Posts Tagged "Talangka"

The Art of Making Tabang Talangka

I learned how to make tabang talangka as a very young girl. I would spend summers and All Saints Day holidays with my grandmother, Lola Charing (Rosario Valdes Gonzalez) in Bacolor, Pampanga. Sometimes it would be the season of talangka and seeing the whole ritual of this tiny crab being turned in crab paste (tabang talangka) was quite an adventure for me. Talangka is found in fishponds. The pond owners called them ‘singaw’ (because they come out of nowhere). When the ponds would be emptied and cleaned in preparation of the stocking of fingerlings, one would find the talangka in abundance, appearing seemingly from out of nowhere. In fact, pond owners would even poison them because they were the pests of the pond. Sacks of the talangka would be delivered to my grandmother’s kitchen then it was all hands on deck. First, the talangka would be poured into huge vats (batya), first to be rinsed and then the males would be segregated from the females. It was the tiny female crab that was needed for making this delicious paste. The males were then bound for the steamer and eaten; the prized ones were the females. It was the females with their delicious orangey fat that was needed to make the tabang talangka. In fact, one knew if the bottled paste was pure or had a mixture of male crabs by the color of the fat: if it was pale orange, then male crabs were added to it, lowering the quality of the crab paste. The more orange-y it was, the higher the paste’s quality. Nowadays, most commercial tabang talangka is a mixture of female and male talangka. Producers find it a waste to use only the female crabs, as adding male crabs into the mix add body to the paste. Also, a purely female tabang talangka becomes prohibitively expensive. Aside from segregating the males from the females, all the dead crabs would also be discarded. The major rule was: NO DEAD CRABS in the lot. This rule is rigidly observed: dead crabs had a rotten smell and would spoil the batch being cooked. Even when the crabs are ready to be squeezed, one had to smell each and every tiny crustacean just in case one dead crab escaped someone’s eye (and nose). The next step in the talangka preparation is more of an artistic approach. There is no measurement. One just knew, by looking at the tiny crabs, how much salt one had to put in to pickle the crabs. The crabs would now be divided into manageable amounts and put in huge casseroles that were covered, then vigorously shaken with both hands. I could see the crabs scrambling...

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Taba ng Talangka Sauce for Pasta (Tiny Crab Paste Sauce for Pasta)

Taba ng Talangka Sauce for Pasta (Tiny Crab Paste Sauce for Pasta)

Kapampangas love their ‘tabang talangka’ (tiny crab paste). Before it used to be seasonal; that is when the rainy season came, so did the talangka (tiny crabs). The talangka is a tiny crab; the shell is from 1 inch to 1 ½ inches wide. The fish pond owners call it ‘singaw’ (coming out of nowhere) because as they prepared their ponds for new fingerlings, the talangka would pop out of nowhere. One must gather the talangka by the hundreds just to make one cup of sautéed tabang talangka. Tabang talangka is usually eaten with steaming hot rice. Since one can eat it with rice, why not pasta. So here is a take on tabang talangka as a sauce for pasta. Because of the proliferation of bottling and canning, now one can enjoy tabang talangka even if its out of season. One finds it in Filipino stores around the world and in Supermarkets in the Philippines. Serves 6 persons. Ingredients: 4 tablespoons cooking oil 1 teaspoon crushed garlic ½ cup bottled/canned tabang talangka ¼ cup coconut milk ½ cup fish broth or water 2 tablespoons Mirin or Sake (this removes the fishy flavor of the talangka) ½ teaspoon Tabasco or chili sauce or 1 long lady finger chili (seed and chop) ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 12 pieces of prawns – peel, devein, leaving tail on 500 grams twisted pasta, pasta twirls or pasta that makes the sauce cling to it (do not use spaghetti) – follow cooking instructions of pasta Procedure: Using a skillet, over medium fire, pour 2 tablespoons of cooking oil in pan. Warm pan till it reaches 180°C. Sear prawns each side of prawn for about 1 minute; till prawns curls up on both sides. Place in pan, only six prawns at a time. Set aside and keep warm. In a medium sized cooking pan, over medium-low fire, warm pan for 2 minutes and pour 2 tablespoons cooking oil. Sauté garlic till very light gold. Add the tabang talangka, coconut milk, fish broth, Mirin, Tabasco, and ground black pepper. Stir continuously and simmer for 5 minutes. Cook pasta according to instructions on box. Put pasta in sauce and mix well. Place in serving dish and garnish with prawns. Serve...

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