By Penelope A. Domogo, MD“Whatever is left of the uncooked tengba is covered and can be used in the future, even on ordinary days. Usually, vegetables like gabi leaves or camote tops or pechay is added to the tengba so it acts as flavoring and thickener. One can also make tengba for everyday use.”
By the time this paper is out this Sunday, Besao municipality in Mountain Province, will be celebrating the last day of its town fiesta, Ubaya Festival. It has become a tradition that there is a community lunch on the first day which we call “tepeng” (the indigenous potluck of the iBesao) where everybody from the barangays and guests are welcome. And I mean, everybody. We welcomed ourselves last Thursday and had our fill of yummy tengba and other foods prepared by the LGU and the senior high students of Besao National High School. No need for an invitation so if you happen to be in Besao at this time, feel free to partake of the home-cooked lunch. Or you can plan your itinerary so that you be in Besao during the opening day of the fiesta. One common dish that is served here is the “tengba”, the signature dish of Besao. Tengba is very specific to Besao.
Tengba is what miso is to the Japanese. It is fermented ground rice with river crabs. Same consistency and similar umami flavor and scent. “Umami” is known as the one of the 5 basic tastes- aside from sweet, sour, salty, bitter. Umami is rich and meaty even in dishes that have now meat. It is savory and deep, thus adding complexity to the food. Umami was discovered in Japan in 1908 by Dr. Kikunae Ikeda who found that glutamate is responsible for this taste. Glutamate is a natural amino acid. That’s why sometimes “tengba” is called the Igorot vetsin. MSG or monosodium glutamate is popularly called “vetsin” and it is an artificial flavor enhancer and some people are sensitive to it so it is not recommended. Umami is naturally present in fermented and aged foods like tengba, miso, soy sauce, tofu. Because it is fermented, tengba also contains probiotics which are good for gut health, digestion and immune booster. It also contains protein and because of the crabs, it contains Omega-3 fatty acids which are good for heart and brain health. It is also rich in calcium, zinc and iron which are good for bone health and immunity. Fermentation predigests rice and the crabs, making absorption of the nutrients easier. In other words, tengba is a very healthy food.
The base of tengba is rice while miso is bean-based. There are many variations of making tengba and here’s one from my niece:
Ingredients: 4 kilos rice
1 ganta freshwater crabs
1 kilo rock salt
Water, boiled and cooled
Procedure: Wash the crabs. Add salt and mix. Put this mixture in a closed container for 1 week. By this time, the crab-salt mixture would be watery. Then add the ground rice and mix well. Add water if necessary to have the consistency of pancake batter. Cover this untouched in a cool dry place for about a month. A dark liquid will cover its top and this prevents the tengba from getting molds. If it’s ready to use, it will have a nice smell. This tengba can keep covered for a year or even more. You can refrigerate it.
You can cook this into thick or thin soup or gravy like. Just add water and keep mixing while cooking or else the rice starch will stick to the bottom of the pot. No need to add salt as this is salty already. This is the main food (aside from rice) of the newly-delivered mother and our forebears have observed that with this, the mother is able to produce enough breastmilk for her newborn. Remember, in the past, all babies were breastfed and no baby died because of lack of breastmilk.
Tengba is also eaten by everybody. In Besao Proper, the indigenous practice is for the family of the newborn (usually with the grandma as the chief chef) to cook tengba once the baby is born and this is fed to community members who come to welcome the baby and give gifts. They can eat in this house 3x a day until the baby’s cord falls off. So imagine the big pot of tengba and rice in the kitchen. Fresh pork or etag (smoked salted pork) is usually added to the tengba but it can be cooked as is. Nowadays, fried garlic may be added to the mixture.
Whatever is left of the uncooked tengba is covered and can be used in the future, even on ordinary days. Usually, vegetables like gabi leaves or camote tops or pechay is added to the tengba so it acts as flavoring and thickener. One can also make tengba for everyday use.
By the way, the quality of the tengba depends a lot on the crabs. The best crabs are reportedly those that come from Balas-iyan River in the boundary of Besao and Ilocos Sur. The quality of the other ingredients are also crucial- native rice is best and best if hand-pound. Rock or raw salt is also best. Really, nature is the best source of food and flavors, not the factory! I hope that the mining activities in the Balas-iyan area do not adversely affect the river.
Like all fermented foods, not all will love tengba at first taste. So take it slow and savor the flavor. The taste will grow on you. Just think how calcium-rich and protein-rich this tengba is and rich in probiotics like any fermented food. It is available at the agri-trade fair in Besao. Happy Ubaya Festival! Congratulations to Mayor Bryne Bacwaden and staff for a well-participated and fun fiesta! ***
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“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied gifts.” 1 Peter 4:10**
