It's July 18 and Kadayawan Festival in August is almost around the corner. Kadayawan Festival is Davao City's biggest festival, where the entire city pulls out all the stops to make the celebration grandiose and interactive. This is also called the king of festivals because it started a trend among key cities across the country to hold city-wide festivals. I thought, this would be a good month-long theme to carry: everything Davao and ethnic food.
Started in 1985 by the then Mayor Elias B. Lopez, the festival was first named Apo Duwaling Festival. A name that's simply a mash-up of Mt. Apo, ( the iconic highest active volcano in the Philippines, visible from the city's main streets), Durian ( the king of Davao's fruit basket ) and Waling-Waling, the iconic king of orchids found endemic to Mt. Apo and a symbolism of Davao City and Mindanao.
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| 2012 Kadayawan theme and logo |
It was changed after a few years into Kadayawan Festival, when people began to think that the festival was to thank an Aboriginal god by the name of Apo Duwaling for the bountiful harvest.
August also happens to be the month where all of the bountiful harvest of fruits, vegetables and all sorts of produce multiply. Such that it is not uncommon for private vehicles to park in public places and sell their own harvest of fruits. This is one festival where all of Mindanao's provinces bring their contingents to participate in the city's street dancing featuring all the known tribes and tribal dances across Mindanao. School children in their most colorful ethnic garbs and accessories move and groove to the beat of native drums and culminate in a show-stopping showdown of dance moves in front of thousands of tourists, both local and foreign in the city's main streets. Here are some pictures of the action:
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| high school boys wielding their bangkaw while the girls crouch on the side |
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| headdresses, skintone body suits and painted banana leaf hats |
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| colorful tribal costumes like these are standard |
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| at least a 2 kilometer dance path under the sweltering sun and yet, always giving their best |
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| it's hard not to want to dance along with them |
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| it's at least 37 degrees and these kids are smiling as they give their all while kneeling on the scorching pavement |
If these pictures made you feel like you want to see them in person and in action, I can totally understand. I'm a local resident and I still get excited to watch them do their thing. There's more to look forward to in Kadayawan Festival after all, not just the street dancing.
One iconic Filipino dish to match the iconic things we've been talking about, is one we call Tinolang Manok or Chicken Tinola. Basically, its native chicken, meaning, non-GMO, free-range organic chicken, boiled a few hours to tender perfection, with natural yellowish oils floating on top of the soup. Easily a winner because it has a comforting warmth, and the taste of ginger and lemon grass as one bites on tender chicken meat is an absolutely magnificent experience.
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| Chicken Tinola |
Though, it is quite acceptable to use broiler chicken parts, nothing beats the mm-mm, good! taste of healthy native chicken.
Chili leaves do not contain any capsaicin so it will not taste hot at all. It adds just the right flavor to the soup. Here's a closeup pic of chili leaves, before I removed the leaves from the stalks. Make sure to remove raw and ripe chilis so as to avoid the danger of biting into one.
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| Chili leaves with an incidental chili |
Let's make Tinola!
INGREDIENTS:
1 whole native or free-range, organic chicken, cut up into serving pieces
1 small unripe papaya, peeled and sliced
1 bundle chili leaves ( dahon ng sili), separated
1 stalk lemon grass
1 thumb-sized ginger, slced
3 cloves garlic
1 small onion, sliced
salt and fish sauce to taste
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| Chiken Tinola ingredients |
PROCEDURE:
1. Pressure cook chicken parts for 45 - 50 minutes with lots of water. Cool. Remove chicken parts to a bowl. Keep the broth.
2. In a big pot, saute the garlic in a tablespoon of oil. When brown, add the onions and ginger. when fragrant, add the cooked chicken and toss to allow the ginger flavor to penetrate the chicken. Add the broth, lemon grass and papaya slices.
3. Season with fish sauce and salt. Adjust seasonings. When the papaya is tender, add the sili leaves and cook for 5 seconds. Remove from fire, serve hot in a soup bowl.
NOTE: This is a very healthy dish, perfect for dieters, the young and the elderly and all in between. For the very young and the elderly, flake or slice the cooked chicken into cubes they can easily eat. Those of us who can handle forks and knives can handle the boney parts.
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| a bowl of Chicken Tinola |
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