Healthy, tasty low-salt dishes

MANILA, Philippines – Food as medicine. The idea of eating delicious fare in lieu of popping tasteless pills to promote optimum well-being should be vastly appealing to all. And indeed, the idea isn’t far-fetched. While various scientific studies have supported the contention that healthy foods boost immunity, improve quality of life, and significantly increase life spans, unhealthy food choices predispose individuals to various debilitating ailments.

The Philippine Society of Hypertension has implicated excess salt in the diet as a factor in raising blood pressure. The experts say that cutting salt intake by half significantly reduces the mortality rates from hypertension. Thus, in support of promoting blood pressure control, healthy eating, and culinary creativity, Novartis Healthcare, a leading pharmaceutical company in the Philippines recently held a low-salt recipe contest. “We fully realize that a health problem like hypertension goes beyond selling medicines,” says Dr Francis Domingo, chief scientific officer of Novartis. “The preventive aspect should always be more important than treating the disease.”

The public’s enthusiastic response to the contest was heartening. Christine Liwanag, Novartis corporate affairs and market access director, says that the number of entries greatly exceeded their expectations. A total of 169 cooking enthusiasts, aged 18 to 70 — from as far north as Baguio City and as far south as Zamboanga del Sur — submitted entries. Expectedly, it was a formidable task to kitchen-test and sample all the recipes.

Eventually, the P30,000 first prize pot went to Dr. Ma. Josette Robles-Dalisay, an internal medicine specialist, for her pinaksiw na bangus belly with a twist. The second prize of P20,000 went to Ronnie Ocampo Jr., an investigator of the National Bureau of Investigation assigned in Palawan, for his Pasta Pilipino while the P15,000 third prize was won by Ateneo de Manila University graduate and future food entrepreneur Dane Chua for her lumpiang hubad.

However, do healthy and low-salt translate to flavorful? The deciding factor should always be taste. After all, the attributes of malasa at malinamnam are always important to the Filipino gourmand. At Chef Laudico’s Bistro Filipino where we were served a sampling of the winning entries, all our doubts were quickly assuaged.

We started with an appetizer of lumpiang hubad with cooked, yet crisp strips of coconut palm heart or ubod, carrots, snow peas, shrimp, and cubes of golden-fried tofu. The salt requirement of the dish was minimized by using shrimp stock, while the addition of garlic, pepper, ground peanuts, and brown sugar added a sweet-savory dimension to the dish. The lumpia was served on a bed of assorted salad greens and the various hues of the vegetables increased the visual appeal.

On the other hand, one could say that Pasta Pilipino is more contemporary; somewhat reminiscent of how pasta is cooked in European fishing villages. “I resolved to pay more attention to my health when I reached age 40,” says NBI investigator Ronnie Ocampo who says that being assigned away from home has forced him to hone up on his cooking skills. The natural juices of the mussels, clams, oysters season the angel hair pasta, while the addition of cherry tomatoes, sili leaves, and kesong puti livens up the dish even more. Surprisingly, no salt or fish sauce was incorporated during the cooking process, but the pasta was delicious nonetheless.

The twist in the pinaksiw bangus belly was in the use of balsamic vinegar, and what a difference it made! The dish was mellower than the usual acidic paksiw and the use of basil leaves added a modern zest to a traditional favorite. It was also garnished with strips of ampalaya, bell peppers, and roasted garlic.

We finished the meal with a dessert trio of suman panna cotta, Spanish chocolate and halo-halo shooters, and Christine Liwanag shared that a low-salt cookbook could be in the pipeline. Good idea. Eating is immensely more enjoyable without pangs of guilt.