Kubiertos

It was my dad who first brought me and my siblings to Dampa, the original one located in Airport Rd. Paranaque City. Back when I was in college, more than ten years ago, Dampa was a wet market you could easily miss even if you try very hard to find it. You had to enter a narrow street to get to the end where the wet market was. Alongside that were several open establishments that provided paluto services. Paluto meant you buy the seafood and they cook it for you, charging you a small amount for the effort (per kilo) and other condiments used in cooking and the rice you would often be inclined to order. If you happen to be on the lazy side or maybe just do not have the skills to buy fresh seafood for yourself, they can also do the marketing for you.

The dining area was located in open air establishments were mosquitos and flies would often share the table with you. That is why some tables had small lighted candles and others had people swatting flies as a task (if you can imagine). The floor was sticky and wet which would probably make many squeamish at the thought of eating there. But surprisingly that street becomes crowded and busy starting at 6PM when all the cars (and these are big expensive cars) would be arriving bearing hungry kids, families and barkadas (a.k.a the gang) ready to devour heaps of buttered shrimp and bowls of steamed rice. Back then it would only cost you about 20-30 pesos per dish you had them cooked. Of course, a big cup of rice then also only cost you about 3 bucks. The inexpensiveness of it all seemed to justify the use of your bare hands to finish everything on the table and kubiertos were reserved for serving the dishes. Sigh those were the days.

The Dampa concept became so popular that it has sprung up in different places around the city. You can now find them in places far from any body of water, nearer malls where it is very much accessible to anyone and everyone. More often these places have airconditioned areas for diners who prefer eating in closed cool places (I don’t) where the cost of food and cooking will be much higher. There is now a Dampa sa Libis, Dampa sa Ortigas, Dampa sa Cubao, Dampa sa Macapagal, and pretty much everywhere else. Even the original Dampa at Airport Rd. no longer resembles the dark narrow street of yesteryears. Now, it will be impossible for you to miss and there is a huge parking lot beside it and lights, streamers decorating the same street. Barkers or pretend parking attendants call out to cars and ask drivers for the privilege of guarding their vehicles (for a small fee of course). These days, you might have a long wait ahead of you just for parking.

Because of heavy traffic in the streets and the crowd waiting at Dampa, we have long ago decided to replicate the eating experience at home. We go out and buy fresh shrimps or crab from either Farmers Market in Cubao, Edsa Central Market or Seaside Market in Baclaran.

It took me several tries and several seafood dinners later to replicate what I feel is closes to how Buttered Shrimps are cooked and served in Dampa. The first few results turned out either very oily, very sweet and very oily, burnt, sometimes thick, and most of the time a disaster. But I was persistent an I was an inch short of asking the cook at Dampa for their famous recipe when I was able to come up with a combination that satisfied my craving.

Ingredients:
1 kilo large shrimps/prawns (last week I bought large prawns for Php400 a kilo at Seaside Baclaran)
2 cups of Royal Tru Orange soda (or something similar)
pinch of salt
1/2 cup of butter
4 cloves of garlic, minced

Procedure:
Place the shrimps in a large wok in medium to high heat. Sprinkle with salt and pour soda over the shrimps until all are slightly covered in the liquid. Simmer for 4 to 5 minutes or until the shrimps turn orange. Do not overcook the shrimp as this will make the shell very difficult to remove. Remove the shrimps from the wok and set aside.

In a separate pan, saute the garlic in butter. Once the juices of the garlic mix with the butter, pour in the remains of the soda (now flavored with shrimp juice) into the pan. Reduce until desired consistency. Pour over the cooked shrimps. Served with steaming white rice. Enjoy!

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This entry was posted on Saturday, October 4th, 2008 at 2:25 pm and is filed under Fish and Seafood, Recipes . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.