My mom, Dr. Solita Camara-Besa feeding my brother, Dr. Emmanuel Besa a long time ago.

My mom, Dr. Solita Camara-Besa devoted most of her life to her  career as a teacher and as Chairman of the Biochemistry Dept of the College of Medicine of the University of the Philippines.  This photo resonates with me because my brother, Dr. Emmanuel “Wee” Besa was the only sibling who followed my doctor-parents’ footsteps.  She did not cook much, but when she did, it was for special occasions and it was always a big deal.  She would do the roast turkey or the Chinese ham for Christmas laboring in the kitchen giving instructions to our cooks at home.

So whatever food your Mom made for you when you were growing up will always have special meaning to you as an adult — which is why memories of childhood food are treasured so much.

Chef Romy Dorotan is putting PULUTAN on the menu for the first time.  Pulutan is the Filipino term for appetizers or bite sized snacks that go with ice cold beer.  Most common pulutan are sisig (chopped and deep fried pig snout, ears and cheeks) and bulaklak (pork ruffle fat).  Bulaklak (literally translated as flower) is hard to describe, but when boiled and fried in its own fat into a crispy chicharron like morsel, it is heaven especially when dipped in vinegar spiked with lots of garlic and crushed black peppercorns and a hint of chiles.  The barbecued pig’s ears are a great discovery from our friends’ food tours in Pampanga after posting all their photos of unusual dishes on FB.

So join us on Mother’s Day, same menu from brunch to dinner and savor the food that Mom would have cooked for you except that you are treating her out!  Call for reservation (718) 940-8188.

Mother’s Day Brunch & Dinner Menu

May 13, 2012, Sunday, 11:00 am – 9:30 pm

MENU

Pulutan, $ 10

(barbecued pig’s ears, bulaklak & blood sausage)

Fresh Lumpia (summer roll), $ 9

with king oyster mushroom, asparagus & sweet potato noodle

Ukoy (vegetable and shrimp fritter), $ 9

Oxtail dumplings in beef broth, $ 10

Eggs

Beef tapa (air dried beef) with garlic fried rice, $ 15

Tocino (sugar & achuete cured) with garlic fried rice, $ 12

Bibimbap, $ 13 / with beef tapa, $ 15

Crispy duck leg with quail eggs salad, $ 16

Main Courses

Wild striped bass with rhubarb & leek crust sinigang, $ 25

(in rhubarb fish broth)

Pork neck bones afritada, $ 16

BBQ Baby chicken Inasal (marinated in kalamansi lime), $ 18

Grilled lamb chops with mint sauce, $ 31

Beef shortribs adobo with burnt coconut cream, $ 32

Lobster luglug (rice noodles), $ 26

Softshell crab in pinipig and cashew crust, $ 26

BBQ Spareribs in homemade orange marmalade sauce, $ 21

Desserts, $ 9

Chocolate Mocha Fudge Cake with coconut caramel sauce

Pineapple Tarte Tatin

Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler

Cassava Bibingka with jackfruit ice cream

BBQ Pig's ears in vinaigrette ready to be made into a salad

Softshell crab in pinipig (young rice) - cashew crust garnished with sorrel, radish flowers, chile & garlic scapes.

Beef shortrib adobo with burnt coconut cream

Lobster luglug (thick rice noodles)

Oxtail dumplings which will be served in beef broth

Oxtail filling for dumplings

Pineapple Tarte Tatin is Chef Romy's special creation ever since the 1980s.

Haegeen's Easter Bunny

Easter bunnies, eggs, ham, hats, what-have-you.  The best part of Easter is that it is spring and the dreaded winter is over.  Daffodils, forsythia and all kinds of bulbs are coming out.  It is also time to bring back the hibiscus (gumamela) from her winter home with us back to the Purple Yam backyard.  Romy has refilled the bamboo flower bed along our picture window of the back with pansies, marigolds and other spring flowers from the green market.  It is also the season for rhubarb and ramps, both of which will be in our a la carte menu.  Same menu for brunch and dinner which will start at 11 am with continuous service down to dinner until 9:30 pm.  Call (718) 940-8188 for reservations.

Easter Brunch & Dinner Menu

April 8, 2012, 11:00 am – 9:30 pm

MENU

Spring Pillow with tuna, plantain, leek & cilantro, $ 10

Fresh Lumpia with king oyster mushroom, asparagus & sweet potato noodle, $ 8

Ukoy (vegetable and shrimp fritter), $ 9

Grilled baby octopus in spicy sauce with buckwheat noodles & dandelion greens, $ 9

