ARTICLE BY JACQUELINE LAURI
* This write-up originally appeared on My Food Beginnings blog.

​It’s been often said. Pork is king and seafood is queen in Philippine cuisine. So what would Filipino food be without meat, seafood or any animal-derived products? Well, it’ll be Vegan Filipino food. Quite unheard of. It’s like reading the word “humble” beside Donald Trump’s name. It sounds more of a contradiction, but nevertheless worthy of investigation.

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Can you believe it’s not pork? Mushroom and Tofu Sisig ( Photo courtesy of Astig Vegan)


​Born and raised in Cavite, Philippines, Richgail Enriquez aka RG, is a cook and purveyor of traditional vegan and veganized Filipino food. She grew up helping her mother prepare traditional Pinoy dishes at home. At 15, she and her family immigrated to the San Francisco Bay Area, USA, which exposed her to a new world of varied cuisines. But it was in college when she began her gradual transformation to veganism. What led her to stop consuming animal meat and their by products? Is it possible for vegans to enjoy Filipino food? The
Q & A below is a revelation.

                           

MFB: What prompted you to go vegan?
RG: My journey to veganism started when I took a nutrition class in college. That class opened my eyes and made me aware of what I put inside my body and the impact of what I consume. The transition was very gradual from “clean eating” to becoming vegetarian then vegan.
MFB: Why vegan Filipino food? 
RG: When I became vegan about ten years ago, I didn’t want to give up on the food I grew up eating as a kid. With the help of my mom, we both found ways to veganize Filipino dishes without losing its soul. Since then, I was hooked on veganizing Filipino food.

MFB: How strictly vegan are you? No eggs? No milk? No cakes? 
RG:I still eat cakes, lots of them! Delicious vegan cakes The concept may seem unique, even strange for some but vegan food has come a long way that I don’t really miss and consume any animal products anymore. Almost anything can be veganized including cakes, milk, eggs, and yes- even Filipino food.

MFB: How has turning vegan affected your lifestyle?
RG: Since I went vegan,  I’ve discovered my passion for food and cooking. I have also become more compassionate and open-minded. Health-wise, my skin cleared up and started glowing. I have more energy to tackle my day.
MFB: Is everyone in your family vegan?
RG: My family is not fully vegan yet but has become receptive to vegan food. They cook vegan food for themselves, they invite me to vegan restaurants, and they text or call me when they’re shopping for vegan ingredients and needed my opinion.
 MFB: Are vegan options widely available in restaurants and shops in San Francisco?
RG: The San Francisco Bay Area has many vegan-friendly places. It has restaurants that are either fully vegan or have plenty of vegan options. I don’t usually eat out though; I rather cook at home. The ingredients I use could be found mainly at Asian grocery stores and are not necessarily specialty products.
MFB: Can you please share with us one of your vegan Filipino food recipes?
RG: Sure.
                                                                                                 Vegan Filipino Spaghetti Recipe
                                                         by RG Enriquez  (this recipe originally appeared on www.astigvegan.com)

There used to be only one way I knew how a spaghetti sauce should be -savory, sweet, and meaty. Growing up in the Philippines, I was exposed to only the Filipino-style spaghetti sauce. While the Italian version focuses on the flavors of the tomatoes, the Filipino version focuses on the sweet meat. You could just imagine my shock when I bit into the Italian kind, too sour! Now my palate has developed and I have found both versions equally satisfying on their own right.
In my household, we make Filipino Spaghetti for special occasions like birthdays, town fiestas, and noche buena or Christmas eve. It could be just as popular as the other Filipino noodle dish, pancit (if you ask a Filipino kid though, spaghetti might win over pancit). Filipino spaghetti may not be typical everyday food at home, but it’s widely accessible at Filipino fast food restaurants like Jollibee’s (Philippine counterpart of McDonald’s).  Jollibee’s spaghetti is one of their most popular items on the menu.
Prep time
20 mins
Cook time
20 mins
Total time
40 mins
Serves: 6
Ingredients
For the “meat” of the sauce:
12 ounces extra-firm tofu, frozen overnight or for at least 4 hours, then thawed, then crumbled (using your hands or food processor)
3 vegan hotdogs, thinly sliced
4-5 tablespoons canola oil
3-5 tablespoons refined coconut oil
For the sauce:
5 cloves garlic, peeled, crushed, and minced
1 cup roughly chopped yellow onion
1 cup roughly chopped celery sticks
1 cup roughly chopped carrots
½ cup roughly chopped, red bell pepper, seeds removed
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish
¼ cup maple syrup (agave or regular natural sugar works too)
3-4 tablespoons soy sauce
¼ cup non-dairy milk
4 cups tomato sauce
For the noodles:
1 pound Spaghetti pasta
medium size pot of hot water
For garnish: (optional)
¼ cup grated vegan cheddar cheese as topping (optional)
Instructions

