Midnight Express: Sinful talangka rice with crablets and healthy bittermelon salad make a good match 

This week's last two Midnight Express on Saksi featured dishes that were vastly different from each other.

Talangka rice with crablets is so heavenly that it's sinful, while bittermelon salad is so healthy that it's good for your heart. But will these two dishes make a perfect match? 

 

Talangka rice with crablets, Kapampangan's sinful and heavenly dish 

 

 

The high in cholesterol but delicious talangka rice with crablets is an original Kapampangan recipe. According to Chef Gino Castro, in the days before refrigerators, Pampangeños thought of mixing rice with crab fat to prevent spoilage. 

 

Since fresh talangka is harvested once a year (every September) and is available for a few months, many Pampangeños cure the seafood to preserve it—allowing them to enjoy the dish for the rest of the year. 

 

To make this dish, make fried rice with Spanish sofrito—basic tomato sauce usually added to most Spanish dishes—and cured crab fat. Sprinkle with kinchay or Chinese celery. Meanwhile, the crablets are to be rolled in flour before deep frying. Sprinkle a few calamansi drops to lessen the lansa.

 

"Para akong kumakain ng chicharon at rice," said host Mikael Daez during his taste test. 

 

"Ang talangka rice yung tipong sinangag yung ang sarap lang kainin at papakin tapos sinamahan mo pa ng isang crisp. Tayong mga Pinoy, ang hilig natin sa mga mala-pulutan na pagkain eh at yung mga yun kinakain natin pang dinner, lunch, at minsan midnight snack," he added.  

 

Bittermelon salad to go with high-cholesterol dishes 

 

After feasting on talangka rice with crablets and high-cholesterol dishes, why not eat something healthy like bittermelon salad or ampalaya salad?  

 

You need onions, sugar, salt, sesame oil, sesame seeds, olive oil, balsamic vineger, soy sauce, pepper, cucumber, siling labuyo, cornstarch—and ampalaya, of course.

 

Cut the ampalaya in small pieces, add salt and roll in cornstarch. Fry in sesame oil and add the dressing made from onions, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, pepper, and sugar. Add sesame seeds and cucumber, and you'll have a salad to go with your favorite oily dishes! 

 

During his taste test, Mikael shared,"Yung flavors niya saktong-sakto dahil walang isang lasa na umaalsa o bumibida masyado. Parang naghahalo-halo lahat balanseng-balanse lahat at masarap." — Trisha Macas/VC, GMA News