Dishing up vegetarian specialties at Bauhinia Filipino Cuisine

As Iloilo City is positioning itself as the "City of Wellness and Healthy Lifestyle", Bauhinia Filipino Cuisine dishes up vegetarian dishes as a support tho this thrust. A collection of old favorites, best-sellers and new fusion dishes, these 12 dishes make a complete meal as they come as soup, appetizers, main course and dessert. Let's discover the "vegetarian" inside us with these sumptuous creations.

To start out our vegetarian gastronomic tour, how about this Kinilaw Quatro. A 4-1 appetizer plate consisting of Bauhinia's best love kinilaw dishes.

There's Kinilaw nga Seaweed and Kinilaw nga Amargoso (Ampalaya/Bitter Gourd)

Add to that Kinilaw nga Rabanos (radish) and Kinilaw nga Talong (eggplant)

Whetting our appetites more is Ensalada ng Langka kag Puso ng Saging. This salad is a spicy-creamy concoction of jackfruit and banana heart embraced by vinegar and coconut cream spiced up by chilis.

Tickling our tastebuds is La Pinay Salad, a medley of Mesclun salad, grilled eggplant, roasted bell peppers and cashew praline in spicy balsamic dressing

Be sure to make some room for Lumpiang Ubod!

A colorful mix of fresh and organic vegetables makes one of the most popular Ilonggo dish - Laswa. Part of Bauhinia's Ilonggo menu selection, this comes without the seafood making it perfect for vegetarians.

Here's Linatik nga Kalabasa on a bed of young shoots/leaves of squash vine. Another popular Ilonggo dish also known as Nilatik or Linutik, it's basically a mash of squash cooked with moringa/malunggay leaves and if not for the vegetarians, it is flavored with dried and salted fish.

How about some Relleno nga Amargoso? Filipinized as relyeno, it a cooking style that stuffs something into another. Most popular in the Philippines is Relyeno na Bangus, that is a staple at home during the Holy Week. Now, a mix of seasoned mung bean sprouts, chayote and carrots fills in blanched ampalaya tubes which makes this dish a bitter, I mean better presented dish.

Now here's something almost in the boundary of extraordinary - Pinaksiw nga Sab-a nga Saging sa Labog. Now where to start? Paksiw is a cooking method that mainly uses vinegar and spices - and mainly used for fish preparations. Labog is known as roselle, a vine that produces a deep violet "bud" and is mainly used in cooking some Ilonggo specialties especially those involving native chicken. And using saging nga sab-a, completes this curios dish as this banana variery complements pork dishes like pochero, estofado and more. But for this dish, its actually the main ingredient - a play of sweet and sour!

A more familiar dish is Kare-Kare and here's the "Vegan" version - eggplant, string beans, banana heart, and pechay in a savoury peanut sauce.

Vegetable Fritters for those who craved for something crispy - eggplant, carrot, okra, sayote and more. - Comes with three delightful sauces - seasoned tomato, a turmeric-based one and I forgot the other.

To end the main course with a bang- here's a Vegetable Stew that reminds me of Caldereta. In fact, it looks and tastes like caldereta just without the meat.

Our food tasting ended on a sweet note with the Fried Kamote Chips in Sugar with Latik. A fitting finale and on of the more popular items served that day.

To make it a completely healthy lunch, we opted for Bauhinia's Lemongrass based drinks. Here's a literally cool version of the drink I call Lemondgrade - for lemon grass ade.

But with my sorethroat still haunting me, I opted for the hot version of lemongrass drink which came with honey. And I really loved it!

Now, Ilonggos, whether vegetarians or not, have the options to go healthy as Bauhinia Filipino Cuisine dishes up these delicious dishes that will suit a herbivore's lifestyle!

(Bauhinia Filipino Cuisine is located at The Avenue Complex, Glicerio Pison Avenue, Smallville Mandurriao, Iloilo City. For reservations, call Bauhinia at (033) 329-6951)

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

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.

Batwan

Ilonggos know batwan or batuan by heart as the fruit is almost endemic to the Western Visayas. Its scientific name is Garcinia binucao, derived from the Tagalog name for the fruit, binukaw. It is a large green fruit with large seeds and its a favorite souring ingredient in most Ilonggo dishes especially KBL or kadyos, baboy, langka and the Ilonggo-style paksiw known as "pinamalhan". It is characterized by a tamed sourness compared to tamarind and kamias . The fruit is sold by pieces or kilo in wet markets and even big grocery stores. Batwan is the preferred souring ingredients for the Ilonggo favorite- KBL. The photo shows boiled batwan with skin and without skin (right) A favorite riddle when we were young - "Among the many fruits in the forest, but one (batuan) is the best. What is it?"

A native (foods) welcome in Guimaras

Even after having breakfast less than an hour that time, we couldn't say no to this lot of native delciacies that welcomed us in Guimaras. First and foremost, Guimaras best known produce is their sweet mango famous almost worldwide. And it comes with it's best partner, ibos. This brown baye-baye variety is made from toasted rice thus giving it a more disctinct flavour compared to it's more "caucasian" cousin. I like the one wrapped in banana leaves compared with the one in plastic for it gives it a more native feel. So when you're in Guimaras, be sure to check out the markets for these native delicacies that can make your trip more gastronomically satisfying.

FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

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