Garlic and Buttered Pitik-pitik

(a.k.a: spiny rock lobster tails/ philippine lobster/horseshoe crab/ poor man’s lobster)

Last weekend, I went to Libertad market to search for the freshest vegetable ingredients needed for this year’s holiday gift-aways: special atchara, sinamak bisaya and Mama’s Uyap. As I was going around, a market guy approached and offered me a bargain price for all his pitik-pitik (he was the only one selling them in the market). Boy, it must have weighed a total of 2 kilos. At first, I thought they were giant prawns. Then when I looked closer, they were indeed lobsters! I was quite hesitant for these sea beings were just "babies" and the thought of buying them would result in culpable purchase. Poor guys!

Then from nowhere, I caught myself biting my lip! I shove away the guilty thought when pictures began to flash on the horizon. I further reasoned out in my mind that I can give justice to these little thingis by coming up with a simple, yet delicious fare for the Sunday family luncheon.

As I recall, pitik-pitik tastes like a cross between crab and prawns. The biggest one I had was about... oh, a foot long, a long time ago when mature ones were being sold in the market. They are tropical in origin and are a common sight amongst Philippine reefs. They lack the large chelipeds of other types of lobster, but have very large spiny antennae, as seen here. They generally prefer hiding places such as holes or crevices under outcroppings of coral.
There has been studies conducted by the Philippine Fisheries of its excellent local and export potential. While juveniles are easily captured and locally consumed, going commercial would be tricky the reason for the limited availability (alright, alright, I am guilty)! Nevertheless, it should be a feasible industry for philippine fish farmers if given the right education and technology to culture them for market purposes.

Take note: I use dalandan rather than lemons.

About 2 kilos of pitik pitik
VOO
About 2 tablespoons of sea salt
½ bar butter
1/4 cup chopped garlic
2 dalandan juice (Philippine sweet orange)
zest of two dalandan
salt and pepper to taste
some dried herbs

In a large wok, pour in a liberal amount of VOO (virgin olive oil) and sauté the garlic until almost golden brown. Set aside. In the same wok and with the remaining VOO, add in the pitik-pitik and sprinkle sea salt. Cover and let it cook for 10 to 15 minutes in low-medium heat. Then, when they start to turn orange, add in the butter, fried garlic, squeeze in 2 dalandan juice (do not use lemon or else it will taste sour), dalandan zest, freshly cracked pepper and dried herbs. Stir for another 5 minutes and serve immediately.

Serve with barbequed porkchops, sweet onion and tomato salad (please see recipe:http://jensnursingchronicles.blogspot.com/2007/02/sweet-onion-and-tomato-salad.html) and “ice-cold” coke!