This is a delicious and mouthwatering dish that has existed even before the Spanish came to colonize the Philippines. With the sour tones that permeate through the chosen meat, its taste will linger in your taste buds just as it has survived through the ages.
There are archaeological and written evidence that Kinilaw existed even before Spaniards landed on the shores of the Philippines. In Butuan Balangay, the remains of halved tabon-tabon and fish bones were unearthed. The tabon-tabon fruit is an ingredient that can be found in Northen Mindanao and its juice is commonly used in Kinilaw dishes that are served in some parts of Mindanao.
Ingredients:
Set A (Dressing):
– ¾ cup coconut vinegar
– 1 tsp. ginger, minced
– sugar, optional (to balance acidity)
– juice and rind of 6 calamansi or 2 dayap
– siling pangsigang (green finger chilies), to taste, sliced diagonally
– Salt or patis, to taste
Set B (Kinilaw):
– 300 g. fresh malasugue or tuna fillets, cut into ¾-inch cubes
– ¼ cup coconut vinegar, for rinsing fish
– 1 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
– 1 onion, sliced into strips
– 2 tomatoes, seeded, and sliced into wedges
– ½ cup coconut milk, or to taste
– chopped wansuy (cilantro), for garnish
Procedure:
1. To make the dressing, mix together vinegar, ginger, sugar if using, calamansi or dayap, salt or patis, and chilies. Set aside.
2. Rinse the fish in vinegar and strain. Discard the vinegar used for washing.
3. Place the fish in a ceramic bowl and toss with the cucumber, onions, and tomatoes.
4. Pour the dressing over the fish, mix then chill. Just before serving, add coconut milk. Garnish with chopped wansuy.
References to this dish can also be found in early dictionaries documented by Spaniards. In Vocabulario de la lengua Tagala (1613), cqilao was mentioned as a sort of pickling sauce of the natives. In the later version of Vocabulario de la lengua Tagala (1754), quilauin was listed as a dish of meat or fish in vinegar. In another dictionary, Vocabulario de la lengua Pampanga en romance (1732), quilao was mentioned as eating slightly cooked meat.
Kinilaw is a dish that reconnects us to our ancestors who lived in the land far beyond the arrival of Spaniards. It may have changed with the passing of time, and due to the act of colonization, but history does not lie. This dish is Filipino through and through.