Tag: Pritil

Hopia from Divisoria

Sweets & Desserts
IMG_0398 1

Stuffed hopia ready to cook. Photo by P H Morton

Early this year, my English husband and I were in the Philippines. I took him everywhere from Pritil to Tutuban to Divisoria and to various branches of SM in Metro Manila including the super huge Mall of Asia, MOA for short.

My husband enjoyed the more in your face, unadorned clusters of shops around Divisoria and Tutuban. He had a fantastic time recording memories for posterity through digital photography. He was so pleasantly surprised at how friendly Filipinos were.  In the middle of traffic of cars, carts, horse-drawn carriage and pedestrians, people would stop on their tracks to pose for my husband who was the only foreigner at that time.

Thank you kapwa Filipinos for making our stay a brilliant and happy one. My husband was full of praises of you lot to his work colleagues, families, friends and just about anyone who’d care to listen. 😉

Anyway, we were with my sister and her Fil-American husband, Bert, when we got talking about the memories of eating egg pies when we were younger. I told her how much Peter love custard type of desserts; I did not have to convince Marilou, my sister.  She saw how much Peter loves Leche Flan.  Peter loved eating family size leche flan all to himself in one sitting. LOL

Marilou remembered a Chinese bakery on the top floor of Divisoria Market.

Egg pie did taste as good as it did. While  we were at that popular Chinese bakery, we watched a pastry chef cooking hopia. He made it looked pretty easy.

IMG_0399 1

Hopia Pastry Chef at work, photo by P H Morton

The cooked hopia was so delicious, I have to confess that I did not originally care for them but this year I just couldn’t get enough of these sweet bean stuffed pastries. So mouth-wateringly yummy.

Thank goodness I found that most Oriental supermarkets here in London now stock Hopia of different stuffing or flavours. But I have to say that the Divisoria hopia was far more superior in taste and texture.
Below is a youtube of how to make hopia. I find the video of the recipe and cooking instruction very easy to follow.

Enjoy. If you do happen to cook it, kindly post your efforts here.

Thanks you.

 

Pritil Market, Tondo, Manila, Philippines

Uncategorized

 

Pritil is a wet market where you can get everything and more.  They sell anything that you can possibly need.

Going to Pritil is a bit of a challenge especially to your nostrils.   You must take a deep breath as you cross the bridge over the Pasig River, which is so stagnant with floating refuse; it is known locally as the Black River.  The poor people who live right next to the river have gotten used to it.  🙁

I grew up tagging along with mother when she went to Pritil for daily marketing.  The smell of the place varies from the obnoxious to the most delicious and aromatic.  When you go to the shoes area, the smell of plastic, rubber and leather compete with one another.  I love the smell of new textile as well as the latest fashion hanging overhead.

And the corn beef smells as good as they look. The vienna sausages look perky and ready to fry or grill.  And the pinipig (special young rice which was gently roasted and pounded flat),  is absolutely heavenly.

The fish counters need getting used to.  The smell is over-powering and the sight is almost shocking with the varying sizes and kinds of fish on sale.  Their eyes staring lifelessly as they soak on ice.  There were squid, octopus, shrimps, oysters, and crabs whose feet are firmly confined in tight bindings and would now and again spew bubbles as if to show their displeasure and annoyance.

The meat place is another source of fascination.  All animal parts seem to be on sale.  From heads, feet, tails, snout, balls, intestines, hearts, livers, bladders, blood, you name it you can get it.

The fruits corner is my favourite.  Apples smell of overpoweringly delightful apple scent.  The smell actually tastes more delicious than the fruit itself, very curious.  There are papayas, guavas, grapes, chicos, bananas, dalanghita – some sort of clementine/mandarin orange, and other weird and wonderful stuff.  The smell of the jackfruit is sweetly scenting the air, making you forget the pungent fish counter.

There were also hardware at the other side of the main building and electrical shops.  And the bakeries, selling the most delicious newly baked cakes and bread like pandesal, Spanish bread, ensaimada, and other ambrosial delights.

In between the buildings, the sellers of unripe mangoes with the ubiquitous shrimp bagoong sit nonchalantly on the sidewalk knowing that shoppers will not be able to resist the sour mangoes with the fishy, garlicky bagoong.  Just the thought now of the combination makes my mouth water in nostalgia.

There are also buckets upon buckets of pearly white sago and technicolor gulamans or jelly.  They are used as part of a Filipino drink concoction that is divinely thirst-quenching.

There are also little stalls that sell cooked food like pancit noodles, lugaw or congee – my favourite, and anything that would tickle your fancy.

Pritil is an institution that provides cheap, fresh food and everything else.  I would prefer to go shopping in Pritil than PureGolds any time of the day!

To Pritil hope it will last and last!!!

29 April 2023:

Sad news!  Pritil Market was engulfed in a blazing fire that last for hours.