Kinilaw by Glenn
INGREDIENTS
Juice
2 lemons
2 limes (kalamansi limes if available!
regular limes also ok)
1 orange
2 shallots (chopped)
1 TBSP of grated ginger
2 sliced Thai chile peppers
1 chile (could be Thai chile or jalapeno)
Tomato Ice
8 medium tomatoes (halved)
1 tbsp of lemon juice
Sriracha
1 can of Ancho Chile Peppers (we used 1 1/2 peppers)
2 pinches of salt
Garnishes
cherry or grape tomatoes (halved)
4 radishes (thinly sliced)
1 pear of the crispy variety, e.g. bosc (julienned, which is basically cutting them like match sticks)
1 oranges (chopped into chunks & 2 tbsp of zest)
1 grapefruit (chopped into chunks & 2 tbsp of zest)
2 tbsp of lemon zest
8 Thai peppers (chopped)
1/3 cup of Pomegranate seeds
1/3 cup of chopped parsley
For the Fish
1.5 lbs of fish - either sashimi grade or smoked
(Glenn usually gets his stuff at Nijiya Market in Japantown) he likes the selection such as the slightly roasted skipjack, the smoked salmon, and hamachi, but lot of different choices can work, though per Glenn, he recommends leaning toward sturdier flavors instead of subtle flavors
INSTRUCTIONS
TOMATO ICE - PREP 24 HOURS BEFORE
Take all 8 medium tomatoes and slice them in half
Place halved tomatoes onto a baking tray (I used my deep tray with a wired rack attached)
Set oven to BROIL - once it reaches 500 degrees - place in oven and broil for 10 minutes
Remove tomatoes from oven and let them cool down to the point that they are easy to handle
Once the tomatoes are cool to touch, remove the skin of the tomatoes
Place the tomatoes, lemon juice, ancho chiles, sriracha & a pinch of salt into a food processor or blender and blend until you reach a smoothie consistency
Use a strainer to separate the juice into a bowl.
Take the tomato juice and place into a tray that you can freeze
In the video, Glenn used a special ice shaver that you can easily find online or at an Asian market
Freeze the mixture overnight
JUICE PREP- MAKE RIGHT BEFORE YOU'RE GOING TO SERVE
Squeeze out the juice from the following:
grapefruit
lime
orange
lemon
Add grated ginger, shallots & a pinch of salt to the juice
and set aside
CUT THE FISH
Thinly slice the fish using a one stroke motion - you don't want to cut back and forth or else you will ruing the fish.
MIX THE FISH & JUICE
Mix the fish & the juice mix together
Let the fish sit in the juice for 5 minutes
You don't want to let the fish sit in the marinade for too long or else it will become too tough.
KINILAW DISH PREP
Cut all the garnishes
Shave the Tomato Ice using the ice machine or if you don't have one readily available, just do it the old fashioned way and use a fork to shave the ice.
Style the plates by placing the garnishes and ice however you want - make it pretty! Why not right?Transfer the fish and juice mix to the plates and serve immediately!
In the past, Glenn thought Filipino food wasn't very good and didn't have a lot of nice things to say about it.
However, he was lucky enough to have his friend Thuy (who's a professional chef herself) persuade him to give Filipino food another shot and cook with Amy Besa, owner of Purple Yam Restaurant in NYC, when she taught a class in San Francisco. After cooking with Amy, he learned how to make Filipino food that he loved, his way. His biggest take away from that experience was what it meant to make "authentic" cuisine:
Sometimes I hear people have spirited discussions about what is and is not authentic in food. For example, they’ll say that a Chinese restaurant has authentic Chinese food, or they’ll say that the food isn’t authentic. Or it could be about Italian food. Or Mexican. Or anything.
To me, authenticity isn’t quite so binary. If we’re really restrictive about it - things have to be cooked this one way - there’s no growth, no creativity, no individuality, no diversity. On the other hand, I think it’s important to understand and respect the history of something as you create. You can put yourself into a dish, you can be original, but nothing happens in a vacuum.-Glenn F.
Glenn & Amy Besa of Purple Yam NYC