So what do I have "cooking" for such wonderful people at the start of a brand new year?!?! Why only the best that Cebuano cuisine can offer: I give you Bam-i. (Nope, this is not the Cebuano version of W. Disney's "Bambi".) Bam-i is a soupy noodle dish bursting with flavor that can only be described as "Lami kaayo!" (delicious) .
My first encounter with "Bam-i" was at my first Noche Buena (Christmas dinner) as a new member in my husband's family. There was the usual fare of ham and cheese and tsokolate. But in their home, Bam-i was the most welcomed treat. It's aroma and warmth was enough to drive the chills out of one's bones.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxox
The following recipe was taught to me by my mother-in-law. This recipe has been passed on from mother to daughter from one generation to the next. If you have done some cooking or messing around in the kitchen, you will know that a good cook does not relay on exact measurements. She (or he) uses her senses-- smell, taste, touch, sight and even hearing. Measurements are at best estimates or guide-- so trust your senses and let's begin.
Bam-i ni Mommy Janet
Ingredients:
1/2 k kasim
1 chicken breast
1 small onion, quartered
1 c shelled small shrimps
1c shredded dried squid-- the rounded one, not the elongated one
1/2 c tengga sa daga (mushroom)
1 small pack of miki (egg noodle)-- about 1/2 k
300 grams of sotanghon (glass noodle)
1 Knorr chicken cube
1 med. onion, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
some cooking oil
soy sauce and/or patis (fish sauce)
salt, pepper
green onions, sliced
Preparation:
First, you got to have a lot of soup stock. So boil the chicken and the pork in 5-6 cups of water with a small onion and a pinch of salt. Once the meat is tender; remove from stock and set aside to cool. Once cooled, shred the chicken meat and cut the pork into thin strips.
Soak the mushroom in some water and when soften cut into strips as well.
Shell and de-vein the shrimps.
Ready the onion and the garlic by slicing them thinly.
Soak the sotanghon.
Cooking:
Saute the garlic, then the onion in a little oil. Follow this with the knorr cube, shrimps, the chicken and the pork. Add the squid and the mushroom. Then add enough stock to cover. Simmer over low flame until flavours have blended.
When serving time is almost near, add the miki and the sotanghon (drained of it's water) to the soup. Check that your soup does not dry out. If it does, add the reserve stock. Stir and season with the soy sauce, salt and pepper.
Serving:
Put this noodle soup in a pretty bowl and sprinkle sliced green onions on top. Serve with pride.
Tips:
• Knorr cubes may be omitted. Although these magic cubes does add the necessary kick (maybe because of the MSG).
• To have more stock on hand, you could boil some chicken back and neck pieces and reserve the resulting stock.
• To devein shrimp, after shelling slit the back and remove the black vein. This is the shrimp's intestine (yuk!)
• As you will realize at the end of the cooking experience, noodles tend to soak up the broth in which it has been placed in. So it is important to have on hand extra soup stock. To guarantee that this is a soupy dish and not some ordinary pancit guisado creation, do not add the noodles until close to serving time so that the noodles will not have time to soak up the stock.
• Use a scissors to cut the squid into match stick strips.
• You may increase, decrease or omit the amount of meat (pork, chicken, shrimps, squid) depending on your preference.
Here's hoping this soup warms up your spirit and jump starts your year in the right direction.
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