Ramp (wild leeks) kimchi pancake, $ 10

Blood Sausage Gratin with caramelized onions, $ 11

Eggs

Red Wattle ham with sweet potato & taro gratin, $ 15

Beef tapa (air dried beef) with garlic fried rice, $ 13

Tocino (sugar & achuete cured) with garlic fried rice, $ 11

Bibimbap, $ 12 / with beef tapa, $ 14

Main Courses

Grouper with rhubarb & leek crust sinigang (in rhubarb fish broth), $ 23

Black rice paella with Manila clams, shrimp & crab, $ 21

Caramel smoked baby chicken, $ 16

Crispy pata (deep fried pork trotter), $ 18

Lechon ssam with liver sauce (roast heritage pork belly with Chinese cabbage, nori & chiles in lettuce wrap), $ 20

Balinese lamb shank (braised in lemongrass, galangal, turmeric & coconut milk), $ 25

Desserts, $ 8

Ricotta with clementine marmalade tartlet & vanilla bean ice cream

Turon with chocolate ice cream

(plantain spring rolls with jackfruit)

Tuna with leeks, plantain & cilantro spring pillows with three sauces: vinegar-chile, dandelion & guava puree dips.

the tuna spring pillows uncovered. these are SO delicious and make a perfect appetizer.

Rhubarb-leek crusted grouper sinigang with rhubarb-guava-fish broth

The traditional Easter ham prepared the Purple Yam way -- simmered in pineapple juice and run.

Red wattle ham platter. We had to reserve early to get the special red wattle ham from Heritage Foods USA. Red wattle is a special breed of pig that has been saved from extinction by farmers who raise them now and distribute them to restaurants.

the caramel smoked chicken we served during Valentine's Day was so popular that it ran out during the first hour of service. So we have decided to bring it back for Easter.

Ricotta with clementine marmalade tartlets baking in our oven.

turon- deep fried caramelized plantain springrolls with jackfruit and chocolate served with homemade chocolate ice cream. All our ice creams and sorbets are homemade. Photo of turon by Neal Oshima.

The recipe for the turon with chocolate ice cream will be in the new and revised edition of Memories of Philippine Kitchens available May 2012.

Cua Pao is the Filipino-Chinese version of the pork belly in a steamed bun

It’s been awhile since we first did lunch almost a couple years ago.   At the time, we felt that no one would really miss it, but once in awhile I would get email messages asking when we would do lunch again.  So here we are with a new menu and hope that you will stop in, taste Romy’s cooking and chat with us.

We have decided to add a couple of BRUNCH items on our lunch: tapa, eggs & rice and Tocino, eggs & rice for our weekend brunch customers who want these even on weekdays!  I don’t blame them.

LUNCH

Wednesday – Friday,  11 am – 3 pm

NEW ITEMS ON THE LUNCH MENU IN MAY

MENU

Noritaco salad with kimchi fried rice, $ 8

(Crispy seaweed with melon, jicama, watercress, green mango & radish)

BBQ pork spareribs in homemade orange marmalade, $ 12

Mussels in coconut curry broth,  $ 8

Chicken adobo with steamed rice & veggies, $ 8

Wheat noodles with grilled duck leg, woodears & Asian greens, $ 10

Bibimbap with fried egg, $ 9  /  With beef tapa,  $ 11

(Brown rice with lotus root, burdock, spinach, purple sweet potato,

Edamame in hot stoneware)

Cua Pao (red cooked pork belly in steamed bun), $ 9

with garlic cucumber

Pan fried mackerel in banana leaves, $ 10

Marinated in miso and mustard

Daily dumplings, $ 7

EGGS

Tocino  (sugar-achuete cured pork) with garlic fried rice and eggs, $ 10

Beef tapa  (air-dried beef) with garlic fried rice & eggs, $ 11

Bulgogi beef meatballs with garlic-fried rice & eggs, $ 8

DRINKS

Mamacat’s Q. Tea, $ 2.50

a line of premium, organic, hand-blended herbal teas.

Ruby Slippers, Golden Slumber or Emerald Wonderland

Soda, $ 3

Blood orange, cucumber or Rhubarb;  Fitz root beer

Juices, $ 3

Kalamansi (Philippine lime), buko (young coconut) or mango

Homemade ice creams & sorbets

$   2 / scoop • Purple Yam, jackfruit, mango, avocado, banana rum,

coffee or macapuno (coconut sport) ice cream, vanilla bean

$   2 / scoop • Guava, coconut, raspberry, mango or passionfruit sorbet

BBQ Spareribs with homemade orange marmalade sauce

Pan fried beef tapa with garlic fried rice and eggs

Noritaco (crispy seaweed) with mountain yam, melon, watercress salad

Bibimbap with fried egg and beef tapa

Daily dumplings that our Korean Chef Haegeen Kim makes

Photo credit: Dumplings & Noritaco salad by NEAL OSHIMA.

This pomegranate heart is our nostalgic gesture looking back at the last Valentine's celebration we had at our previous restaurant, Cendrillon, which we closed in March 2009. It stands for the vibrant love we have for the loyal friends and customers who have stood by us and have continually come to eat and visit us at Purple Yam.

