Getting Festive, Filipino Style
To pull off your ownkamayanat home, follow these tips from Villamin and other experts.
Forget the family heirloom forks and get handsy this holiday season with akamayan.The Filipino feast features tables lined with banana leaves and piled with sticky rice, stewed pork,atchara(pickled papaya, carrots and daikon) and dipping sauce, and guests are invited to dig in with their hands. “Seeing people get excited about this aspect of Filipino culture makes me happy,” says Jennifer Villamin, who has been organizing a San Francisco pop-up calledPampalasafor the past year. To pull off your ownkamayanat home, follow these tips from Villamin and other experts.
1. Banana leaves:“If you want to go all out, cover your whole table in banana leaves,” says Villamin. “But for a lower lift, you can just cover some plates with the leaves.”
2. Rice: "Good old-fashioned steamed jasmine rice will do the trick,” says Nicole Ponseca ofJeepney在纽约.Go the extra mile by lining the rice cooker pot with pandan leaves to infuse the grains with grassy flavor.
3. Dips:No Filipino feast is complete withoutsawsawan.To make the allium-heavy condiment, Ponseca chops onions and garlic and adds splashes of soy sauce, vinegar, and honey or jam.
4. Meat:“Hosting akamayanfeast doesn’t mean you have to roast a whole pig,” says Yana Gilbuena ofSalo Seriesin Houston.“Grilled chickenis always a crowd fave, but stewed pork is also easy and versatile.”