The Intriguing Lokot-Lokot

Fascinated by its name, lokot-lokot was not really prominent in the entire Philippines. When I first heard the word "lokot", the first thing that it crossed in my mind is like a thing that you rolled. Then my guessed had not missed.

THE ORIGIN OF THE “LOKOT-LOKOT”

The Muslim communities in the Zamboanga Peninsula are known for the variety of delicacies they produce during special occasions, especially the “Hariraya” or the feast of the Eid-il-Fitr, which celebrates the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. Foremost among the goodies is the golden brown curious-looking “locot-locot” or “jaa” as the villagers call them. A lot of people actually consider it as the “queen” of the delicacies because it is the most popular and frequently asked for by guests.

It is fascinating to watch someone who is seeing the locot-locot for the first time. After asking what it is, he instantly wants to taste it, and as it crunches in his mouth his eyes light up with pleasure and he nods approvingly. Some give the okay sign or put up their thumbs enthusiastically.

If you ask how the locot-locot came about, its origin is sadly lost in the mist of time. Fortunately the ancestors of the present Muslims passed on its technology to the next generations down through the millennia. Some people believe it came from Malaysia or Indonesia as the region, including the southern Philippines, was once a part of the great Madjapahit Empire during the 13th and 14th centuries. The seafaring Malays probably brought it to our shores as they wandered freely throughout the area.

Legend has it that it was the locot-locot that inspired the appearance of the Chinese noodles, such as the sotanghon, bihon and miswa. It is said that several attempts of the people of China to imitate the locot-locot led to their creation, which over time became famous delicacies themselves.

Making locot-locot requires a lot of time and hard work. First the grains of rice have to be pounded into flour. Then the correct proportions of water and sugar are added to create a gooey mixture which is poured into a container made of coconut shell with regular small holes at the bottom, all the while it is poised above a frying pan filled with hot oil. As it turns golden brown it is deftly and expertly folded and shaped in the pan with a couple of wooden spoons to create the desired look. Watching a cook do the locot-locot is like watching an artist in motion.

You can tell a house is making locot-locot by the rhythmic sound coming from the kitchen made by the beating of the coconut container to pour out the dough into the frying pan. Some purists say if the rhythm is out of sync the locot-locot will not look attractive and enticing.

(Other infos came from the Facebook page of Taluksangay Muslim Delicacies)

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The Two Variations of Ilocandia Empanada

Here on earth, everything have its own contrast. They might be the same in physical aspect but totally different its innate ability or maybe they have the same name but the outside look speaks for itself.

Why I have said that statement? Well, it's because our feature food for today is all about this. Although this food has came from the northern part of Ilocos. It has its own unique quality which differs from each other. I am talking to the mouth watering street food empanada.

Empanada has become popular in the Philippines through the introduction of the colonizers, the Spaniards. It was believed that this food came from Galicia, an autonomous community in northwest Spain.

According to Wikipedia, Empanada is a stuffed bread or pastry baked or fried.

The name comes from the verb empanar, meaning to wrap or coat in bread. Empanada is made by folding a dough or bread patty around the stuffing. The stuffing can consist of a variety of meats, cheese, huitlacoche, vegetables or fruits among others.

With this definition, there is no definite ingredients as to what are these specifically. It might be an absence or a presence of one of those composition but the one that wrap the food may define the food as empanada.

Looking back at the origin of empanada, the Ilocanos have been one that were influenced by this food. So they created their own unique style of preparing this food with the characteristic that may define their palatable taste.

Ilocos is divided into two, the Norte and the Sur. They have the same dialect but different in preparing the empanada. The Norte which specifically from Batac, empanada's are cook using a thicker crust of dough. Livelier color attracts also the eater because they are using "achuete" to make it into orange. While the Sur version from Vigan is the opposite of the one I mention. Thinner with crisper crust even when its cold and has a pale color.

Basically, this two kinds of empanada have the same compositions, rice flour for the crust dough, fresh egg and mongo sprout filling, grated green papaya and Ilocos longanisa (take note there are also different version of longanisa from both places). The cooking procedure is the same, it is deeply fried on a boiling cooking oil.

In Vigan they dip the empanada in Ilocos black vinegar (Sukang Iloko) while in Batac they use catsup as a sauce. This variations make them totally different when it comes to taste.

Although I have tasted them both, I found it very arousing and I am dreaming them again rolling inside my mouth.

Here are two videos of two different types of cooking empanada from Ilocandia:








Photos from www.flickr.com

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