We offer what we always do -- food from the heart: simple, honest and exciting flavors from our homeland, from our neighbors in Asia and good stuff from the U.S.  We love the heritage meats we get from Heritage Foods USA and thank them for connecting us to all those farmers and ranchers who care about our health and our stewardship of the earth, water and air.

We are excited to bring you an age old Asian tradition of caramel smoking a chicken.  I learned this method several decades ago from a Chinese-Filipino friend who must have learned it from her Chinese grandmother.  I found some Malaysian palm sugar in my fridge that had already fermented and can't wait to use it for the baby chickens for Valentine's Day.

In the meantime, here is the rest of our menu:

VALENTINE’S DAY MENU

Tuesday,  February 14, 2012

A la Carte

5:30 – 10 pm

Starters

Oyster kinilaw with pomegranate & horseradish ice, $ 12

Razor clam and parsnip chowder, $ 10

Blood sausage (heritage pork)

with puto Diket (steamed heirloom black rice cake), $ 9

Yellowfoot chanterelle dumplings

with mountain yam and pickled persimmon salad, $ 10

Main Course

Rice noodle with fresh bamboo shoot,

black trumpet mushrooms & Asian greens, $ 18

Pandan duck leg with roasted Asian pear, $ 19

Palm sugar and applewood smoked poussin (baby chicken), $ 21

Grilled lemongrass heritage pork chop, $ 25

Beef shortribs braised in burnt coconut cream, $ 28

Desserts, $ 9

Chocolate tart with jackfruit ice cream

Cherry clafoutis with vanilla bean ice cream

Pomelo, blueberry & raspberry gratin with clementine sorbet

Palm sugar caramel smoked chicken. The chicken is first marinated in soy sauce, garlic and citrus juices and then slow cooked in burnt caramel smoke

Lemongrass Duroc Pork Chop with roasted garlic, leeks and kumquats

Braised duck leg wrapped in pandan leaf

Cherry clafoutis baking in our oven. This will be served with our homemade vanilla bean ice cream

Pomegranate heart -- made from freshly squeezed pomegranate juice. For Valentine's Day 2012, we will serve the pomegranate ice with our oyster kinilaw.

The Red Korean Dragon is our mascot for 2012

A quick check on what knowledge the web gives us on the dragon:

• The Dragon personality The Dragon is a creature of myth and legend. A symbol of good fortune and sign of intense power, the Oriental Dragon is regarded as a divine beast – the reverse of the malicious monster that Westerners felt necessary to find and slay. In Eastern philosophy, the Dragon is said to be a deliverer of good fortune and a master of authority. Therefore, those people born in Dragon years are to be honored and respected.

I also looked back at our previous years at Cendrillon and how we celebrated the lunar new year and I particularly like the symbols of certain foods and ingredients used for feasts that will be served during this coming week:

To celebrate the new year, the Chinese call on their gods to bestow on them 5 blessings: longevity, riches, peace, wisdom and virtue.  All of these blessings are found in food traditionally served at this time: uncut noodles, whole fish, round golden fruits, red dates, black moss and lotus root.

The spices and barks of the Chinese feast: 5 -spice, cinnamon, cloves, chilies., etc

Water Dragon Lunar New Year

Monday – Sunday dinner specials, January 23 – 29, 2012

Menu

duk guk, korean lunar new year soup with brisket, $ 8

To know more about Duk Guk, see this blogpost on it.)

manila clams, leeks & oyster mushroom in black bean sauce, $ 12

saltcod, potato & kimchi dumplings, $ 8

minced pork, dried oyster & chinese sausage, lettuce wrap, $ 9

cua pao, steamed buns with red pork belly, $ 9

stir fried lotus root with chinese bacon, $ 8

5-spice duck leg with dragon eyes (longan), $ 15

sweet & sour pork with pineapple, $ 18

brown rice noodle with scallops & black moss, $ 25

crispy seabass with tangerine & ginger sauce, market price

grilled squab, beijing style, $ 28

Yu Sheng: raw tuna & jellyfish with daikon,

kaffir lime, pomelo, wintermelon, papaya, peanuts, sesame seed,  $ 25 for 2

More info on Yu Sheng here

Desserts, $ 8

chocolate cake with gen mai cha ice cream
8 precious sweet rice with persimmon ice cream
clementine sorbet with pomelo gratin

crispy fried seabass with citrus sauce

Grilled Squab is one of the most delicious dishes ever!

Jelly fish for Yu Sheng. The texture of jelly fish is something to be savored.

Dried fruits for the celebration

Noodles for long life

For snowday Saturday, January 21, 2012, MTA is running normal service which means that you can go to Purple Yam on the Q line without having to go through the shuttle at Atlantic Avenue.

“We expect to run normal Saturday service on all MTA services, but please monitor www.mta.info as well as media reports for the latest service update. Customers are also urged to utilize the MTA’s new Winter Weather Guide that explains possible service adjustments for all MTA agencies during inclement weather.”

