Grilled chorizo and more at Chika-an at Robinson's Place Iloilo

Ilonggos can now savour the flavors of Cebu as Chika-an finally opened it's gastronomic doors at the newly renovated Robinson's Place Iloilo. My many trips to Cebu within last two years only brought me to seeing many Chika-an stores all over Cebu but never had the time to experience their specialties. Good thing I can now enjoy what they had to offer right here in Iloilo.

As the Iloilo Bloggers were invited to the opening last May 15, we all had a preview of Chika-an's wide range of specialties like crispy pata, grilled squid, beef kaldereta, pancit canton and a lot more.

But another visit, this time for the weekly #lamonfriday, yielded yet another gastronomic discovery - Grilled Chorizo de Cebu! And I've been craving for it eversince.

The longganisa had more fatty portions and that makes it even more delicious and grilling it brings out its real juices ad gives its flavour a new dimension. Add to that the chorizo in infused with chillies that every bite gives a thrill and you'll definite want some more. A serving of 4 chorizo in a stick costs PhP99 - quite expensive perhaps to most, but its one hell of an order that one is surely have to get another.

Their Crispy Pata lived up to it's name as everything was crispy even to the bone (lol). A quick dip in your very own sawsawan will surely create crispy pata memories with a big crunch.

The baked scallops caught my attention as they were actually using the "Cebuano" scallops - the one with more defined "corrugated" shells. But without the shell, the scallops swimming in the melted cheese and spices gave me another reason to comeb ack for more.

Ending these Chika-an sessions are two of its specialty desserts - banana-langka turon and biko (that's suman for the Ilonggos) with haleya glaze. A perfect finale to one gastronomic adventure with the flavors of Cebu right here in Iloilo.

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 (

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.

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

FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

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