Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Naga’s Pride: Siomai

If you get to visit the City of Naga in Cebu province, don’t you dare leave without tasting the city’s most celebrated foodstuff: siomai.

Siomai is actually the localized version of a Chinese food known in Japan as shūmai. The city of Naga, on the other hand, is not the first place to promote siomai on a large scale. Tisa, a village in Cebu City wherein a famous siomai entrepreneur once lived, was considered as the place where the siomai craze initially kicked off.

To indulge yourself in this meaty dumpling, just go to the Naga’s seaside plaza and look for stores offering it. Two of the most renowned siomai stores there are JB Siomai and Flor’s Siomai which, are adjacently situated just at the entrance of the plaza.

Click the images to enlarge

Date Taken: October 23, 2011
Location: JB Siomai, town plaza of the City of Naga, Philippines

Siomai with Hot Sauce

Siomai with Hot Sauce

Siomai is best dipped in its special hot sauce. The hot sauce is made of certain spices, which I’m still about to find out (LOL!). This is then mixed with soy sauce and calamansi extract to further enhance the flavor.

'Puso'

“Puso”

A typical siomai customer would not eat siomai without pairing it with rice. And speaking of rice for siomai, that which you see in the picture is the usual “rice” being offered. Translated in English as “diamond rice” or “hanging rice”, puso is more or less, a cooked plain rice wrapped in woven coconut leaves. It is typically seen hanged in a bunch in food stalls, and is opened by slicing it in the middle with a knife or small blade.

By the way, siomai and puso are eaten by hands. For sanitation purposes, food servers would offer a plastic cellophane or two to serve as “eating gloves”. I personally don’t prefer it though because it’s too environment-unfriendly. Oh well…

And aside from siomai, foods such as fried chicken, tempura and ngohiong are in demand in Naga, too.

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