Stay tuned for Sunday service tomorrow.  Check the MTA home page.

Ang Sariling Atin (Food That Was Always Ours) logo by Pauline Galiana

Last year was a breakthrough year for the Ang Sariling Atin (ASA) which would lead the way to preserving not only the  culinary heritage of the Philippines but will seek to re-discover the true palate of the Filipinos.  Below is the overview of the Institute and what we seek to achieve.  Since I am mostly based here in NYC, I will also be doing activities around the US to bring the food issues we raise here to the Filipino community and the greater American public because the future of our health and well being is at stake.  We hope to engage many of you in the many rewards of re-learning our food, our regional flavours and our true palate that has been eroded during the last two decades of fast food and MSG-laden packaged mixes.   Amy Besa

Cooking rice in bamboo tubes is a dying art that needs to be revived

Ang Sariling Atin (ASA) Culinary Heritage Institute

(Food That Was Always Ours)

“If we want to preserve our culinary heritage, we must cook and eat those dishes that were served by our mothers and grandmothers when home cooking was our primary source of sustenance.  It is not enough to document them and keep them in archives.  We must bring these dishes, along with their cooking methods and cooking equipment, back to our table.  We must re-awaken our thirst to learn to cook with the palayok, with banana leaves and the bamboo tubes savoring the flavor of our alugbati, saluyot and malunggay.  Otherwise, not only will our culinary heritage disappear, but our identity as Filipinos will be lost along with the health and vitality of our nation.” Amy Besa

What is the Ang Sariling Atin (ASA) Culinary Heritage Institute?

The Ang Sariling Atin (ASA) Culinary Heritage Institute is a non-stock , nonprofit corporation registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the Philippines.  It was founded and established by Amy Besa, a New York-based restaurateur with 16 years of restaurant management experience.  Ms. Besa, along with her husband, Chef Romy Dorotan, have authored the award-winning international book, Memories of Philippine Kitchens (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2006, NYC), which showcased heirloom recipes from several regions in the Philippines and contemporary Filipino recipes from their New York based restaurant.  A new and revised edition of the book will be released May 2012.

Pinais in Ilocos Sur has similarities to the Kuping of Sorsogon

Preservation of our Culinary Heritage through Research

The native cuisine proved itself strong and resistant to “fraternization” with the foreign invaders. The original dishes have retained their ingredients, cooking methods and spirit. Foreign dishes have been Filipinized, but Philippine dishes have not been Sinicized or Hispanized. The cultural interaction has been one of borrowing whole dishes, then adapting and indigenizing them, rather than borrowing elements to impose on native dishes. The result is a cuisine enriched rather than bastardized, its integrity kept, its dynamism that of judicious response to change.

Doreen G. Fernandez:

Culture Ingested: Notes on the Indigenization of Philippine Food

Did you know that Filipinos use a tandoor oven in Ilocos? Neal Oshima identifies this as "opia on a piyalo." I assume that the local term for the tandoor oven is piyalo. The dough is stuck on the side of the hot oven until properly "baked."

The ASA aims to build knowledge on Philippine culinary heritage and inform about the Filipino palate through the documentation and preservation of family heirloom recipes, old cooking techniques and traditional cooking equipment.

We are developing a scientifically based research methodology to gather data on flavors of the different regions of the country and with the help of academicians, will write a book on Discovering the Filipino Palate: the food, flavor preferences and meals of the Filipino people.

Wrapping rice cakes with banana leaves, a more flavorful and environmentally friendly method of cooking

The Benefits of Preserving Our Culinary Heritage

1. Preserving a fast disappearing part of Filipino life that is culturally important and making it accessible for future generations.

• If we don’t eat it, we lose it. The Philippines houses a complex culinary heritage. Filipinos however are in a crisis identifying what is theirs.
• Filipino food is getting commercial and artificial. The Filipino food landscape is vibrant.  We do not want to lose its value to commercially produced flavoring pastes and powders, mass produced traditional foods and other culinary deskilling and convenience products.
• Food is a tool of empowerment for people. Our regional based cuisine is getting more popular but remains understudied. The benefits of a deeper understanding of the Filipino palate go a long way whether this deals with identity, arts or in business.

2. Healthier diets for today and tomorrow.

• Diverse diets should be part of healthy lifestyles. A healthy diet is based on a diversity of fruits, vegetables and animal protein found locally.  Despite the bounty of our islands and seas, Filipinos don’t have much access to fresh, nutritious and diverse foods.
• Poor people don’t have to have bad meals. Almost a third of the Filipino population is poor. Poverty contributes to the slow disappearance of local flavours and cuisines as  people desperately rely on cheap instant and processed food to satiate hunger.
• The country needs a healthy, productive and well-educated workforce. What the country has is the double burden of malnutrition which is rather more damaging to the economy. While we are rehabilitating millions of undernourished children we are also nursing a significant number of adults with non-communicable lifestyle diseases as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

3. A return to an environmentally responsible way of nourishing ourselves.

• Nature nurtures but we have to give back. We believe that the future of our well-being depends on responsible stewardship of the earth and our environment.  We need to start integrating as many sustainable sources of food into the diets of Filipinos in every region of the country.

