INGREDIENTS: ginger, sakurab (white scallions) and sili (native chili)
PREPARATION: Chop one part scallions, one part ginger and one part chili peppers into small pieces. Crush ingredients finely and pound everything together with a mortar and pestle. As soon as it is blended, the palapa can already be eaten in its raw form.
Fresh palapa is intense, spicy and exotic. For the uninitiated, it will draw tears and one will most likely have to chug down a glass full of water or a mouthful of steamed rice to drown out the fire after a spoonful. But the Maranaos relish this simple concoction which is deeply rooted in their culture.
“No Maranao dish is complete without palapa; meals are just not as satisfying without it,” Jai Sapiin tells us as she demonstrates how to prepare the dish in their community kitchen in the town of Lumba-Bayabao, a 30-minute drive southwest from Marawi City in Lanao del Sur. At the heart of the dish is sakurab or what Maranaos call white scallions locally grown and abundant in the province of Lanao. It is the main ingredient in Maranao dishes and serves as an all-around appetizer.
The unique use of spices makes Maranao dishes vibrant and a food apart from other regional cuisine. While most people based in Manila have never even heard of palapa, you can find it widely served in eateries all around the Lanao provinces. Once you taste it, you’ll want to add it to all your meals. Herby, aromatic and flavorful, it can turn ordinary dishes into a feast.
Jai shares how one of their community members whom they fondly call Ule (a term of endearment for a young Maranao girl), had nothing for her family to eat at home. She went to the kitchen and the only things she saw were sakurab, ginger and chili. So she ground them all together with a mortar and pestle and served that to her family so they wouldn’t go hungry.
It’s from that story that Jai’s group, Super Lumba, named after Lumba Bayabao town, was born. Their group is a livelihood project that involves backyard farming for the community to build their livelihood around palapa-making and selling. The humble condiment is now a source of livelihood for mothers and youth volunteers in the area.
A house of another member serves as their communal kitchen. Right across the road are small patches and farms of sakurab and other spices, which they harvest for ingredients.
Dried or fried palapa, which is eaten as side dish, is made by mixing the fresh palapa with coconut shavings and oil and slowly cooking it until the whole mixture turns golden brown, with a dry consistency. It’s this type that Super Lumba bottles and sells, along with other flavors like chicken, beef and carabeef.
“Yung traditional na pagluto, para authentic yung Maranao taste, dapat galing talaga sa apoy. Mas masarap talaga ang lasa kesa sa luto sa gas though mas nakakastress gawin kasi kelangan mo magsuffer una sa ilong, at suffer sa mata. Pero mas gusto ng mga tao yung lasa nun,” (The traditional way to cook it so that it tastes authentically Maranao should be by fire. It tastes more delicious rather than if it’s cooked on a gas stove, though it’s more stressful to make, because smoke gets in your nose and eyes. But people prefer the taste of it this way), Jai tells us.
Operations are very small since everything is handmade. But the care and preparation that goes into it carries through to the flavor. The aroma and flavor is superior to more commercialized brands of palapa which cost double the price in nearby cities.
As they demonstrate how to cook, other community members bring out the tabak, special dining food trays, usually reserved for festivities and visitors. Yellow rice and bowls of the classic Maranao dish Chicken Piaparan, a chicken stew simmered in palapa along with coconut milk and turmeric, are served along with bottles of Mountain Dew and Coke to counter the spiciness.
I first got a taste of palapa a few days before our visit, when companions and I had breakfast at Al Pater Kuwait, a popular eatery in Iligan City. But I found their version overwhelmingly spicy. I added only a bit to my rice, but it completely drowned the taste of the meat and I found myself sniffling as if I had a bad cold after just a couple of bites
The fresh batch of dried palapa made by the community had just the right amount of spiciness to tease the tastebuds. It added a special flavor to the rice and chicken dish, and somehow made everything more appetizing. The blend of spicy and earthy flavors enhanced every spoonful of rice and chicken. I found myself going back for seconds and thirds, heaping extra rice on to my plate.
With support from different agencies, the team is upgrading skills in marketing their products along with investing in kitchen facilities and equipment. While they used to pool their personal cooking pots and and pans and utensils, they are now able to buy better cooking implements and a machine to help chop ingredients, to lessen the tedious manual labor of pounding with a mortar and pestle.
Super Lumba is just one of the communities under #ForMindanao, a program of Naawan Helps Inc. and the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines that provides funding and technical support to locally-led projects that mobilize communities in Mindanao.
After our satisfying meal, Jai bottled the leftovers for us to take home. A few in our group asked how we could order, and one companion ordered five jars on the spot. I took home just one jar and we added it to our rice meals for that special zing. It was gone in two days. I wish I had gotten more.
In its raw and cooked form, palapa may not be much to look at. Even if you come across it, you might not even want to order it. It may just be an ordinary condiment among the Maranao. But as an outsider not familiar with the cuisine, there was something inspiring about seeing the unique mix of herbs, spices and love that goes into its preparation. With every jar sold, you’re helping to uplift the lives of women and mothers in this community near war-torn Marawi City. The community women see hope in palapa. And I think that’s beautiful.
How to order palapa from Super Lumba:
- Super Lumba is a project of Palapa sa Lumba, a livelihood project initiated by the Bangsamoro Young Leaders’ Program – Leadership Communities fellow and volunteers from Lumba-Bayabao, Lanao del Sur, Philippines.
- For orders, call or text: 0948-3905136 and/or 0965-4704640
- Email: superlumba01@gmail.com
- Facebook: Super Lumba
UPDATE 2024: Jars of palapa are now available in Metro Manila through The Good Store.
NOTE: A version of this article was also published in ABS-CBN Online (Sept. 27, 2018) Maranao condiment palapa offers recipe for hope.