Back in 2014, I met Lara Heintz when we both worked at a startup called Ultravisual. She happened to live 4 blocks away from me, too. Naturally, she’d come over for dinner. She brought her fancy camera during a Filipino feast I put together. I was not expecting such vivid and illustrative edits of the dinner. Lara made a few GIFs of the action, too!
Filipino Food
MASARAP, a comfort food exhibition (2018)
in Events
In 2018, I put together an exhibition called MASARAP at Babycastles Gallery. Masarap is Tagalog for 'delicious.’ I used this two-week takeover to explore the complicated origins of comfort food as well as the ways we play with what we eat.
Why comfort food? In an increasingly troublesome world online and IRL, we have looked to online food delivery, food porn and various forms of self care to seek solace. This space is here to help you step back and examine your relationship with food.
Running throughout the exhibition was the Dampa Project, a reimagining of open-air fish markets in the Philippines where customers handpick their ingredients and choose what style of cuisine they want.
In this version, customers donated ingredients as their admission to select gallery activities. The object was to create a communal pantry where dishes were created and served at the closing event. An online inventory and menu was updated throughout the exhibition.
MASARAP: Opening Party on Thursday, 8/23/2018
DJ sets by Buskko and Greem Jellyfish
Comfort Nuggets by Frank Demarco
MASARAP: Indie Game Night on Saturday 8/25/2018
8pm DJ set by Business Pastel
Featuring these games:
RAD CHEF by Nick Santaniello
NOUR by Terrifying Jellyfish
you should eat breakfast by npckc
MASARAP: Board Game Night on Sunday 8/26/2018
Games: Guts of Glory, Morels, Candyland, Flapjacks & Sasquatches, Bad Medicine, and Sushi Go. Thanks to Kickstarter for lending us a few copies!
MASARAP: Comfort Food Roundtable & Potluck on Friday 8/31/2018
A potluck and roundtable discussion about comfort food through the eyes of chefs and media makers. We delved into why we crave what we crave through all five senses.
Moderated by Jenn de la Vega and featuring Simon Keough of Put A Egg On It, Wenjay Ying of Local Roots, Isha Aran, and Carol Benovic-Bradley.
MASARAP: Sutukil Dinner on Saturday 9/1/2018
A sit-down dinner focusing on the parts of Filipino sutukil style of cooking: sagwa for grilled, tuwa for stewed and kilaw for raw. Includes 3 courses and 1 refreshment.
Sutukil is the familiar practice of choosing the food you are about to eat and the different ways it can be prepared for you. It’s like when you go to a restaurant and point at a fish in the tank that you’d like to eat.
MASARAP: Closing Party & Kamayan on Sunday 9/2/2018
All the ingredients that were donated to the Dampa project were cooked and arranged in a giant banana-leaf lined grazing table where you can only eat with your hands.
Installations on view:
KUMMERSPECK translates to ‘grief bacon.’ These soft breakfast items were created to bring comfort and relief. They can be touched and rearranged any which way on its blue plate. Please take off your shoes when engaging with his meal.
BLUE PLATE is a dinner table where people can sit down and ‘feast’ with their eyes on various food porn projected onto plates.
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Pancit Molo aka Filipino Dumpling Soup
in Recipes
The only person I know that makes pancit molo is my Auntie Belinda. Whether I was 7 years old and finished playing the backyard or visiting her vacation house in the Philippines, she always had a pot of this soup ready for us kids. Pancit is one of the national dishes of the Philippines but it doesn’t have a consistent identity. Most people think of bihon glass noodles with shredded vegetables in a big foil pan. Others may have grown up with shrimp infused palabok with hard boiled eggs and crushed chicharron.
Pancit molo is Filipino dumpling soup. The dumplings are filled with very little meat or vegetable so that the dumpling wrapper wings flap gloriously and freely in the broth. Replace the filling with any dumpling mix or super finely shredded stir fry. I already had truffle edamame dumplings already made, so they are pictured above.
| Things you'll need: | |
| 1 quart of chicken broth 20 dumpling wrappers For meat dumplings: 4 sausages For vegetarian dumplings: 1/2 cup edamame, boiled 1 tablespoon truffle oil 1 teaspoon salt | 1 egg, beaten 1/4 head of green cabbage, shredded Garlic chips (recipe here!) Sesame seeds Black pepper Optional: soy sauce |
For the meat filling
Remove the skin from the sausage and form into 20 small balls.
Place a ball in the center of each dumpling wrapper, wipe the edges with the beaten egg and seal closed like a half moon.
Vegetarian dumplings
Pulse the edamame and salt in a food processor until they are broken up into small pieces.
Slowly add the truffle oil to form a smooth paste. If it does not come together, add up to 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
Scoop 2 teaspoons of edamame filling into the center of each dumpling wrapper, wipe the edges with the beaten egg and seal closed like a half moon.
To assemble
Keep the finished dumplings in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze for 20 minutes.
If you’re not making the soup right away, divide the dumplings into individual serving sizes of 5 in plastic zip bags.
To serve the soup, bring the broth to a boil and cook the dumplings for 3 minutes.
Bring the heat down to low and continue to cook until the dumplings are wrinkled in the center.
Ladle dumplings and soup into four bowls.
Top with shredded cabbage, sesame seeds, and a little pepper. If you’d like more salt, add a dash of soy sauce.
Did you grow up with pancit molo? Tell me about your version!