I just love the smell of these freshly toasted dried shrimp fry we call kalkag or alamang in Tagalog . Usually we just heat over in the pan with no oil since they easily get "cooked". Most of the time we just mixed them with rice, butter (or sesame oil) and seasoning for an instant fried rice. At times they become garnish over vegetable dishes or even end up as torta - mix in batter with vegetables then fried.
This dried seafood is so versatile that only imagination limits the use of it. So what's next?
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 pork broth cube (