Instakitchen Manila E11: Kinagang at Purple Yam Malate

By Oscar Nava

Nov 14, 2014 | 1:12pm Manila time

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On this episode of Instakitchen we catch up with New York-based chef Romy Dorotan who shows us how to make an exquisite Bicolano dish made with coconut meat lokadon (just before it matures), scallops and shrimps. He and his wife, Amy Besa, first discovered the dish when she was in Irosin documenting the food of Sorsogon for the recipe book Memories of Philippine Kitchens.

“I found it somewhat like a tamale because it was with grated lokadon. I call it a tamale not because it has rice in it but because it has a mass formed by a leaf called hagikhik (so called because the rustling leaves sound like gentle laughter). And I found that other parts of Bicol had a counterpart to that. In Catanduanes and Albay they call it tilmok. I just found out recently that, in the Visayas, the word kagang means crab. So kinagang means ‘being crabbed’ somewhere,” she explains.

The couple owns Purple Yam Malate, which opened its doors on the fourth of July to establish their American roots. In 1995, they opened Cendrillon in Soho. In 2009 they closed it down and opened Purple Yam in Brooklyn. “I decided to change the name to give it a more distinct flavor,” says Besa. “Ube is something that Filipinos can emotionally connect with. It is also one of our favorite ingredients.”

“At Purple Yam we want to emphasize a lot of the local ingredients, and the way people cook Filipino food, from the historical to the current perspective,” explains Dorotan. “We put up Purple Yam in Malate because we want to learn more about Filipino food from the different regions.” The restaurant is located in Besa’s ancestral home and has a 24-seat capacity.

“It’s a dream come true because we’ve always wanted to cook our food with the best ingredients that we can find in the landscape — the soil, the air and the water of the Philippines. We want to discover the flavors of the terroir. I think that this is what will define Philippine food for us,” adds Besa.

Kinagang has a good combination of flavors. “You get to taste two different stages of coconuts. You should still taste the buko and the coconut but now you also have shrimp flavor because the shrimp was cooked on top of it,” she says.

“You can play around with this recipe, it depends on what you find. You can put clams if you want to, but it’s that particular flavor of the seafood that you want to mix with the grated coconut and then of course the mint and lemongrass will give it a fresh aroma and citrusy flavor. The combination of seafood, citrus, mint, scallions, coconut and the banana leaf is a very Filipino flavor.”

Purple Yam Malate, 603 Nakpil cor Bocobo Sts, Malate, Manila; +63 2 5233497. Fri & Sat 7pm onwards, Sun 11am-3.30pm. PHP1,500 for Sunday brunch, PHP2,500 For Fri & Sat dinner. Call ahead to reserve a table.

PRESENTED BY CEBU PACIFIC AIR.COM

This episode of Instakitchen is brought to you by Cebu Pacific Air! Flying daily from Bangkok, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to sunny Manila, where you can enjoy the tasty treats featured in this show.