“Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods.”, boomed Sister Pura’s voice in my head while I was standing in a parking lot, contemplating a grove of banana trees.  Sister Pura was my second grade religion teacher, summoned unnecessarily by my conscience  from the bottom of my morality cache.  There was really no need for me to be reminded of the ten commandments! I was just admiring banana trees, for goodness’ sake!

There are lots of banana fruits being sold in LA, but this was only the second time I had seen banana trees.  Just like the first ones I saw, these were planted for ornamental purposes.  They attempt but fail to beautify a drab parking lot on the corner of  First and Union Streets.   I just felt I had to stop by and examine them closely.  Look at the ramay (dried banana leaf) hanging down.  Do you see the bunch of fruits waiting to ripen?  They look like sab-a. It’s just like what we had back in Dumangas.  It’s perfect for utan nga ubad (vegetable dish that uses the tender inner portion of the banana trunk). It’s been two years since I had ubad with monggo or kadyos, chicken, and tanglad (lemongrass). I really wish I could make that dish here,  but there’s no ubad even in Filipino stores.  

So there I was standing in an empty parking lot before a grove of bananas, salivating at the memory of an Ilonggo dish.  I was hoping to meet the person  in charge of the place and ask if I could chop down one small plant.  If plan A doesn’t work,  I was also scoping out the area to assess the possibility of chopping down a small plant without permission and still manage to escape undetected.   No such luck.  There was nobody there except me so plan A was a no go.  Plan B had to be scrapped, too.  My moral guardian was on red alert. 

I must confess that my brief stop at that place was not motivated by pure intentions. I just wanted  ubad that I can cook with chicken, monggo, and tanglad. What’s so bad about a simple desire like that?    There’s really no need for my conscience to get all high and mighty and slap me with the tenth commandment. 

I might as well plant my own banana!

 Is this a TURAKSOY?

Ever heard of  Linagpang nga Turaksoy?  Or is it Turagsoy ? (Ka bantot nga ngalan! It sounds like something that comes out of your nose when you have a cold.)  When I was a little girl in Dumangas, Iloilo  I would listen to the AM radio everytime Manang Pelay would come to our  house to wash our clothes. I would always hear this song.

Ang siling sang nakatilaw

Sampat gid ang timplada mo

Linagpang nga turaksoy

Manamit higpon.

These days when I buy fish at Seafood City, this tune would pop up in my head and go on and on like a broken record. I’ve often wondered — what is a turaksoy?  I know it’s a fish but, how does it look?  What on earth is a linagpang? I know it’s a dish, but how do you make it? I sure would like to cook one.

No, this isn’t the kind of gulaman that we have at home in Iloilo.  All I know is that it is a large seaweed shredded into very thin strips so that, from a distance, it looks almost like our very own gulaman. I had this for dinner with some fried fish. That would be “Sampat”, perfect combination.

Reminds me of Jaro market days. We always had ensalada nga gulaman for lunch every Thursday way back when I was in High School.

How do you recreate this dish when you’re across the pacific, miles away from home, in Los Angeles? Go to any asian store and look for dried seaweeds. You’ll usually find it near the Japanese Nori. Get the thinnest shredded dried seaweed. That’s the Roxy brand. Priced at around a dollar, it’s really quite cheap. One thin pack would be good for four people. Next, you reconstitute it by immersing it in boiling water until it becomes plump and tender.  Drain. Mix with chopped tomatoes, onions, and a little ginger.  Put some shredded green  Mexican Mango (almost as good as the Indian Mango). Make sure it’s bagnas (not ripe). Sprinkle some pepper and sugar to taste. Pour some vinegar, maybe 3-5 tablespoons. The best vinegar for ensalada is rice  vinegar. It’s a little on the sweet side. I’ve always used Marukan. And voila… ensala nga gulaman. It’s a Thursday again for me and I’m having lunch  at my Lola’s house in Jaro.