Bubble tea? Nah, Bubble Tinapay
A fresh, hot serving of Philippine food history—and delicious new ways to enjoy tapioca.
Learning Philippine history in school, I may have fixated less on facts and more on figures. Particularly, the well-built quadriceps framing Lapu-Lapu’s loincloth. Or Emilio Aguinaldo’s ultra-stiff crew cut, which made him kind of a babe on those ancient five-peso bills.
That repressed homosexual teen remains (mostly) in the past, but I can’t say the youth of our motherland became any less blurry to me.
It has, however, become a lot more appetizing.
Last year, Philippine food historian Felice Prudente Sta. Maria published Pigafetta’s Philippine Picnic, detailing all the food Magellan’s crew encountered during their Spanish expedition to Southeast Asia. The book serves up the first written record on culinary culture in the Philippines, taken from the journal of a young Italian adventurer along for the journey: Antonio Pigafetta.
Food doesn’t just make a cute cameo here through a bunch of Renaissance-period pantry inventories. In fact, it plays countless roles in this epic.
It’s the siren that winks at our explorers, enticing them with new herbs or spices to discover and trade. Later, it’s a sadistic bitch, causing mutiny among a ship’s crew once their larder runs empty and starvation sets in. It could even be as duplicitous as Judy Greer in 13 Going on 30; after all, the feasts our ancestors prepared for those European navigators were first contact with their future captors.
Moreover, food serves as a riveting narrator, re-plating our history with delicious nuance. From 16th century Spanish ship provisions (Chickpeas! Anchovies!) that would make Alison Roman blush to the first written record on how our ancestors cooked rice (in an earthen jar and broken off like bread), there’s lots to chew on here.
A few morsels:
-Medical cannibalism was easier to swallow back then. When docked on the Mariana Islands, some of Magellan’s sick crewmen begged to eat the entrails of natives who had stolen from their boat.
-In Cebu, Magellan impressed one rajah by using almond milk and rosewater to nurse a prince’s brother back to health. Sosyal.
-Cambodia, Sumatra, and Java “sold the most esteemed goods.” A lil’ spot.ph tip for your centuries’-late shopping spree.
-Pigafetta thought hog cooked on our shores was “half-cooked and very salty”—the first account of how Pinoy prehistoric food might have tasted. But he also praised our pineapple as the best fruit he had on the trip.
Beyond getting me hungrier for more food-focused historiography, other tidbits even left my mouth watering. Specifically, a mention of how bread was made in Borneo, a stopover on Pigafetta’s trip back to Spain. When rice wasn’t available, sago was used to make loaves that resembled western wheat bread.
Of course, tapioca starch has offered a gluten-free bread alternative for some time now, but what interested me more was the promise of bread crusted with bulging balls of sago.
A little research led me to a version of thalipeeth or spiced Indian flatbread boasting sago pearls on its surface—a reminder of how ingredients migrated across Asia to joyous reinterpretation.
Testing thalipeeth recipes over an entire week, I discovered a new world of sago enjoyment. A vast, delightfully bumpy stretch of tapioca terrain where various flavors could prosper. Mr. Mafalda prefers a more traditional Indian take, savory and spiced with cumin. But I found a sweeter spin offers a great merienda option. Mine is inspired by taho via arnibal drizzled on top, but it reminds me of bendier tikoy with a more pleasant chew. Tear it up by hand and dip it in sugar as you please.
SABUDANA THALIPEETH
Griddled Sago Flatbread
INGREDIENTS
(Makes two 6” flatbreads)
1/2 Cup Sago Pearls
150g Potatoes, Boiled & Grated
1 Tbsp Roasted Cashews, Coarsely Chopped or Ground
1 Green Chili, Finely Chopped
1/2 Tsp Ground Cumin
1/2 Tsp Freshly Ground Pepper
1/2-Inch Ginger, Grated
1 Tbsp Coriander, Chopped
1/2 Tsp Lemon Juice
Salt, A Pinch or To Taste
Prepare the raw sago pearls. Place in a bowl and pour enough tap water to submerge them. Stir them gently with your hand, then strain. Return the rinsed sago to the bowl and immerse completely, soaking them for four hours.
Once the sago has been soaked, mix all the ingredients in a bowl by hand. To keep your pearls a little more intact on the crust, mix carefully. (To bind further, you have the option to add 1/8 cup of rice flour, but your dough will be fine without it) Otherwise, knead the mixture into a bouncy mass.
Grease a sheet of parchment paper (at least 8 inches) with neutral oil. Grab a fistful of your sago dough and shape into a ball. Flatten onto the parchment paper to about 1/4in thick. Seal any creases around the circumference by flattening or smoothing with your fingers.
Heat a non-stick frying pan and add about a tsp of oil—I found coconut oil complemented the flavor and led to a nice golden sear.
Transfer your pancake to the pan, carefully peeling the parchment paper off. Fry on medium heat for 4-5 minutes. Carefully flip the pancake with a wide spatula and fry for the same amount of time, or until you’re satisfied with the color and crispiness.
Serve immediately with your favorite chutney and garnish with a sprinkle of fresh chopped coriander.
SWEET BUBBLE BREAD
INGREDIENTS
(Makes two 6” flatbreads)
1/2 Cup Sago Pearls
150g Potatoes, Boiled & Grated (Alternatively, I think taro root would be amazing!)
1 Tbsp Roasted Cashews, Coarsely Chopped or Ground
2 Tbsp Black or Muscovado Sugar
Salt, To Taste
Prepare the raw sago pearls. Place in a bowl and pour enough tap water to submerge them. Stir them gently with your hand, then strain. Return the rinsed sago to the bowl and immerse completely, soaking them for four hours.
Once the sago has been soaked, mix all the ingredients in a bowl by hand. To keep your pearls a little more intact on the crust, mix carefully. (To bind further, you have the option to add 1/8 cup of rice flour, but your dough will be fine without it) Otherwise, knead the mixture into a bouncy mass.
Grease a sheet of parchment paper (at least 8 inches) with neutral oil. Grab a fistful of your sago dough and shape into a ball. Flatten onto the parchment paper to about 1/4in thick. Seal any creases around the circumference by flattening or smoothing with your fingers.
Heat a non-stick frying pan and add about a tsp of oil—I found coconut oil complemented the flavor and led to a nice golden sear.
Transfer your pancake to the pan, carefully peeling the parchment paper off. Fry on medium heat for 4-5 minutes. Carefully flip the pancake with a wide spatula fry for the same amount of time, or until you’re satisfied with the color and crispiness.
Serve immediately with a dipping bowl of sugar on the side. Or, as a tasty nod to taho, with arnibal (syrup) to drizzle lightly on it.