Wassup?
In bed, I texted back. Watching TV. Bored.
At 2 PM on a Sunday.
I’m hungry.
Got bananas and ginamós.
Yay!
But you’re cooking.
…
Well?
You got me.
Someone ought try selling sautéed fermented fish with boiled banana (or cassava/sweet potato). Can you think of street food more cheap, filling, or organic? It is a taste of the real Philippines that most foreign visitors do not get to experience. Uncooked ginamós/bagoong has the requisite “ick” (read: exotic) factor, especially when made with bigger fry, although when sautéed with lots (lots!) of spices and ripe tomatoes, my salivary glands go into overdrive just from the aroma.
Ginamós is not a dish, mind you, nor should you consume it as one (salty!). It is a condiment, best when used sparingly. When sautéing, taste it first so you get an idea how much to put in. Sauté lots of sliced onions in three or four tablespoons of hot oil until limp — my friend used sweet yellow onion, but you can use purple as well. Add chopped deseeded tomatoes and cook until soft. Finally, stir in the fermented fish, including some of the cloudy unâ (brine), along with a bit of sugar, and crushed bird’s-eye chili if you like some heat.
I prefer boiled unripe banana to go with this, with cassava coming a close second. This time the bananas were a little ripe for my taste, but I was in no position to complain, or even wanted to. Nothing can spoil fermented fish except spoiled fermented fish, and that doesn’t happen often because there’s none left to spoil. The wonder is that you can’t get this much loved condiment in a restaurant. You can not in good conscience claim to have eaten Pinoy if you have not eaten ginamós.
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