"I can still taste the fried chicken we ate yesterday." I told April when she asked me what our viand would be for the next few days.
The previous holiday was a festive season. *Oily foods were overflowing, and I felt that if I would be eating another piece of chicken that day, wings would grow on my shoulder blades and I would be ready to take off.
To detoxify our tummy from the past few days I prepared Fern / Pako Salad as part of our meal in the afternoon. The first time that I tasted this salad was around six years ago and I loved it already. Back then, I never knew how to prepare this dish nor I do not have confidence in my cooking.
THE INGREDIENTS
- 1 bundle of ferns this cost 15 PHP or around a quarter dollar $.25
- Salted egg
- Onions
- Tomatoes
THE DRESSING
- Fish sauce
- Calamansi
- Vinegar ( optional)
- Sugar for a sweet taste (optional)
PREPARATION
Wash the fern leaves with running water. Once cleaned, depending on your preference, you can either leave it as it is or soak it in hot water for about two minutes. If it wasn't soaked in water aside from the bacteria that make the food tastier, the texture of the fern would be crunchy. Whereas if you soak it in hot water, the bacteria will be dead, ( less taste ) and the ferns will be softer and easy to chew. You choose on what you want no judgement or anything. If you decide not to soak it in hot water that is fine. Calamansi juice can kill some of bacteria according to my quick Google search.
I soaked the fern in hot water just to be safe and drained it afterward. April cut the onions and tomatoes into small pieces and the salted egg in half.
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I just put it all together and mixed the ingredients. For the dressing, I just squeezed two calamansi fruit, then added some fish sauce flavor and for added acidity, I also added some vinegar on the side. Depending to your preference, you can add sugar to balance the sour taste of calamansi and vinegar. I added one tablespoon of brown sugar and mixed it all together.
The bowl isn't that much of aesthetic for me so I changed the container into a flat plate that I bought at a thrift shop nearby. I bought a few items there as I want to try something new again with the photos that I am using.
I also bought some fish from my local dealer as fern salad compliments perfectly any fried fish available. I am still picky with fish thus Tilapia will always be a safe choice for me if I am buying a fish.
We were supposed to start our week strong without getting any indigestion problems but turns out that the cauldron to where we cooked our rice become empty in just a few minutes, The vegetables are light meals but accompanied by rice that is a different story.