• We need to reconnect to food. Food is sacred and must be treated with respect and so should those hands that raise them be supported. The promotion of sustainable agriculture and the preservation of heritage food and heirloom crops may make us once more look at food as more than a source of sustenance and nourishment.

Sinambong suman in San Juan, Ilocos Sur

Call to Action: Community Kitchens

ASA champions the building of community kitchens all over the country as a way of empowering people to accomplish the following goals:

Protect and promote local indigenous ingredients and dishes through their revival and continued use

• raise the quality of life through livelihood projects
• improve people’s health through diverse diets  and proper food preparation ; and
• create sustainable communities through practical and green foodways .

The ASA will share its knowledge of the culinary arts, food preparation and nutrition with different types of communities (both rural and urban) while documenting the different local flavours and cooking practices to preserve the Filipino palate for future generations to enjoy.

The ASA also aims to learn best practices from its partner organizations and stakeholders in the local community.   We will partner with:

Local Government Units/Organizations and Universities  in setting up/organizing the kitchens  and mobilizing the communities

• Culinary institutions and organizations to provide their students opportunities of culinary immersion as they collaborate with local cooks to set up community kitchens.
• International proponents of sustainable agriculture, heirloom crops and recipes

ASA Community Kitchen Pilot Project

We are presently working on a pilot project to build a community kitchen at the Marina Wellness Clinic in Dauin, outside Dumaguete, Negros Oriental with the Nutrition and Dietetics Department of Silliman University.  The kitchen design will make use of skilled artisans and craftsmen and their knowledge of local indigenous materials to build an effective system of collection and reuse of rainwater, develop fuel efficient stoves and ovens and other technological developments to create a replicable prototype of a green and eco-friendly kitchen. We will be exchanging lessons on local cuisine and proper food preparation and sanitation with country cooks and other cooking apprentices (i.e.,  mothers, public school teachers, health and nutrition workers).

Making miki, whole wheat noodles for breakfast soup, Santa Catalina near Vigan, Ilocos Sur. Note the old karitela wheel which has been recycled to run the pasta making machine. The ingenuity of our people never ceases to amaze me.

Other Projects

National Filipino Food Conference in Manila is proposed for March 2013 to provide culinary professionals and other sectors of society an overview of our culinary heritage and how it is intertwined with the state of human and environmental health in the country.  The conference will report on the status of our community kitchen projects and identify future strategies for the ASA to reach its goals.  It is further proposed that the results of this conference be presented in another conference in New York City to be hosted by the Asian/ Pacific/ American Institute of New York University sometime October 2013.  The ASA views this opportunity for dual conferences an effective way to bring our efforts and concerns in line with those of the international community.

Books/ Videos/ TV shows – as we gather our research data on our culinary heritage, we will be making our findings available to both scholars and the public through smaller publications (regional food books, monographs on heirloom dishes or ingredients, family recipe cookbooks, etc) and cooking shows through video to be released on the web or through television shows.

Archiving / New Media Presence – we intend to digitize our research so that the data can be accessed by scholars, researchers and the inquiring public through our website/database.

Making tapuy, local rice wine in Ilocos Sur near the foothills of the Cordilleras sharing this tradition with the indigenous people who live in the mountains.

Who We Are

Amy Besa, President of the Ang Sariling Atin Culinary Heritage Institute, is presently based in New York City and uses her present restaurant, Purple Yam, as a platform to promote Filipino food abroad.  Her husband, Chef Romy Dorotan, along with the restaurant, have been the subject of many positive reviews and feature articles in US publications.

Executive Committee

Melanie Narciso, Assistant Professor, Institute of Human Nutrition and Food, College of Human Ecology, University of the Philippines, Los Baños.  She travels around the Philippines to document the diets and food practices of Filipinos as a part of locally and internationally funded nutrition researches.  Her latest research involves the participatory development of recipes among mothers utilizing locally available techniques and ingredients in Camarines Sur, Zamboanga and Iloilo.

Anabelle Abaya, Founder of the Conflict Resolution Group Foundation, Inc., a non-profit, non-stock organization dedicated to promoting non-adversarial processes of conflict resolution.  She is the former presidential adviser on the peace process in the Philippines under President Gloria M. Arroyo.

Lyn Besa-Gamboa, President, Negros Cultural Foundation.  She has spearheaded many efforts to preserve not only historical homes in Bacolod and Silay, Negros Occidental, but also the kalan-unon and native dishes of the region.

