(Food) Trip further down South

A trip to any destination wont be complete without having a taste of its local cuisine and delicacies and bringing some of it home, what ever those maybe.

Our recent trip to Mindanao saw us first having dinner, during our overnight in Cagayan de Oro city, at P.Joes in Limketkai center. With its WWII theme and ambiance, I surrendered to puttanesca and tuna sandwich.

The next day we had breakfast at a floating restaurant in Talisayan town. With the usual fresh catch of the day being displayed and cooked to your will, it was a good start for the day considering the view.

With a cousin working for Del Monte Phils in CDO, our meals always had plenty of fresh Del Monte pineapples of which oftentimes I make a substitute for rice. Naturally very sweet, that we even took a whole fruit with us home

A cousin's family prepared this lunch for us when we visited them last March 18 in Sibagat, Agusan Del Sur. It was almost an all meat ensemble with fish escabeche, chicken adobo, pork adobo, kinilaw na isda and fish "nilaga".

Having an early morning flight from Butuan to Cebu and an early evening "float", (i.e. we took a boat from Cebu) , gave us time to eat and buy pasalubong items in Cebu. Grabbed a quick snack at French baker (still not locally available) before we head back to the pier.

Now let's see Camiguin's pastel, CDO's lanzones plus Del Monte's pineapple (yes a fresh one thanks to a cousin who works there.) , assorted durian/buko based products from Butuan City (durian pops/butterscotch/polvoron/buko cheeseballs/etc) all from Mindanao.

From the usual tikoy, hopia and other chinese products, to the chicharon, rosquillos and nuts, and finally to the still-not-available-in-Iloilo, Chef Tony's popcorn.

ADDED April 03 2008: Chef Tony's popcorn is already AVAILABLE. I saw small buckets of it at Iloilo Supermart Atrium sold at 80 pesos

An Ilonggo favorite - Valenciana

Found in almost all occasions like fiesta, birthdays, reunions and others, Ilonggos really love valenciana because most if not all have grown accustomed of having it in special gatherings at home. A complete " go, grow and glow " dish because it has the carbohydrates, protein and vitamins and minerals in just one spoonful, Valenciana is really an " occasional dish ". Here's the recipe for Valenciana

Ultimate Ilonggo Favorite: KBL Kadyos, Baboy, Langka

K.B.L. or Kadyos, Baboy, Langka is the ultimate favorite dish of most Ilonggos. It is also one of the most missed native dishes as kadyos and the souring ingredient, batwan , are hard to find when outside of the Ilonggo region. Basically, it is boiled/stewed pork dish owing its "deliciousness" to the combination of the soft and tender pork, the tamed sourness of batwan and the malinamnam na sabaw . One of the "secrets" of the malinamnamn na sabaw , is the fact that the pork, whether just the plain meat or pata (hocks) are first grilled or broiled. This gives the broth a rather smoky taste that makes it more appetizing.. Learn how to make the Ilonggo dish KBL (Kadyos, Baboy, at Langka) with the recipe below. Ingredients 1 kilo Pata (pork hocks) or pork cubes, GRILLED and sliced into bite size pieces 1 unripe Jack fruit, cubed 2 cups pigeon pea (kadyos) 6-8 pieces batwan fruit (or tamarind powder) 1 piece por...

Easy Century Tuna Recipes

If you're looking for simple, easy and delicious Century Tuna recipes online, congratulations, you've found it right here! How about spicy tuna sisig or tuna sinigang ? Maybe stir fried tuna with pickles or just yang chow fried rice . I love Century Tuna from its flakes in oil variety, the spicier the better, but when I discovered the versatility of its solid variant, it became an obsession. At first I was just into the usual tested recipes; pasta and sandwich filling, but then it got simpler – I just eat it straight from the can! Usually with a piece of bread or an apple. I just add a few drops of vinegar to spice it up a bit. Then came the experiments. Yup I got tired of that habit that one day, I decided to test my skills in the kitchen. Serendipity, you might call it yet most of them turned into good recipes that I have shared now and then. Satisfying my Palabok cravings had me experiment on this recipe on the spot. With Century Tuna in lieu of the us...

Takway

The gabi (taro) is just one of those plants which is edible from "roots to tops". The most popular of which is the tuber part which is used in a variety of dishes and mostly in combination with coconut milk. Its leaves, of course, is the main ingredient of a Bicol specialty, laing . It is dried then chopped and sauteed with other ingredients including, again, coconut milk. Then there is takway . The local term for its tendrils/runner, that part which is torn between being a stem or a root for it neither grows upwards nor downwards - it grows sideways . Scraped off of its outer skin, takway is often a key ingredient in vegetable dishes like laswa and the gabi tuber with coconut milk and local snails know as bago-ngon . It is also popular when cooked adobo style with guinamos , the local bago-ong . It is very popular in the region that even big supermarkets sell takway in style - cleaned and plastic wrapped in styro with some additions to make it easier to prepare. ...

An Ilonggo favorite: Pancit Molo

Named after one of Iloilo City’s districts, Pancit Molo is one of the more identifiable pancit dishes in the country. It stands out uniquely among the noodle dishes mainly because of its non-traditional pancit look. It is a derivative of the Chinese wonton (filled dumplings) made into a soup. One of the first questions always asked is "Where's the Pancit?". With pancit as a sort of "prefix" to the name of the dish, first timers always for the noodle-like component of the dish. It's then explained that the pancit is actually the molo ball wrappers which is basically of the same mix as any pancit/noodles. Pancit Molo is more of a household specialty and the recipe varies from household to household. From the meat filling mix to the soup, there could be a hundred and one ways of making pancit molo. Pancit Molo Filling I suggest to make this days before the actual cooking of pancit molo so that the flavours will be full....

FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

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