantime, sap from a coconut slowly dripped into the fish left by the fisherman. It took quite sometime for him to go back for his catch but when he he did, lo and behold, the fish had turned white. Thus, was born the country's first kinilaw.

You won't find it in any history book. Why? Because its urban legend......one made up by this wacky blogger (gotcha!, you actually believed that, didn't you?)

Seriously, some of the finest version of kinilaw can be found here, in the islands of Samar and Leyte It is a favorite pulutan and goes well with the native tuba, island red wine which is actually aged juice of the coconut colored red from the bark of the same tree. Indeed the coconut is the "tree of life".

Anyway, let me share with you a recipe of "kinilaw" that I got by way of verbal torture from the hubby (hehe) . I call it Bartolo's version of the ubiquitous philippine sashimi.

Bartolo's "kinilaw"

Ingredients:

1/2 kilo of the freshest fish available (kirawan or tangigue is most preferred)
1 cup local vinegar
1 and 1/2 cup of coconut milk
calamansi extract
two heads of onions, finely diced
2 or three tomatoes, finely diced

1 bell pepper, thinly sliced into strips
ginger, finely diced


1.Take out all the innards of the fish (gills, etc.)

2.Cut the fish into bite sized pieces, place in a bowl and add the vinegar.
3.Mix the onions, tomatoes, ginger and garlic into the fish. Leave for ten minutes, have the vinegar ferment all the ingredients, especially the fish.
4.Add the coconut milk.
5.Toss all the ingredients into the bowl until its finely mixed. Leave for five minutes.
6. The "kinilaw" is now ready to eat.