Neal Oshima, an award winning photographer for many food books published both in and outside the Philippines.  He is the photographer of Memories of Philippine Kitchens.

Community Kitchen Committee (for the Marina Clinic in Dauin, Negros Oriental)

Dr. Edgardo Rodriguez, Dean of the College of Business, Enderun Colleges.  A native of Dumaguete and a graduate of Silliman University, he will lead a team of Enderun students in developing a business plan to build a sustainable community kitchen and develop livelihood projects for barangays in Dauin.

Edi Sian is a businessman with extensive experience in international microfinance and microenterprise investing.  His role with the ASA is to develop local social enterprises that focus on using market solutions to solve societal problems.

Erwin Lizarondo – Professor, College of Business, Enderun Colleges.  He is mentoring a group of culinary students from Enderun (aka the Kawali Kings) in developing modules to teach basic culinary skills along with sanitation and safety codes to mothers to improve the health and nutrition of their children and families.  They will also develop marketable recipes for a livelihood program within these communities.

Dr. Michael Tan, Dean of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of the Philippines Diliman. He will lead a group of researchers in developing a sound methodology documenting the flavours of the locality and in implementing the research aspect of the community kitchen project.

Selection of kakanin delicacies from Bacolod. In the middle is a tamale wrapped in corn husk, more closely related to the Mexican tamale and different from the Pampanga tamales.

Board of Advisors: (partial list)

Philippines

Ma. Dolores Romualdez-Colayco, Founding Member, Culinary Historians of the Philippines (CHOP)

Yvette Fernandez, Editor-in-Chief, Town and Country Philippines

Tom Bascon, Chef

Bea Misa, owner, Ritual

Nana Ozaeta, Editor-in-Chief, Food Magazine

Carla Pacis, Professor, De La Salle University

Ige Ramos, Editor-in-Chief, Sans Rival magalogue for Rustan’s supermarket

Tricia Tensuan, Vice-President for admissions and external relations, Enderun Colleges

Ramon Uy Jr (Chin Chin), Co-Founder, Fresh Start Organics / President, ONOPRA (Organik na Negros! Organic Producers and Retailers Association)

JJ Yulo, Founder. Choreographer. GRO. Pinoy Eats World

Tanya Yuson, Film and TV Producer/Director

United States

Jack Tchen, Founding Director, Asian Pacific American Institute, New York University

Patrick Martins, co-Founder, Heritage Foods USA, founder of Slow Food USA

Alex Orquiza, Doctoral Candidate, Department of History, The Johns Hopkins University

Adlai Amor, Silliman University Alumni Association; Bread for the World, DC

Alice Flores Mercado, Silliman University Alumni Association

United Kingdom

Regina Lim, Associate Lecturer and Researcher, Department of Planning and Urban Design Faculty of Technology, Design and Environment, Oxford Brookes University

For more information about the ASA, please contact Amy Besa at acbesa49@gmail.com

Making kalamay - ground sweet rice with brown sugar and coconut milk -- a delicacy of Ilocos Sur.

Photos of our culinary traditions courtesy of Neal Oshima

Chocolate souffle and Great Champagne for New Year's Eve

We have an incredible menu for you on New Year’s Eve.  This will also be an a la carte menu just like our Noche Buena which was a huge success at Purple Yam (although some of our regulars missed the prix fixe menus of previous years).

We have VERY fresh oysters that will be delivered to Manhattan on Dec 30 from Walrus and Carpenter Oysters Community-Supported Aquaculture (CSA) grown in the pristine waters of Ninigret Pond, Charlestown, RI that Romy will place on a bed of freshly squeezed pomegranate ice.  We will reprise our Lechon Duroc pork belly with crispy skin and melt in your mouth meat and our pork shank osso buco which won many hearts during our Thanksgiving dinner.  Other choices: squab, pan seared scallops and Pedmontese Beef in Brunei curry.  Cap the night with Champagne (we offer Joel Falmet Brut and Guy Lamandier Brut, NV) along with that chocolate souffle.

But best of all, we look forward to seeing many of our friends from all the years of celebrating the holidays at Cendrillon in SoHo.  So many good memories of toasting the bubbly to welcome the new year!

To make a reservation, call (718) 940-8188 or email Amy at acbesa@prodigy.net.

New Year’s Eve Menu,   December 31, 2011,  5:30 – 11:00 pm

Happy New Year / Manigong Bagong Taon!

