Showing posts with label coconut palm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label coconut palm. Show all posts

December 17, 2010

puso (plain rice)


puso/pu-sô, pusò / Cebuano and Boholano staple [n.] palm-wrapped rice. Rice cooked in the heart-shaped or diamond-shaped woven coconut palm. 

This puso is unsweetened and unflavored, starchy and bland, often taken as a pair to sud-an (main dish called viand by Filipinos, any dish paired with rice, bread, or other starch food) served and eaten similar to kan-on (steamed rice).

Other local names:

  • patupat in Capampangan
  • bugnoy in Ilonggo [Hiligaynon]
  • tamu in Tausug 


The rice is cooked in a heart-shaped or diamond-shaped pouch of a woven coconut palm. 
The palm used in weaving the packaging pouch is the young and newly sprouting leaves of coconut, preferably those that are still whitish-yellow in color. It's the same kind of coconut palm used on Palm Sunday by the devotees of the Philippine Catholic churches.

The hanging puso at the Fishport in Danao City, Cebu

The tukog (midrib) is removed and the long strip of palm’s blade is skillfully woven into a diamond-shaped packaging, about the size of an adult human's fist, then half-filled with rice grains. 

Weaving a ball of palm requires instruction from a skilled weaver and must be practiced well to perfect the shape, size, and tightness of woven strips. 

Through a narrow opening between the overlaying strips, the palm ball is half-filled with bugas humay (hulled rice grains). It is important to keep some space inside to give the rice space to expand inside when cooked. To cook, the filled palm balls are placed in a cooking pot and then filled with water equivalent to the total measurement of all the rice grains used. 

Cooking is simply done by boiling until all the water is absorbed. The absorption would cause the grains to expand and fill all the space inside the woven palm ball. When the rice is tender, puso is already cooked.

Puso at the Taboan in Inopacan, Leyte

To serve, puso is sliced into halves and the mold of cooked rice is taken out and eaten either by picking it by hand or cut it further into chunks and scooping the lumps with a spoon.


A basket of puso at the Public Market in Iligan City, North Cotabato

In eateries and barbecue stands in Visayas, puso is sold either hanging or laid on the counter of food stalls. 

Visayan folks fondly called it pusô because they likened its shape to the red banana flower bud called by the same name as púsò in Cebuano, Boholano, and Waray

Puso being sold at the Taboan (trading marketplace) in the Reclamation Area in Inopacan, Leyte

This Cebuano puso is unsweetened and unflavored, starchy and bland, often taken as paired with sud-an (ulam in Tagalog) like the usual steamed rice. It's unlike the Hiligaynon puso of Panay, Capiz which is sweetened with lots of latik sa nipa (nipa palm syrup). But both are called puso after the "pusò sa saging" ("púsò ng saging" in Tagalog) in reference to their shape and not because the banana flower bud is hanging. It was a mistake that puso rice is named after the "heart" known in Tagalog as puso. Notice the accent used in Cebuano and Hiligaynon (pusò/pósò) compared to Tagalog (púsò). In Visayas, a banana flower bud is commonly called pusò or pósò. While a “heart” in Cebuano and Ilonggo/Hiligaynon is called kasíng-kásing, not puso. Hiligaynons often used "tagiposóon" to refer to one's heart. Tagiposóon is derived from pósò (banana flower bud). Thus, tagiposoon would mean "the poso-like" organs of humans and animals.

Most writers, particularly those who are not from Visayas or Mindanao, would call puso "hanging rice" in their write-ups or articles when writing in English. But the truth is, puso is more often displayed and sold as being laid on the table or counter. When dining, puso is not also served hanging or to dangle on the table, but on the plate or tray. It so happened, that those being hung on display are most noticeable than those laid on the counter or table. "Hanging rice" is quite a misnomer for puso. It would better be called puso as "palm-wrapped rice," being rice cooked in woven coconut leaf.

Tamu sold at a Tausug restaurant along Rizal St. in Zamboanga City. The attendant slices it into chunks for the satti.
Pieces of sliced puso served at Dwino's Grill in Ozamiz City in Misamis Occidental province.
All photos by Edgie Polistico in this blog are copyrighted. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.




If you liked this post and our site, share it.

Let us know your opinion on the subject. Feel free to comment in the comment section, below. It is important for us to know what you think.

Tell us what other topics you would like us to write, share, and discuss about.





For more about Filipino food, see  this Philippine Food, Cooking, and Dining Dictionary. It is OPEN and FREE.




Continue to follow my blogs. You can also follow and learn more by joining us in our Facebook group. Have more bits and pieces about our kind of food, ingredients, and ways of cooking, dining, and knowing food culture across the 7,641 islands of the Philippines.

Encouragement and enthusiasm are not enough. I also need moral support, prayers, and anything else that can uplift my spirit and keep my good reasons. Keep them coming. All I know is that I am happy with what I am sharing and giving away. If you are pleased and happy with what I am doing, just smile and please share the happiness. Keep sharing and include to share the PHILIPPINE FOOD ILLUSTRATED. I feel energized when my blog becomes one of the reasons why you are happy and smiling.

Edgie Polistico

 

HELP ME. I NEED YOUR SUPPORT TO KEEP THIS BLOG GOING





Your contribution will help fund Edgie Polistico's research and development of Pinoy dictionaries.

CLICK HERE on how else to help this project

Help Me

Help Me
This will help Edgie Polistico continue his research and post more in this blog. Your contribution will help fund Edgie Polistico's research and development of Pinoy dictionaries. More discoveries, information, and knowledge will be shared to you and to others because of your generosity. Thank you for giving.

EDGIE'S FORBIDDEN PAGES

USE THIS FREE food dictionary now:

MAIN PAGE

MY COOKING and RECIPES