Craving For The Foods That Has Been Part Of My Childhood

When I was young one of the most unforgettable memories that I had was when we ran out of money and we couldn't afford buying rice and viand. So what my grandma prepare for us is the boiled taro roots. In the province where I grew up there are lots of Bisol or also known as taro. Here in my husband's place they called this Kanaka.

Noong bata pa ako, isa sa mga hindi ko malilimutang alaala ay noong naubusan kami ng pera at hindi na namin kayang bumili ng bigas at ulam. Kaya ang inihahanda sa amin ng lola ko ay ang pinakuluang ugat ng taro. Sa probinsya kung saan ako lumaki ay maraming Bisol o kilala rin sa tawag na taro. Dito sa lugar ng asawa ko tinawag nila itong Kanaka.

For you to have an idea of what plant I'm talking about here are two photos I've taken earlier. There are some taro that grow just around the area. Some are already ready to harvest so we harvested those this afternoon.

Para magkaroon ka ng ideya kung anong halaman ang sinasabi ko, narito ang dalawang larawan na kuha ko kanina. May ilang taro na tumutubo sa paligid lamang ng lugar. Ang ilan ay nakahanda na sa pag-aani kaya inani namin ang mga ito ngayong hapon.

The Taro roots that's we've harvested

The boiled taro roots

The sliced boiled taro roots

This is ginamos. It is a fermented fish paste that's made from dilis. It's a small kind of fish.

The sliced boiled taro roots dipped in ginamos

A cup of coffee best to pair with the taro roots

Recently I've been wanting to eat taro roots so me and my eldest son went to where some taro plants are. We look for some big taro and fortunately we found and gathered taro roots from it but it was just few since the others are still small. After harvesting, I washed those to remove the soil. Then I boil it for about 20 minutes. Since these taro roots we have harvested aren't big so it will be cook faster. While I'm still boiling the taro roots, I already prepared the fermented fish. I put chili on it so it will be a little spicy but I discovered that the chili that we got isn't spicy when I tasted it. I also prepared a cup of coffee because this is a perfect combo for the taro roots. When the taro roots were cooked I immediately removed it from the pot and started peeling. I then sliced it so it would be easier for it to be dipped in the fermented fish. While eating it, it bring back the memories of my childhood. Though right now we can afford buying delicious food, there are still times when we wanted to eat the foods that we used to eat before. That's why I'm very grateful that around the area there are lots of Taro roots growing. Anytime we can harvest if we want to.

Kamakailan lang ay gusto kong kumain ng taro roots kaya pumunta kami ng panganay kong anak kung saan naroon ang ilang halaman ng taro. Naghanap kami ng malalaking taro at buti na lang nakahanap kami at nakapulot ng mga ugat ng taro dito pero kakaunti lang dahil maliliit pa ang iba. Pagkatapos mag-ani, hinugasan ko ang mga iyon para matanggal ang lupa. Pagkatapos ay pakuluan ko ito ng mga 20 minuto. Dahil itong mga taro roots na na-harvest namin ay hindi kalakihan kaya mas mabilis itong maluto. Habang nagpapakulo pa ako ng taro roots, inihanda ko na ang fermented fish. Nilagyan ko ng sili para medyo maanghang pero nadiskubre ko na hindi pala maanghang yung nakuha naming sili nung natikman ko. Naghanda din ako ng isang tasa ng kape dahil ito ay isang perpektong combo para sa mga ugat ng taro. Nang maluto na ang taro roots ay agad ko itong inalis sa kaldero at nagsimulang magbalat. Pagkatapos ay hiniwa ko ito para mas madaling isawsaw sa fermented fish. Habang kumakain ito, binabalikan nito ang mga alaala ng aking pagkabata. Bagama't sa ngayon ay kayang-kaya naming bumili ng masasarap na pagkain, may mga pagkakataon pa rin na gusto naming kainin ang mga pagkaing dati naming kinakain. Kaya naman laking pasasalamat ko na sa paligid ng lugar ay maraming tumutubo na ugat ng Taro. Anytime pwede tayong mag-harvest kung gusto natin.

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Hello fellow Blurters, how are you? Yesterday I haven't publish a blog because I was fully occupied during the day and when the night comes my body was very tired so I sleep early without publishing a blog. Today I'm also tired because I was digging a hole for the septic tank but it's not as exhausted as yesterday.

To all my upvoters who supported my published blogs thank you so much.

Greetings,
@ayesha24🇵🇭