Best Tasting Bingka in Santa Barbara, Iloilo

Semana Santa in Santa Barbara, Iloilo, just like in many other towns across the Philippines is marked with spiritual and cultural activities. It starts on Palm Sunday with the blessing of the palaspas marked by the palaspas-making contest. Religious activities like Visita Iglesia, Last Supper re-enactment, Via Crucis, Veneration of the Cross and Santo Entierro Procession, among others keep the pre dominantly Roman Catholic Santa Barbaranhons occupied during the last four days of the Holy Week.

But Semana Santa in Santa Barbara is one that also plays on a gastronomical note as the townsfolk indulge in the ultimate Lenten food offering - bingka. I grew up associating Lent with bingka and vice versa. I remember going to the plaza as a kid so that we can do some "pamingka" - that is having a picnic in the plaza eating nothing but bingka. It's been like this since time immemorial, that this year the Santa Barbara Municipal Tourism Office gathered the manug-bingka, for the 1st-ever Tastiest Bingka competition. Held at the Bandstand in the middle of the plaza, eight competitors representing different baranggays and traditional bingka-makers battled it out for the title of being the Tastiest Bingka in Santa Barbara.

Among the judges of the competition were Mr Boboi Costas, Mr Eugene Jamerlan and yours truly. Sir Boboi is a heritage and cultural worker from Cebu City and is the president of HAMBIN - short for the Cebuano words Hamiling Binilin (cherished heritage). It is Cebu’s only SEC-registered heritage advocacy group that operates outside of a corporate or government entity. It aims to broaden the continuing conversation on Cebuano heritage. Sir Eugene is Iloilo City's foremost heritage advocate and is a member of the Iloilo City Cultural Heritage Conservation Council.

Eight teams prepared bingka in various sizes and presentation. Most of them only sell bingka during the Holy Week as the Santa Barbara tradition goes but some already are breaking grounds as their bingkas are available whole year round.

Leling's Special Bingka

As the judges proclaimed Leling's Special Bingka is the epitome of the traditional bingka from Sta, Barbara. It is puto-like as pampa-alsa, is added to the bingka mix and left overnight. That makes the local bingka, different from most bingkas in Iloilo. Leling makes bingka whole year round and has been featured in many write ups and tv shows in the past. Here are the other delicious bingka that certainly filled us up that day.

RJ Special Bingka

Kimsel's Special Bingka

Isay Special Bingka

D Original Tib's Special Bingka

Bingkahan ni Luis

Tungay Special Bingka

Bingkahan ni Gaming

In the end it was the Tib's Special Bingka which was proclaimed as the Tastiest Bingka for this year. Top quote Boboi Costas "... soft and not too sweet". It was also adjudged as the Mayor's Choice - one of the Special awards. Leling's was the people's choice as it garnered the most number of votes during the competition.

One last look at these delectable bingka and hoping for a bigger and tastier event for next year as the contest promises to become bigger and more innovative bingka competition. Pamingka 'ta!

More photos on Santa Barbara Ugyon Facebook.

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 (

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

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

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 - Suman Latik

Suman Latik is one of my favorite native delicacies - plain suman/ibos topped with sweetened coconut strips or bukayo . Most of the time those sold in the markets have this two (suman and bukayo) already in one wrap and all you have to to is devour it. But most of the time, the bukayo portion is bitin that I wish there's more. So why not make our own suman latik so you can have all the suman we want with all the bukayo toppings we desire! Here's a simple recipe for Suman Latik

FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

Search This Blog