1. Heat medium size pan over high heat. Once hot, pour oil until it covers the base of the pan. Wait until oil is very hot. Carefully add crumbled tofu (do not overcrowd the pan) and fry until tofu is golden brown on all sides. Transfer to a plate.
2. Using the same pan, fry hotdog slices and sprinkle sugar and salt. Fry both sides and turn off heat. Transfer alongside fried tofu.
3. Place onions, celery, bell pepper, and carrots in a food processor and pulse for one minute or until finely minced. Transfer to a bowl.
4. Using the same pan you fried the tofu and hotdogs on, saute garlic until light golden. Follow with finely minced vegetables, salt, and pepper. Stir and cook for 3-5 minutes.
5. Add tomato sauce, tomato paste, sweet relish, soy sauce, maple syrup, and non-dairy milk. Mix well, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring every minute so sauce won’t stick on the bottom of the pan.
6. Add fried tofu and hotdogs. Mix well and if desired, add more salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn off heat.
7. Cook spaghetti per package’s direction (usually 1 lb of spaghetti in 4 quarts of boiling pot of water) until pasta is tender . Drain well using a colander.
8. To serve, place sauce over noodles and top with grated vegan cheese. Serve warm.

Notes
To help crumble the tofu, use a food processor.
To successfully fry tofu, make sure the oil is very hot and that you do not overcrowd the pan. Fry in batches if needed.
If you have a small food processor, pulse the vegetables in batches.
If you couldn’t find maple syrup, you may use natural or evaporated cane sugar of the same amount.
If you’re watching your sugar intake, use stevia instead of sugar and maple syrup.
If you’re watching your fat intake, skip the refined coconut oil.
                                                                                              Connect with RG Enriquez:
                                                                                             Website: www.astigvegan.com
                                                                                                 Facebook: Astig Vegan​
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Jacqueline Lauri is the founder of My Food Beginnings (MFB), a project endorsed by the Philippine Embassy in the US, to fire up an appetite for Filipino cuisine globally. Jacqueline is gathering personal stories and reinvented recipes from Filipinos worldwide for the forthcoming Filipino food anthology. Filipino food enthusiasts are invited to join the MFB collaboration on Facebook.

ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY NASTASHA ALLI

Of all the meals I had the pleasure of enjoying during my trip to the Philippines, it was fish and greens in a light broth over rice that hammered home why I travelled so far to eat regional Filipino food. The fish was fried till its skin was blistered and crisp, then laid on top of leafy greens called layo-layo that simmered in a fragrant stock. The greens were firmer than spinach and mildly bitter, with a good crunch to its stalk; the broth simply seasoned with fish sauce, peppercorns and slices of fresh ginger. Randy, my farm guide/cook, says he picked the greens about an hour ago. 

​I don’t remember his exact words, but he said something about how even locals here sometimes don’t know how much they can cook from stuff that grows wild and abundantly in the area. It was dusk, about 8 pm, and after fishing our dinner from the kindling-powered stove we sat to dinner with two other farmhands at the Binahon Agroforestry Farm in Bukidnon, a land-locked province in northeastern Mindanao.

​What I did find is that I learned to dispel cultural misconceptions about other Filipinos who simply lived in a different part of the country. Growing up in Manila, Filipino muslims in Mindanao were often regarded as “dangerous”, with the news often lumping a majority of the island’s residents in with armed insurgents and extremists.

But thanks to the tools at my disposal - the Internet, social media - I learned about the coffee, cacao, bananas and pineapples grown in especially vibrant conditions in Mindanao. Nothing could dissuade me from seeing coffee beans grown in their natural environment; pineapples planted in neat rows for hectares on end; banana trees with limbs to the ground, laden with fruit; cacao pods heavy with seeds that were soon to be transformed into decadent chocolate.

Kape Republik, a Filipino cafe, owned by Elmer and Jeanette Bautista and Karla Purificacion has just recently opened in Cerritos. On the menu are coffees, teas and both French and Filipino-inspired baked goods.  Seen in this photo is their Baked Turon, Buko Pandan Muffin and Ube Madeleines.  Be sure to check out Kape Republic's Instagram Account to see what goodies they have available that day. Past posts have included photos of everything from ube muffins and donuts to pandan madeleines.  

You can pay them a visit at:

Kape Republik
17206 Norwalk Blvd
Cerritos, CA 90703
Phone No: (562) 865-5000

Kape Republik Facebook Page
Kape Republik Instagram Account

Abby Abanes is a food lover, a cat mama to her beautiful fur babies, Sophie and Max and works as a Social Media Manager for an online natural products company in the Los Angeles area. She also manages the content for Filipino Food Movement's @savorfilipino Instagram Account and the Filipino Food Movement Southern California Facebook Page.  Feel free to also follow her on her personal Instagram Account, @pleasurepalate!

