We make it Mexican style. We put salsa, guacamole and, to make it spicy, we put jalapeño. It also has cumin. So, if you taste it, it is more on Filipino and Mexican.

F1 Hotel Manila executive chef Angelo ‘Chubby’ Timban and Frederick Ollet with their dishes.

One can always find something exotic and unique in Philippine dishes. The country’s numerous ethnic groups make use of the abundance of flora, and these ingredients have to find their way to mainstream consciousness. There are many old recipes, using forgotten ingredients, that have to be unearthed. Emerging cooks and chefs are always finding ways of incorporating new things into their dishes. It has to take these chefs and cooks to bring out old ingredients for discovery or rediscovery. This is what the chefs of F1 Hotel Manila did during the recent Philippine Culinary Cup.

At the 10th Philippine Culinary Cup held at the SMX Convention Center, Pasay City, from 7 to 10 August, the business hotel team, led by executive chef Angelo “Chubby” Timban, clinched several medals. Their success was crowned by a gold medal in the Filipino cuisine category. The dishes of the team, composed of Timban, Frederick Ollet and Rolando Pascual, were cited for their unique tastes.

The team’s entries represented the three island clusters of the Philippines — Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The hotel’s restaurant, F All-Day Dining, had been holding the LuzViMinda promotions, showcasing the dishes of the island groups, and thus they have somehow perfected their acquaintance of the diverse cuisines. The entries were traditional dishes but given modern twists and incorporated with rarely known ingredients. Thus, there were complexities in them.

Sangag na kan-on sa Bubok itum, fried rice with dried shrimps and burnt coconut meat.

The simplest, perhaps of the dishes, is the imbaliktad, a well-known, stir-fried beef dish originates from the Ilocos region. Here, tenderloin is used, seared quickly and then cooked in local herbs and sukang Iloco or Ilocos vinegar, sweetish because it is made from sugar cane.

Although the sour soup called sinigang is more identified with the Tagalog people, the team made one to represent the Visayas — sinigang na pata sa katmon at dilang baka or sour soup of pork knuckles in catmon and cactus. This immediately piqued my interest for their use of katmon and dilang baka.

Katmon is a native tree that bears flowers and fruits. It which ranges from India to Southeast Asia. Its fruit is called elephant apple, used in dishes in India and Thailand but rarely here. The Philippines has endemic species of katmon. I’ve seen one in Romblon. But this was the first time I am tasting katmon. Surprisingly, it gave a tart sourness to the soup. On the other hand, the dilang baka or wooly joint prickly pear was new to me. Timban said it is slimy like aloe vera and it brings viscosity to the soup like okra. He also said that it can be eaten raw. I wondered if it can be used in salads.

The sinigang was very likable, sour and spicy. The incorporation of Mexican flavors was smooth and perfect.

“We make it Mexican style. We put salsa, guacamole and, to make it spicy, we put jalapeño. It also has cumin,” Timban explained. “So, if you taste it, it is more on Filipino and Mexican.”

The sour katmon fruits can be used in sinigang. photo credit

The F1 chefs have been fusing Filipino and Mexican flavors, especially in sinigang dishes, which blend really well. This one they took it further and perfected.

“For the pork knuckles, we put in herbs such as holy basil, tanglad (lemongrass), chilies, garlic, and then we roasted it. So it is like crispy pata,” Timban further said.

To represent Mindanao, they presented utan ala piyanggang. Different kinds of vegetables are stewed in coconut juice and cooked piyanggang style. Piyanggang is a very popular Tausug and Meranaw dish.

“For piyanggang, they grill the chicken and burn the grated coconut meat and then extract the gata (coconut milk). Here, we use it for the vegetables. We seared fish just like at home where we use the leftover fish and mix it with vegetables,” Timban said.

Coconut milk extracted from burnt coconut meat enhances the whole thing with that smoky flavor.

Utan ala piyanggang, vegetables stewed piyanggang style.

For the rice dish, there is sangag na kan-on sa bubuk ug manuk itum, a personal concoction of Timban. Cooked rice is fried with chicken sisig, burnt coconut meat milk, foie gras, bagoong alamang and bubok or Sarawak dried shrimp. This is served Thai bagoong rice style, topped with strips of green mango and scrambled egg, dried dilis or anchovies and roasted peanuts. Despite the numerous ingredients, it is not overwhelming or cloying. It goes well with the other dishes.

F1 Hotel Manila said that they will featuring these dishes as special items in the F-All Day Dining menu. So, it is time for a Philippine culinary adventure.

F1 Hotel Manila is located at 32nd Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City. Call 908-7888 or follow @f1hotelmanila on Facebook and Instagram for inquiries and reservations.