Cotabato sashimi aids peace-building in Central Mindanao

COTABATO CITY — It seems that the way to feuding politicians’ hearts is also through the stomach.

A Visayan chef here invented a recipe similar to the Japanese sashimi, and named it pinakurat, which means "to frighten or shock." Now, it has become so popular that even feuding politicians can dine together in the hotel where he works and relish the dish with gusto.

Ronnie Mahusay, a long-time cook at the Estosan Garden Hotel here, said it was because of his advocacy for Muslim-Christian solidarity that he thought of concocting a recipe that can inspire unity in a city that is as culturally diverse as Cotabato.

Mahusay’s pinakurat, which he first introduced to hotel guests almost a year ago, is virtually an evolution of the tuna sashimi. In fact it was called pinakurat because the thinly sliced tuna or marlin fillets have to be glazed for three seconds in a very hot wok slightly wet with olive oil.

Sashimi is a raw, thinly cut tuna meat that is dipped in wasabe, grated ginger, spring onions and Kikoman soy sauce before each slice is eaten.

Mahusay’s pinakurat, on the other hand, is marinated for 10 minutes in the same concoction, sans the spicy and hot wasabe sauce, before it is poured into a hot wok to be "shocked" in heat.

From the wok, the thin fish slices are topped with what Mahusay calls the sarza pinakurat, or sauce made from Kikoman soy sauce, ginger, spring onions and fresh green and red peppers. Since fish is halal (permitted) in Islam, the pinakurat has fast become a favorite among Muslim residents here, including members of the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team.

"It’s delicious and very healthy. It has no cholesterol because it’s fish so I eat pinakurat as often as I can," said Macacuna Pangandaman, regional tourism secretary of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The owner of Estosan Hotel, Antonio Santos, said the pinakurat is Mahusay’s simple contribution to peace building in Central Mindanao.

Santos said some feuding politicians have lately been cordial to each other as a result of frequently seeing each other at the hotel to feast on pinakurat.

The president of the city’s tourism press corps, Regalado Tendero, news editor of the Mindanao Cross, a local Catholic newspaper here, said they now plan to use the pinakurat to promote local tourism.