Chef "Lee" was a name that was swished around by a number of different people from various aspects of my life over a number of years. After some connecting dots, I finally made the realization that everyone was talking about the same guy. I learned from my mom that he was a handsome young chef at her work who would greet her warmly in passing. Another friend told me her husband had DJ'ed with him in high school. And through the culinary industry grapevine, I heard he helped open a now-well-known restaurant in Hawaii. Chef Lee and I conversed online, exchanged "likes" on social media and have seen each other at special events. Each time I would see him, I teased that mom and I still were waiting to taste his dishes. Fast forward a few years. It took a while, but my mother and I were finally at Chef Lee Opelinia's table ready to embark on a scrumptious journey called "Province."

​What is special about his dinners is that they are invite-only AT HIS HOME. That's right, he welcomed his guests to sit at the island in the middle of his gorgeous blue/stainless steel kitchen to watch him create and converse. His wife and young daughter graciously excused themselves from the residence when we arrived because "Daddy is working!". It was definitely an intimate affair with only 4 guests at each seating. Chef Lee explained that his dishes were not what our mom's made at home; rather, they are refined dishes that are inspired by the ones that were. For a living, Chef Lee currently cooks in a fine dining environment, so we were excited to see his creativity come to life - as a Filipino-American living in one of the most food-driven cities in the world.

The fully-cooked oyster still had the texture of a raw oyster, but had that lovely tinge of smoke. The foam on top was made with calamansi which gave a nice tartness while the young coriander lent freshness and verdant quality.

Truly a Lee Opelinia specialty. We have heard it's a hit at each of his dinners and here is why: polvorone is normally a sweet shortbread-like confection. His version incorporates black truffle giving it a decadent earthiness. The crème fraiche and chive were a touch of brightness in contrast to the deep flavors in the polvorone. If only he had more than one per person. These are spectacular.

Typically a breakfast dish, tortang talong or eggplant omelet, is enjoyed with rice or pan de sal. This was a very Thomas Keller-approach as he made an egg foam and put it on top of a talong puree. Bits of toasted sourdough gave a crispy texture to the dish. Playful yet elegant.

Kilawen is similar to kinilaw and ceviche where the seafood is "cooked" in citrus or vinegar. The spot prawns were so sweet! While the main flavor here was sourness coming from the lemon and sorrel leaves (which grew in his backyard!), a bright saltiness came from the roe as little bursts of flavor.

Our first main dish wowed us and made us remember the times our lola would cook rice porridge when we were sick. Chef Lee created an arroz caldo with huge chunks of sweet Dungeness crab and fresh pea shoot leaves. A bit of lemon on top and we were in bliss. The koshihikari rice became a velvety platform for the succulent toppings. We definitely took our time with this course. Each bite carried two memories - one of old and one of the present. Remarkable.

Chef Lee prepared the pork early in the meal to ensure it would be cooked by the time we finished our arroz caldo. He paired the beautiful pork with remnants of sitaw't kalabasa. A quick sauté of long beans and a puree of sweet kabocha squash. Of course, a pickle of onion livened up the dish. Again, we took our time here savoring each crisp bite of pork and vegetable.

Dessert! Green mangoes are truly a gift. The sour sweet fruit was a nice palate cleanser and the "mango blanca" - a play on maja blanca - was light and perfectly satisfying. He made that green sauce with mitsuba - also known as Japanese wild parsley. The herb made the whole dessert even more refreshing as it has a slight bitter, almost celery quality. Of course, some fried lumpia wrapper pieces never hurt anyone. Winner.

​Filipino food is not automatically thought of as "fine dining" because it is so deeply rooted in the home; however, it seemed that we were living a paradox...here we were eating white table clothed table-worthy food in the HOME of a warm and friendly chef who wishes to produce refined variations of Filipino dishes. Yes, this was not mom's or lola's cooking. It was Lee's cooking. He used the techniques he learned over the last decade and incorporated his memories as a young Filipino into his stellar menu. He extended a part of him into this meal. He let us taste the herbs before putting them on the plate as garnish so that we can trace the nuances of each. He gave us tips on how to get a crispy skin on the pork belly. He gave us his secret to a perfect itlog espuma. And even gave us a taste of some [very concentrated] crab flakes he would use as a garnish. I appreciated that the dishes were balanced. Where there was richness, there was a counter of sourness or tart and sweet. The portions were just right. The timing of plating was impeccable. The presentation was gorgeous. The whole meal was a phenomenal experience even moreso because it was a one-man show.

In addition to the glorious dishes, the conversation we had with each other was a special component to the dinner - it let us peek into each other's lives and share our experiences growing up with Filipino food. This transfer of knowledge seems to always been present when eating Filipino food! Rightfully so as Filipino food evokes so much emotion. That's the beauty of Filipino food.

​I looked at my mom every so often during the meal. This was my treat because it would soon be our birthmonth. Her eyes filled with intrigue as she watched Chef Lee cook. I would ask her "are you happy, mom?" A quick "yes" came in return. So thank you, Chef Lee for showing us that Filipino food can be prepared at this caliber and that it can have value and be worthy of fine dining. Thank you also for showing us how you gave your food undeniable soul with your stories and beautiful execution.

​I can't wait to see what he cooks up next.

​To find out more about Province, check out Chef Lee's Facebook page.
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