Dish Covering Lapulapu From the Age of Discovery

A celebratory dish to honor a hero and a fish

On the 500th Year of the Philippine Part of the Age of Discovery

A popular Filipino childhood fun riddle goes this way:

Q: Sino pumatay kay Magellan? (Who killed Magellan?)

A: Lapu-Lapu 

Q: At sino pumatay kay Lapulapu (Who killed Lapulapu?)

A: Kusinero (The chef)

Ask around. Nobody can really explain how the tastefully delightful fish known as Grouper came to be known locally in the Philippines as Lapulapu, the name of the Chieftain of Mactan who killed Magellan in 1521. When someone asked me the question, I jokingly replied that he killed Magellan before he became a fish. How come? To escape Magellan's men, the fastest way was to turn into a fish and swim from the river to the sea. He took his fiancée, Dalagang Bukid with him, and together they both turned themselves into a fish, whose colors were made bloody red as they swam through the blood that spilled from Magellan as he laid dying in the river. And of course, no one believed these tall tales I concocted.

But they believed me when I told them that the Lapulapu dish I concocted is uber delicious! In keeping with the country's commemoration of the 500-year anniversary of the Spanish arrival in the Philippines, the introduction of the gift of Christianity and the birth of nationhood, and the heroism of a local chieftain - here's a special dish specially prepared for this occasion:

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Ginataang Lapulapu Sa Kamias at Sigarillas Recipe

(Leopard Coral Grouper Simmered in Coconut Cream with Bilimbi and Winged Beans)

Ingredients

500 grams Lapulapu, whole, cleaned

250 grams Kamias, cut in thin slices

250 grams Sigarilyas, cut in thin slices

4 tsp of Patis balaw, adjust to taste

5 pcs of whole red chili pepper, cut in half

1 pc white onion, jullienned

5 cloves of garlic, crushed

10 grams, ginger, sliced 

400 ml of coconut cream

10 tsp coconut oil 

Procedure

1.

Saute the garlic and onion in coconut oil until golden brown.

2.

Add the ginger, then pour the coconut cream. Bring to a boil, then add the kamias and the sigarilyas.

3.

Add the chili and the ginger, then the patis balaw, adjust to taste after mixing them all into the coconut cream.

4.

Add the whole fish, and simmer in medium heat for 10 minutes and low heat in another five minutes. Best served with plain rice.

Did You Know That

• Lapulapu's name was recorded in Pigafetta's diary as Cilapulapu

• In 2019, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines' National Quincentennial Committee stated that Lapulapu without the hyphen is the correct spelling of the Mactan ruler's name based on Pigafetta's original spelling.

• The Lapulapu fish is known in English as leopard coral grouper (plectropomus leopardus), related to sea basses.

• Dalagang bukid is known in English as redbelly yellowtail fusilier (Caesio cuning). Also with a reddish color, it is similar to Lapulapu in texture and taste.

• Sigarilyas or Cigarillas is known in English as winged bean. Other names are goa bean, four-angled bean, four-cornered bean, manila bean, dragon bean. It is a tropical legume plant that must have originated from New Guinea.

• Kamias or Iba is commonly known as Bilimbi.  It is used as a souring agent for Filipino dishes.

• Red chili pepper originated in Mexico and were brought to the Philippines by the Spaniards.

• Patis balaw is a Bicol fish sauce prepared from krill, cooked in coconut cream.

Tips & Techniques

• Cut the kamias and sigarilyas in very thin slices.

• Do not overcook the vegetables, best when sigarilyas are crunchy in texture.

• Patis balaw may be substituted with patis balayan or any other type of fish sauce.