How popular is Deocampo's sio pao?

It was yet another rediscovery the moment I stepped inside Deocampo Barquillos’ newly renovated pasalubong shop in Jaro weeks ago. The place was very touristy and was both eye catching and stomach grumbling. Everywhere one may lay his eyes upon its all goodies – barquillos, biscocho, galletas, pasencia, butterscotch, pinasugbo and a whole lot more.

But the one item that really stood out was their sio pao. I’ve tried this before and dismissed it as just “one of those sio paos….” It was the fact that it had potato as extenders and a bit dry. My impression remained that way since then since most of the time it was just a take out and stood hours inside the fridge.

But fate brought me one day to try their sio pao “fresh from the steamer” and the memories I had before were instantly erased. I had a warm sio pao with a “bun” texture I prefer – sort of “gummy” on the outside yet soft inside. More surprises came when I cut it in half and revealed a very filled sio pao.

Pure pork meat - with no fatty part, with hardboiled egg and potatoes. Even with the so-called extender, it seem they didn’t shortchange their patrons for Deocampos sio pao had more filling compared with others. And for only PhP20 per piece its one of the more “worth it” sio paos in Iloilo City – “pao”nd for “pao”nd.

I also witness first hand its popularity – I had one of the last remaining few sio paos that time and a few minutes after they were all gone. I decided to wait for around 30 minutes when the next batch will be off the kitchen. During that time I could have sworn there were around 40 people who went in and out the shop – all looking for their sio pao. But were dismayed when there wasn't any that time.

I secured by order of five – yes I became an instant convert that I got more than what I ought to. When it came out the kitchen I managed to snap a shot of them before they were distributed to a queue of patrons. And yes I could have almost ate them all by myself but limited myself to “only” three – dinner, dessert and midnight snack, all in a span of two hours. How I wished I kept the remaining two instead of giving them away - lol.

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 pork broth cube (

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 usu

A native delicacy called Inday-inday

Now you may ask, what is Inday-Inday ? It's another repetitive-feminine named native delicacy that is made from rice like its more popular sister - baye-baye . While the latter is has its own original flavor and make, inday-inday is actually a combination of two well loved native delicacies - muasi ( palitaw ) and bukayo . But the muasi portion is not the the usual palitaw recipe for the it's more firm and gummy (I don't know the English term for kid-ol ). Actually its more like a hardened kutsinta and this makes it more to my liking since I'm not really fond of muasi in the first place. And its not quite easy to find inday-inday in the market today, though I've seen and tried it in Sabor Ilonggo stalls but their's is more like suman latik for the based is ibos -like. Ibos is malagkit rice boiled in gata which is called suman in Tagalog. Despite the uncertainty for its nomenclature (I've read that inday-inday is just plain pal

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.

FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

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