Pounding My Way to Eat the Tinomok

Ever had food that you had to pound just to eat it?

I was fortunate to have relatives at Eastern Samar that planned to make Tinomok after I went around Guiuan.

Tinomok in Eastern Samar is a dessert whose ingredients are pinipig, coconut meat and sugar. Knowing the ingredients is just a tiny part of Tinomok, the big chunk is the experience of making it.

Gather ripe palay.

Put it in a kaldero with a fire underneath. Mix and wait until many pop.

Place the popping palay to a Lusong.

Then pound it with your friends using a bayo.

Lusong is a big mortar where palay is pounded by a big pestle, which is the bayo.

I tried joining the process of pounding but I always hit the side of the Lusong. If you don’t hit the center of the Lusong, the rice will splash outside.

It was amazing to see 3 people pounding on a single Lusong. It was hard to get the rythm of pounding the rice but they told me that they could do 6 people pounding on a single Lusong. That would be super amazing!

Remove the rice chaff. After removing the rice chaff you now have your Pinipig.

On a separate Lusong, place grated coconut meat.

Then pound the grated coconut meat.

Add and mix sugar on the pounded coconut meat.

And pound it again.

Then add the pinipig to the mixture.

And when you think you’ve had enough of pounding, you have to pound it again.

After all that pounding, you now have your Tinomok.

Best served on a coconut shell.

We started around 4:30PM and we had the first serving of Tinomok around 7:30PM. That was a long and tiring way to prepare food.

It was worth it as the food was great, our family had an activity together where everyone participated, I learned something new and best of all we all had fun. 🙂

P.S. They were still pounding pinipig until 9PM.

P.P.S. If Manny Pacquiao is the best pound for pound boxer in the world, then maybe this would be the best pound for pound food in the world. 😛

Follow my Tacloban-Basey-Eastern Samar Series by checking the links below

Guiuan Subseries

• Getting Around Guiuan (Guiuan Travel Guide)
• Bridge to Calicoan Island
• Beaches of Calicoan Island (Awesome!)
• Dumpao Beach Resort
• Airport Town of Guiuan
• Parish Church of the Immaculate Concepcion
• Guiuan Transport Terminal

Other Eastern Samar Destinations

• Hagnaya Beach in Salcedo (Awesome!)
• Divinubo Island Eco Tour Park
• Minasangay Island Marine Ecological Park & Resort

Basey, Samar and Tacloban City, Leyte Destinations

• Weaving around Basey, Samar
• 40 Minute Walk Across San Juanico Bridge (Must try!)
• Santo Niño Shrine (Romualdez Museum) at Tacloban City
• Visiting Leyte Landing Memorial Park