FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

While the most popular Ilonggo recipe for Adobo has istiwitis or achuete / annatto, sometime experimenting on other region's adobo recipes an open up our taste. So what is "white" adobo? It is basically the usual adobo recipe minus one major ingredient - soy sauce or toyo . I like it especially when the garlic mixes with the oil and vinegar concoction - a burst of flavorful aroma that you could almost taste. Here's a simple recipe for Pork Liempo White Adobo

I never actually dared to try apan-apan before knowing it was a local delicacy made with grasshoppers. I could just hear the crunch of it's legs and other body parts. But now, apan-apan is more popular as an apptizer made with kangkong sauteed in guinamos (the local term for bago-ong). And I get to enjoy it more and crave for it at times. Cooking apan-apan is like making adobong kangkong only with guinamos. But at times, it doesn't really matter since I almost interchange the method being an experimental cook. So it usually starts with the sauteeing of garlic and onions then adding guinamos - I often add chillis for a kick. Then I add vinegar, soy sauce and kangkong leaves and the upper portion of the stalk. Then it's just simmering it until the stalks are soft enough to be eaten. ( Click for Recipe-style post ) I like tweaking the recipe by adding (ingredients I love like) calamansi and sesame oil. The former brings more tang and the latter the dif...

Laswa is among the most popular Ilonggo vegetable dish and among my most "blogged" about. It has so many variations despite it's simplicity and mostly dependent on the the availability of vegetables. Usually it has kalabasa, talong, okra, hantak (sitaw), tagabang (saluyot), patola and a host of other vegetables. For this recipe puso ng saging (banana heart) was added not only as "extender" but to add some texture. Cooking laswa is simple - just stew the vegetables and subak (usually fresh seafoods like shrimps, crabs, or even snails locals call bango-ngon ) then season with salt or use broth cubes . Others prefer to use dried and salted seafoods like pinakas for it adds more flavour to the dish at the same time makes this vegetable dish more appetizing. Or at times this is solely a vegetable dish (no subak whatsoever) and is perfect partnered with fried or grilled meat and fish. No matter how you cook it or what you partn...

It's still an "unexplained tradition" for me why native delicacies are the staples when Pista Minatay comes. Some say it's "Filipinizing Halloween" that instead of candies and other sweets, we have these native delicacies to share as treats and not as tricks. And it started in the rural areas where the abundance of rice and coconuts, among others has made these traditional eats as the "undying" staple this annual celebration of remembering the departed. So, let's start our native delicacies gastronomic journey with IBOS or more commonly known as "SUMAN" in other areas. Click for IBOS Recipe This is probably what comes to mind when one says "kakanin" as this is made with sticky rice and often partnered with ripe mango, native chocolate or just plain sugar, whether refined, brown or muscovado. There's the SUMAN which others refer to as BIKO. A delicious treat of glutinous rice oiled in coc...

A favorite of many Ilonggos, ginat-an nga tambo is heaven to them and fans of Ilonggo cuisine. With coconut milk and greens like saluyot, takway and okra plus subak like shrimps or crabs – this would automatically induce a lot of cravings.  Especially when you’re abroad where raw ingredients are often hard to find and if they are luckily available, it still doesn’t taste like the one you might have grown up with. Even so, it is more than enough one's craving for this Ilonggo cuisine, no matter where you are in the world. Here's a recipe for Ginat-an nga Tambo

If these liempo chips, look good - they surely tasted even better! It was part of my lunch, today, at Punot Restaurant at the Riverside Boardwalk Complex beside the Iloilo River Esplanade in Mandurriao, At first glance, it may look like deep fried bacon but they are really thinly sliced pork belly and almost as thin the chips would be. If not machine cut, I would say they are sliced when the liempo is (very) frozen, to achieve the perfect cut and thinness. It is then deep-fried with maybe just a salt rub and then the excess oil made to drip. Though I think the liempo strips are sun-dried (after being sliced) to get the awesome crunchiness. A perfect appetizer, it comes with an equally appetizing dip of spiced vinegar- perfect blend of hot, sweet and spicy flavors that would surely whet your appetite. Now, what are you waiting for? Enjoy the crunch of these liempo chips from Punot!