Valenciana is always to be found in any Ilonggo household whenever they are occasions, most especially during fiesta.
Basically, "go, grow and glow" dish, it has the carbohydrates, protein and vitamins and minerals in just one spoonful.
And it can come in its simplest form with just malagkit rice, pork, chorizo and bell peppers to some fancy with additions like raisins, peas, chicken, hardboiled egg (just garnish though), etc. But NO hotdogs, please...
The recipe is just simple for it only involves
- Cooking (Cook malagkit rice with turmeric then add some broth cubes for added flavour.)
- Sauteeing (Just gisa the pork, chicken, liver, peas, chorizo bell peppers, etc and then set aside)
- Mixing (Add sauteed ingredients to the half-cooked rice making sure of even mixing and wait for it to be fully cooked).
- Garnishing (Top with hardboiled eggs, onion leaves, etc and serve.)
Dukot sang Valenciana
It may sound simple but takes a lot of practice and maybe some burned valenciana at first.
The dukot, or the hardened part at the bottom of the pan has also become a quite a delightful spin-off of the dish as some enjoy having it as a flavourful crunchy snack bite.
Ilonggos really love valenciana because most if not all have grown accustomed of having it in almost all occasions like fiesta, brithdays, reunions and all other occasions thus I love calling it as the "occasional dish".