Appetizers

Oyster Kinilaw with pomegranate ice  $ 10

(our oysters are from the pristine waters of Walrus & Carpenter Aquaculture, Ninigret Pond, Charlestown, RI)

Cured tuna noritaco,  $ 12

(Noritaco is deep fried seaweed painted with sweet rice paste)

Blood sausage (heritage pork) and apple tart,  $ 10

Razor clam chowder, $ 11

Main Courses

Lechon Heritage (Duroc) pork belly  $28

With grilled calf’s liver sauce

Pan seared scallops with hijiki and leeks with brown rice noodles,  $ 25

Pork Osso Buco with apricots,  $25

Grilled peppered squab, $26

With sweet potato and taro gratin

Beef Shortrib adobo with burnt coconut cream,  $28

Crispy fried grouper with pickled kumquat & ginger, $ 25

Desserts, $ 10

Chocolate soufflé

Pear clafoutis with pear & quince jelly ice cream

Bibingka (rice cake with French feta and Gouda)

Pineapple bread pudding with palm sugar ice cream

Taste the best oysters one can possibly get from the Northeast. Available in NYC only because Walrus and Carpenter Oysters CSA deliver to NYC on certain days only. Hopefully, they can do this more frequently as word spreads of their incredible oysters.

Pork Shank Osso Buco. We served this during Thanksgiving and some of our friends have been dreaming about this ever since.

Grilled Squab which Romy will grill with a light coat of crushed black peppercorns.

Sweet Potato and Taro Gratin. One of my fave side dishes to be served with the grilled peppered squab.

Pan seared scallops which will be served on a bed of brown rice noodles. Photo credit: Neal Oshima

Let’s all raise a toast to welcome 2012 and hope that this really is the start of better times for the country and all our friends wherever they may be.

Happy New Year to all our friends and loved ones!  Hope to see all of you soon!

We will be open New Year’s Day with a different a la carte menu

from 11 am – 9 pm.

Crispy Seabass with pickled kumquat and ginger

YES!  We are open on New Year’s Day so come and spend the first day of 2012  with us.

This time, we feel that 2012 is going to be that breakthrough year that we had been anticipating for the last 3 years.  Times are tough and so many friends are struggling.  This year we look forward to the annual conference of the International Assoc of Culinary Professionals (IACP) which will be held in NYC in the spring.  I will be in a panel on mainstreaming Asian cuisines in the US (representing what is going on with Filipino food here in the US and in the home country).  In May, we are expecting the release of the new and revised edition of our cookbook, Memories of Philippine Kitchens which will now reflect Purple Yam recipes.  I also look forward to forging deeper relationships with the US food movement to support my advocacy of Ang Sariling Atin Culinary Heritage Institute (ASA) to raise funds towards building community kitchens in poor communities in the Philippines.  Our goal is to use the concept of culinary preservation towards promoting better health and nutrition for Filipinos wherever they may be.

For reservations, call (718) 940-8188 or email Amy Besa at acbesa@prodigy.net

New Year’s Day Menu,   January 1, 2012,  11:00 am – 9 pm

Happy New Year / Manigong Bagong Taon!

Appetizers

Mung bean pancake (nok du jun), $ 8

Ukoy (shrimp & vegetable fritters)  $ 9

Pancit Molo (pork & shrimp dumplings in chicken broth), $ 9

Duk Guk (Korean lunar new year soup),  $ 9

(Korean rice cakes, nori, sliced omelet, scallions in brisket broth

To know more about Duk Guk, see this blogpost on it.)

Cured tuna noritaco, $ 12

(Noritaco is deep fried seaweed painted with sweet rice paste)

Blood sausage (heritage pork) and apple tart, $ 10

Razor clam chowder, $ 11

Eggs & Garlic Fried Rice

Beef Tapa (air dried beef), $ 13

Longaniza (heritage pork sausages wrapped in caulfat), $ 13

Sisig, $ 12

(Sizzling pork cheeks, jowls, ears with onions, chilies and lime juice)

Home cured (heritage breed) Piedmontese corned beef, $ 16

Main Courses

Chicken Inasal, $ 16

(grilled chicken marinated in Philippine kalamansi lime juice)

Bibimbap with seafood, $21

(mussels, clams & shrimps)

Lechon Heritage (Duroc) pork belly  $25

With grilled calf’s liver sauce

Pork Osso Buco with apricots, $ 25

Nasi Goreng with lamb skewers,  $23

(Indonesian fried rice with homemade sambal)

Crispy fried seabass with pickled kumquat & ginger, $ 24

Piedmontese brisket (heritage) adobo with burnt coconut cream,  $26

Desserts, $ 9

Pear clafoutis with pear & quince jelly ice cream

Bibingka (rice cake with French feta and Gouda)

Persimmon bread pudding with palm sugar ice cream

(desserts from regular menu available)

Lechon Duroc Pork Belly - so sweet and moist with crispy skin

Heritage Pork Blood Sausage with apple tart

Homemade Purple Yam beef tapa cured with kalamansi juice

Romy's homemade specially brined corned beef from Piedmontese brisket (another heritage breed). Even though heritage meats are a lot more expensive than regular meats, we put them on our menu so that you can taste what heritage meats are and that we support all those farmers out there doing the right thing with food.

