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Since I started writing Hepa Contessa, I have discovered that there are a number of food items that I vehemently thought I would never like but then ended up liking anyway. It is all in the execution, I think. |
It is all in the art of the cook. While it helps to have fine ingredients, the ultimate test for the orchestra is still the conductor… or in this case the chef (that analogy was problematic but I’m too lazy to correct it… I’m sure you understand what I want to say anyway. Hehehe).
Here is another example of how, just when I’ve declared an ingredient doomed, it bites me in the ass and convinces me to give it another shot (and the problematic analogies continue).
 Early Line |
 Happy Boy! |
Vermicelli, or sotanghon as we refer to it in these parts. Thin, tubular, glass noodles that are commonly used for both french and japanese cooking. We’ve all tried it, I’m sure. Most of us have probably had home-cooked soupy sotanghon served with sauteed upo or any other gourd. Heck! It’s even sold as an instant noodle soup.
Filipino dining hinges strongly on the pancit, which, unlike its other Asian counterparts, is prepared as unexcitingly as possible. Pancit is cooked by sauteeing meat slices, seafood, and vegtables and then adding the noodles. Timpla (flavoring) comes in the form of a generous ladleful of soy sauce, ground pepper, and MSG (or Mrs. Dash — which I think is a great, healthier substitute for Ajinomoto). Sotanghon pancit is cooked in the same way.
Share it with a friend. Mox, my eating partner.
You can imagine how unlikely it is for me to rave about the taste of a sotanghon pancit dish (just look at the Aling Banang’s article I wrote). Still, the sotanghon pancit that is being sold in the tent-stall behind UST’s main building is worth me swallowing my pride with every forkful. I think the noodles were stewed in a pot of soy sauce before sauteeing. Each noodle is flavorful through and through. And the simple cabbage, chicken flakes, and sliced tenga ng daga effectively highlights the taste of the entire dish.
A take-out styro of this Sotanghon Surprise goes for 35 Pesos each. For a light meal, you can share the generous serving with one of your friends and eat it all up with a 25 Peso glass of orange juice. Sit yourself down on one of the stone benches nearby the way I always do. Look around. If you’re lucky you might spot a hunk of a guy in a black SAKU t-shirt eating away at the sotanghon that he claims to hate.