Pastil: Versatile one-dish meal of Muslim Filipinos
Posted on Sunday, 10 January 2016
Pastil:
versatile one dish meal
Of Muslim Filipinos
By Apolinario Villalobos
If you have ventured into a Muslim
community, you may notice a delicacy neatly wrapped in a banana leaf. It is
called “pastil”, a special kind of rice with a spoonful of viand on top– either
fish or chicken. While the fish takes a shorter time to cook, the shredded
chicken takes more, for as long as two to three hours to ensure its softness.
The fish is flavored with “palapa”, a hot chili and shallot- based condiment,
while the chicken is cooked in its own oil enhanced with a small amount of
coconut or vegetable oil, toasted garlic, and with shallot and hot chili as
optional ingredients.
In Manila, the place to go for this
one-dish meal is the Islamic Center in Quiapo. While it can be partaken as is,
some prefer to have other dish to go with it. At the Islamic Center’s halal
carinderias and sidewalk eateries, the choices for other main dishes are chunks
of young jackfruit cooked in coconut milk, red beans in coconut milk, broiled tuna,
mudfish or tilapia, boiled eggs, stir-fried vegetables in herbs, and chicken
cooked in thick coconut milk.
For dessert, one can have the Muslim
version of “fruit salad” which is a soupy combination of gelatin and fruits in
season flavored with milk and sweetened with brown sugar. It is different from
the “dry” version of fruit salad which is topped with ice cream and shaved ice.
Variably, “pastil” is also called “patil”
in other parts of Muslim Mindanao, and the preparation varies according to the
added spice or condiment. The price however, does not vary, as the price
is fixed at ten pesos per wrap.
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