How to Cook Tuna Kilawin

Just like everyone else in the world, Filipinos love drinking alcohol or beer with friends during special occasions. In fact, on almost every occasion and holiday, alcohol is NEVER not served. But while it’s not unique to the Philippines alone, there’s something distinct in how we do it. That is, we always serve beer with a “pulutan“. In today’s post, we’ll teach you how to prepare a specific type of dish. You’ll learn how to cook Tuna Kilawin.

Let’s Define Some Words

Pulutan is a Tagalog word, which I think has no direct translation to English. Macmillan Dictionary has even included it in their word list in 2013. It is defined as, “small amounts of food eaten with alcoholic drinks, especially beer.”

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Anything can be a pulutan; chips, Cornick, and fruits. But the most popular is kilawin – small pieces of raw or half-cooked meat/ fish that we soak in vinegar and condiments.

Preparing any type of kilawin is very easy. It is done through the Kinilaw method. And what does that mean, you say? It’s a method of cooking or preparing a raw seafood dish with the use of vinegar and lemon/ calamansi. This cooking method is native to the Philippines, which you can also use to prepare meat and vegetable dishes.

Ingredients

As with anything in life, we always have to be prepared. So before we get started, here are the things you’ll need to have:

• Canned or fresh tuna (cubed)

• Lemon juice or calamansi

• 6 pcs chili pepper (chopped)

• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1/2 teaspoon ginger powder

• 1/4 teaspoon white sugar

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• black ground pepper (optional)

Instructions

• First, wash the fresh, cubed tuna. For canned tuna, drain the sauce first and let it dry for a bit.

• Then mix lemon or calamansi juice, salt, garlic powder, ginger powder, and sugar. Mix well.

• Add the cubed tuna. Gently toss to blend it well with the vinegar mixture.

• For canned tuna, drain the sauce first and let it dry for a bit.

• Next, add chili pepper and the black ground pepper.

• Finally, refrigerate for at least 1 hour. (Other variations sauté the tuna before refrigerating. But this is optional.)

And there you have it! Your very own pulutan. Now that you know how to cook Tuna Kilawin, you can start sharing it with friends in your drinking session. And if you liked this article, why don’t you go ahead and check out the others? Learn how to cook Eggplant Omelet here.