Bagoong and Cincalok

I watched the Best Ever Food Review Show's video "Eating the Philippines WORST Rated Foods!! (It's bad...)" on YouTube on Tuesday and one dish that was highlighted and which caught my attention was bagoong sisi (or ginamos nga sisi) – essentially, fermented small oysters and clams – which are harvested from the Visayas region. And I read it only takes three days to ferment!

 

You should know that bagoong is the Filipino condiment made from salted and fermented raw seafood. This imbues the paste with the umami of the sea: proudly briny and deeply salty, with a funky aroma that's impossible to ignore. And it can be made from small shrimp or krill (bagoong alamang), fish (bagoong isda), and even oysters/clams (bagoong sisi).

 

How to use bagoong: 

• Serve it as a condiment alongside kare-kare (a thick, rich peanut stew that is a popular dish in the Philippines) or laing (a creamy, rich, and spicy Filipino dish of taro leaves cooked in coconut milk and spiced with chilies, garlic, shallots, lemongrass, ginger, and shrimp paste).
  
• Use it like salt to season pinakbet (also called pakbet), an indigenous Filipino dish from the northern regions of the Philippines. Pinakbet is made with a variety of mixed vegetables flavored with bagoóng. 
• Mix it with honey to make a chicken wing glaze or a sweet-salty dipping sauce. 
• Treat it like anchovies, as an ingredient in pasta or in Caesar salad dressing.

I'm fascinated with bagoong because this dish reminds me of cincalok, a pungent, salty, and sour condiment from my hometown Melaka, Malaysia that's made from fermented shrimp or krill (udang halus in Malay). And often used as an ingredient in dip for fish or vegetables. 

 

If you must know, it's a favorite of mine.