Haegeen's special Bibimbap using heirloom rice from the Philippine terraces. This time she will top the rice with seafood.

Heritage pork sausages wrapped in caulfat and fried

Clafoutis are classic French custardy cakes which use ground almonds as a base. They are traditionally made with cherries. But other fruits can be used as well. Romy is using pears and pairing the clafoutis with homemade quince ice cream from his own quince jellies.

We look forward to seeing you on New Year’s Day and even more throughout 2012.  For this year, our theme should be “looking out for each other.”  That is a Filipino value that I cherish along with many other good old American values that made this country such a wonderful country to be in.  Happy new year to all our dear friends and family!

Photo credit: Neal Oshima except for corned beef and clafoutis which were taken by Amy Besa.

]]> http://www.purpleyamnyc.com/spend-a-leisurely-new-years-day-2012-at-purple-yam/feed/ 0 http://www.purpleyamnyc.com/indonesian-specials-at-purple-yam-mon-dec-26/ http://www.purpleyamnyc.com/indonesian-specials-at-purple-yam-mon-dec-26/#comments Fri, 23 Dec 2011 23:23:34 +0000 Amy Besa http://www.purpleyamnyc.com/?p=951

Ratih Norojono is our special Guest Chef, day after Christmas, Dec 26

Regional Indonesian Dishes from Lombok and Jogjakarta by our special Guest Chef, Ratih Norojono

Come join us at Purple Yam for a very rare treat.  Our very dear friend, Ratih Norojono, claims she is just a housewife.  But when we met her in Manila where she and her husband where stationed by the ADB for many years, the expat Indonesian community in Manila pointed to her as just “one of the best Indonesian cooks ever.”  And that is true as I was one of the lucky people to have been able to taste her cooking then.  Now she and her husband are stationed elsewhere and our friends in Manila miss her cooking very much.  When she wrote me that she will be spending the holidays in Brooklyn to be with her children, I was not going to pass up the opportunity to have her cook with us at Purple Yam.

Ratih will be cooking 3 classic traditional dishes: two from Lombok and 1 from her hometown in Jogjakarta.  She will also be doing two Indonesian rice desserts which are totally addictive because they use palm sugar, one of the most delicious things that Mother Nature ever gave us and might soon head to extinction because these sugars are hard to harvest and do.

Call (718) 940-8188 or email Amy at acbesa@prodigy.net for reservations.

Ratih’s Specials at Purple Yam

Ayam Taliwang (grilled butterflied chicken with sambal) from Lombok, an island located east of Bali known as the “unspoiled” Bali.  The sambal used here normally  uses trassi (the Indonesian version of fermented shrimp paste), but Ratih prefers using the Filipino bagoong.  So many Filipinos will like this.  But sambal is a paste using a lot of chilies, so this menu is on the spicy side.

Ayam Taliwang - Ayam means chicken in Indonesia. And this chicken is marinated in lemon, leiser (an Indonesian root that is related to ginger) and salt.

Plecing Kangkung (blanched water spinach or kangkong in Tagalog) also from Lombok.  The kangkong is served with bagoong-chile sambal and sprinkled with grated coconut and fried peanuts.

Plecing Kangkung is traditionally served with the ayam taliwang. Served with bagoong chili sambal.

Terik Daging (stir fried beef in spice and simmered in tamarind and coconut milk) from Ratih’s hometown, Jogjakarta located in Central Java.  This is closely related to the beef rendang of Sumatra.

Terik Daging - Daging means beef in Indonesia. Ratih says that dishes from Jogjakarta tend to be sweeter because of the use of coconut milk while Lombok dishes are salty because of the use of bagoong.

Desserts:

Klepon – sticky rice flour balls mixed with pandan extract filled with palm sugar. We would like to credit this beautiful photo of Klepon to Dita W. Ichwandardi of Indonesiaeats.com.  Thanks!

Klepon - this is so delicious that one is never enough! Very simple to make, too.

Lopis – Triangle rice cakes coated in grated coconut served with palm sugar sauce

Lopis - the royalty of rice desserts from Indonesia, in my opinion. Takes 3 hours at least of simmering the "suman" or rice cakes wrapped as a triangle in banana leaves.

Ratih Norojono - chef extraordinaire from Indonesia

We thank Ratih for being so generous with her time in New York City.  But she loves to cook so sharing the secrets of her Indonesian culinary heritage is always a treat for her.  Lucky us!  It is so hard to find people like Ratih whose palate is so fine and whose culinary skills reflect all that is good from her country, Indonesia.

To all those who are curious about Lombok and Jogjakarta, you can check out these links:  Lombok, an island east of Bali and Jogjakarta, a major tourist destination in Central Java in Indonesia.

We know that this is the day after Christmas and all of you are probably recuperating from eating too much over the weekend, but come on over to Purple Yam and get a taste of authentic regional Indonesian food.  Calling all Indonesians out there who are homesick for their food.