Episodes in My Cooking Experiences (Part 2)

I hope you have read my previous article entitled Episodes in My Cooking Experiences (Part 1), which tackles about the recent episodes of my cooking experiences.

This time I will be sharing to you the the past experiences .

THROWBACK EXPERIENCES

Because I have four older sisters, I was not given tasks in cooking as well as in washing or ironing clothes, neither cleaning the house. Most of the time I was given the task to take care of my younger brother.

During summertime or vacation from school my mother will took me with my two older brothers in the field during harvest time of peanuts . I am the one being sent back home to get our food for breakfast and lunch which is cooked by my oldest sister.

During school time, to earn , mother will sell rice cakes : like puto, kutsinta, sapin sapin. I saw personally how she prepare and cook puto. We had a stone tool being used to grind the pre soaked rice in water . I saw how it is being grind and taught how to do it. When I learned it I was asked to do it myself .

How to make puto

The grind pre soaked rice in water was placed in an earthen vessel. Being there it was mixed with enough amount of water for its consistency , white sugar and baking powder. It will be set aside for about 30 minutes or more before it is being cooked in a steamer . When the water is on the boiling point the mixture is being poured in the moulder . It will then be placed in the steamer. Within five minutes it is already cooked. The mixture is said to be perfectly cooked when puto has puffed up with its top burst.

How to make kutsinta

The same with puto, ground pre soaked rice in water was being used. The ground rice will be mixed with the right amount of water, brown sugar to give it a brown color, and mixed with lihia or lime juice. This lime juice gives the different taste from puto. The mixture will be poured in a molder and placed in the steamer when the water in the steamer has reached its boiling point. In this way the kutsinta will be easily and properly cooked. It will be cooked within 15 minutes as the fire will continue to let the water maintain its boiling point. The kutsinta is said to be properly cooked when its top is is shiny and not wet.

How to make sapin sapin

Like puto and kutsinta, ground pre soaked rice in water is used. The ground rice is mixed with white sugar and coconut milk (second extract). The first extract of coconut milk is set aside for its third layer. Half of the mixture is mixed with a good color. We use the violet food color that time, but you can use a food color of your choice. The mixture without food color is first poured in the moulder. When the boiling point of water in the steamer is reached the moulder with the mixture is placed and covered within two to three minutes when it is cooked the second layer mixture with the food color is poured and let it be steamed till it was cooked. The third layer which is a mixture of coconut milk (first extract) white sugar and a good amount of ground rice is poured and be steamed till it was cooked. The sapin sapin is said to be perfectly cooked when the top layer is firmly cooked showing the trace of the coconut milk which is whitish and oily no spill of water is traced.

THE RESULT OF COOKING EXPERIENCES

With these three kinds of rice cakes that I learned from my mother during my childhood days in the province was carried out during my teen years when we lived in the urban are in Caloocan City. I learned the techniques of cooking it , to come up with a good result.

Cooking those times is done by using firewood. And you must really keep on watch on feeding the firewood. The fire must be kept burning maintaining the boiling point in water so as the steam is good to cook the puto, or kutsinta or sapin sapin quickly and firmly and perfectly.

There are lots of native rice cakes that I learned to cook from.my mother at later years that I have been with her which had been helpful to me later in life when I got married and have a family of my own. And am very much thankful for my mother who insisted me to learn it in my childhood days. Though at that time I was not so appreciative of it because I thought I was deprived of playing outside instead of helping her while cooking . I never did I realized that she is preparing me for the future.

Cooking is a skill or a talent that must be learned by anyone specially a woman. It is a skill or a talent that is worth having in life. It stays with you. It will help you. As long as we eat , we ought to learn how to cook for ourself and family. Unexpected things happen, like: you will be on your own to live without anyone to cook for you, while you are away with parents, or like what had happened during pandemic when everything is in locked down. No fastfoods chains , restaurants , carinderias, opened wherein to buy ready to eat foods, & even vendors selling ready to eat foods. In such cases it had been so difficult. But it has been made easier to cope up in such situations when you know how to cook, isn't it. Cooking can be learned. And it is more easier learned now. Having the social media nowadays is a very great help and advantage to learn quickly . You just need to have the will power , and the interest to do it. I think I have to closed for now.

I hope that I have something imparted to you that is quite helpful. I am not an expert in cooking but I wanted to be one And I believe learning is possible and it continues all the way. I just need to be willing , interested and persuaded. And I hope you too, will .

#2 Articles for this month of April April 9, 2022 - Saturday - 7:57am