Catumbal
One of the little, known pleasures of our local dining experience comes from adding chili pepper to our dishes. Its pure pungent flavor enhances the taste of every dish it touches.
Every food loving Zamboangueño would admit to a certain fondness for chili pepper. We keep a handful of it to go with our favorite gata nangka (young jackfruit cooked in coconut milk), sinigang (fish stew), kilawin (marinated raw fish) or plain sawsawan (vinegar sauce) for the asao pescao (broiled fish) and latu (seaweed salad).
Satti, a concoction of steamy hot chili sauce poured on pasty rice - cooked wrapped in coconut leaves, and eaten with bits of grilled beef or chicken on sticks, is the de facto culinary delicacy of Zamboanga, regardless of ethnic or social background.
Chili pepper is commonly used in Filipino cooking. Siling Labuyo, the small but devilishly hot pod, is the pepper variety common in the country. Besides being a popular food condiment, chili pepper leaves are also used as vegetable especially in our native chicken soup tinola. Certain regions of the country like Bicol in the North and most regions of Mindanao in the South are known to be liberal users of chili pepper in their dishes.
Chile pepper has also defined the national cuisine of many of our epicurean Asian neighbors: Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Thailand … and the list goes on. But once upon a time, oriental dishes were ugh – maybe not quite bland but very likely not as hot.
While Asia is the recognized hotbed of spices, chili pepper originated from the Americas. It is unrelated to black pepper (we call pimienta) and just so named pepper by colonizers who found its taste similar to its European counterpart. Yes, we have European explorers in the 1500’s to thank for launching expeditions in search of spices. In those days spices were as coveted goods as gold and silver. It was at the height of the spice trade when chili pepper was introduced by the Spanish from Mexico to the Philippines from whence it rapidly spread into other parts of Asia.
Chili pepper is a hardy plant and thrives untended. If you ever wondered why chili pepper plants just grow around without you cultivating them, well we have the birds to thank. Chili peppers reproduce by pollination and do it best when birds eat their seeds. Birds do not have the receptors to feel the heat of chili peppers and their digestive systems do not harm the chili seeds. They can consume mega-doses and distribute the seeds in the process.
I never grew chili peppers all my life but along with the birds, enjoyed picking the fruits year-round from my backyard. But unlike the birds, mammal-me can’t help propagate the seeds as through bird droppings.
There is a little known village in the outskirts of Zamboanga that goes by the name “Sitio Catumbal”. I wonder if indeed there’s an abundance of chili pepper in the place. Most towns are named by what can be found in profusion from there. Or perhaps it may be because the people in the place are just predisposed to eating a lot of chili peppers. On a sly thought, can it be, it may be, well, maybe - a vague allusion to the seductiveness of the locals?
Having pricked my own curiosity, I have a sudden bird’s instinct to swoop down on this village in search of chili peppers and while there, forage for what else that’s hot. But for now I’m not about to engage in more chili pepper analytics, lunch is waiting with a bunch of freshly picked chilies on the table, I’m simply going to give in to its pure palate pleasures.
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