Ala Eh Pansit Lomi
Ala eh, pansit
lomi!
Ala eh, pansit lomi!
“Hindi iyan lomi, pansit sariwa yan.” Says my dad to no one in particular. The
household help had just put down a bowl of piping hot thick yellow noodles.
down . ”Walang kaldo?”, dad shakes his head.
For my Barako father, there is pansit lomi and there is pansit sariwa. Same
noodles, same manner of cooking , same sahog but if it’s not pansit lomi
Batangas then its not lomi. Period. He does make an exception with the
Chinatown lomi, as long as it comes from a pansiteria of Chinese ancestry with a
Chinese name on its signboard. He cannot be blamed for being simplistic and
too particular with his favorite noodle- he has been eating it his entire life and it
is his comfort food.
Pansit lomi 101
This thick soup with fat yellow noodles was part of Ate T’s repertoire of
Batangas specialties. The smell of her boiling soup is ingrained in my childhood
food memory bank. Lola Q’s backyard of fruit trees was the stage for her soup
kitchen. Ate T used charcoal and wood fed kalans to create her soup base. There
would always be two kalans topped with calderos boiling away during her lomi
making days. One kaldero would contain the lomi caldo and another would have
kapeng barako . The boy kitchen helper was tasked to ensure that the fire was
consistent and hot enough for her soup kalans. She claims that a long simmer of
the caldo would produce the best soup. The smell of kapeng barako would be in
competition with the earthy scent from the simmering cauldron.
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The elders would be constantly warning us to stop chasing each other or the
chickens so as not to bump into anything or to be near the kalans..
I refer to Ate T as the kitchen dictator who considered the preparation of lomi a
serious undertaking . She only made lomi on days when there were a lot of
guests since she was very meticulous in its preparation.
A good lomi as pointed out by the dictator would have flavorful hot soup, yellow
noodles cooked just right and a good amount of sahog or toppings. Skill in
manipulating the three components would create a good lomi. Good lomi is
defined as the kind that barakos pine for, crave for and make festivals out of .
Authentic ala eh lomi she would emphasize would have caldo made only of pig
heads.She would add pepper, salt and some secret spice concoction to her soup
and leave it to simmer . The noodles that she used, those yellow thick kind that
measured up to a fourth of an inch should only come from within the borders of
the province itself. Ate T. would stress that the good noodles are those that come
from Rosario or Lipa.. Barako noodles she would boast was firm and was salted
just right.Ate T used the round lomi noodles while other cooks would use the flat
white ones similar to miki. Like the late kimeng, the lomi King of Batangs , Ate
T made her own kuekiam by hand whose recipe she still has not shared fully with
anyone.
There are no vegetables utilized except for green onions . The addition of
carrots, cabbages and other vegetables did not appeal to the barako mentality.
Vegetables were considered wimpy. Cassava flour was used to thicken the soup.
Although her lomi had the correct tang and salty flavor , she would set a
sawsawan platter of toyo,calamansi, sliced onions and siling labuyo in a tray for
those that wanted to personalize their bowls. Patis was a nono, it was too dainty.
It was the nuttiness and the caramel in the soysauce that gave lomi its character
and flavor - made it rich and pungent. Good lomi was salty, sweet, nutty and a
bit sour.
Ate T topped her lomi with the standard fare of fried quekiam cubes , pork head
slivers, liver bits, meatballs and chicharon. Every bowl of lomi that came out of
the kitchen was exactly the same- she used the antique soup bowls of my great
grandmother which were decorated with pale pink roses . The noodles, toppings,
and soup proportion was standardized.
Ate T would deviate from her usual style when her favorite people would be
partaking of the lomi. She gave lolo barako more chicharon, tatay barako had a
poached egg floating on top of his soup and tito A had more quekiam than the
others. You had to try to finish the whole bowl while it was still warm. Second
helpings were allowed but the same sized bowl serving would come out of the
kitchen.If you were already reaching your satiety limit and only wanted a few
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more spoonfuls you had to negotiate with someone to share the bowl. The old
folks frowned on having leftovers and being busog was not an acceptable excuse.
Lomi is not my comfort food. It is my father’s. I do not love eating it as much as
he does. He is the one with lomi cravings and schedules trips to Batangas just to
get a good bowl. He will call and ask one of the older cooks to cook for him.He
remembers how long he has last eaten a good bowl and he will tell you why only
so and so cook of my cousin inherited Ate T’s lomi skills
Just like him I am a lomi aficionado . Through the lomi I have learned that one
can be simple and stand out. I became acquainted with the notion of good and
flavorful .I became aware of quality and consistency. Memorable experiences can
be created by being one’s family and laughing, talking around a bowl of soup.
The world can be an easier place to dwell in if a piping hot bowl of lomi is
around.
