Food,Culture & Everything

One of the most deeply ingrained methods of Philippine cooking is ‘Paksiw’, this is a Filipino culinary term for any cuisine cooked in considerable amount of vinegar, giving it a subtle sour taste.

But there can be great alternative to using vinegar in paksiw, and that is IBA (emphasis on the last syllable) that is what we call it here in Davao or in Tagalog, Kamias. We grow several Iba trees or Cucumber Trees at our backyard and I use only the freshest and crunchiest fruit for this recipe.

And Here’s my home recipe for ‘Paksiw sa Iba’

¼ kilo of young moro-moro fish (it’s a small fish, that’s how they call it in Agdao Market)
1 small red bell pepper cut into strips
6 pieces of tiny green peppers
Salt to taste, dash of pepper
1 big tomato, (I do not cut tomatoes with knife, I just squeeze out the seeds and hand tear the fruit, reason: I cut my finger once that’s why)
4 cloves of garlic, (dinik-dik, sa Davao duk-dukun)
1 small onion, cut into half
Thumbsize ginger, (dinik-dik, sa Davao duk-dukun)
10 pieces of regular size IBA or kamias

Instruction:
Lay all the iba in a clay pot, (if you do not have a clay pot, glass cooking pots are best alternative to aluminum ones, but just settle for clay ones glass pots are expensive)

Top it with all the ingredients except the fish;

On top of it, lay the small fishes in one direction, cover and set it in LOW fire, until it simmers and the IBA juice comes out that will serve as the vinegar.

Do not stir, or you’ll end up eating just the bones of the fish. Simmer it in low fire until you can smell the ‘paksiw aroma’

So there, and the result…… Tsaraaaaannnnnnn…….. enjoy it with bare hands.

Here’s the iba fruit grown in our backyard, I wonder if this can be dried and turned like a raisin or something of that sort, I don’t know how.

Thanks for dropping by.

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