Skip to main content

What to find at Dried Seafood section of the Iloilo Central Market



My recent tour had me back at the dried seafood section of the Iloilo Central Market for my groups pasalubong fix. Yes, it is not only biscocho, butterscotch and barquillos that make up the ultimate Iloilo pasalubong list but also dried lukos, fish tocino and guinamos.
So what's there to find and buy at the dried seafood market? Plenty! More than enough salt and saltiness to drive our blood pressure off the charts! 


But enough of this gory-ness and just live with  these words from our former Miss Universe "Everything is good but in moderation..."
Let's start with balingon or dilis, and there's a lot to choose from! From the kind of "anchovy" to the size, color and the level of saltiness, it's overwhelming.
There are the regular or he more familiar ones which often is a breakfast staple - whether fried or sinanlag - pan fried without oil, or how ever you define it.

It is also best for this recipe.
There's the smaller ones which is best as Pinoy salad toppings or just making them salad themselves with fresh tomatoes and onions ala hinanggop.
An addition to the balingon list is the "boneless" dilis.

It's actually the bigger ones that have been pakas - or halved lengthwise/butterfly cut. It's thinner and crunchier when fried, almost like chips!
And speaking of boneless, here are fish tocino and fish tapa - the former being my top favorite.

The white ones are the tapa and the red ones (due to the fish being used) are the fish tocino.
It is a great combination of flavours - sweet then salty, that makes extra rice almost a must-have. Just make sure to set the fire the lowest level when frying since the sugary coating tends to burn/blacken fast.
So where do all the bones go for the boneless above? They're not thrown away but made into a "delicacy" on their own. These bones still have some fish meat and with some marination and tapa/tocino like coating - they become the "fishbones". Just fry them on low heat too.
But if you want more fish meat, go for the dried/salted lison or labahita. These are the biggest dried fishes you'd see - the above almost as wide as a newspaper! It has more meat, sold in chunks and can be used as sahog in vegetables dishes like laswa and monggo. No need for salt in these dishes!
But if you prefer the regular size ones, there's always the salted and dried pinakas or daing. While these terms refers to how the fishes are cut (butterflying), it has also become synonymous as the salted dried fish. Guma-a or the short mackerel is the most popular pinakas.
Care for some kalkag? It's dried alamang or baby shirmps that can be cooked in so many ways, the simpest of which is just making kalkag fried rice or maybe toppings in laswa dishes. You can also make torta or make it part of your palabok.
Now this is the saltiest of the salted fishes and you can actually see it's saltiness! It's binodo or binuro which is fish or anything preserved in salt  plus there's also soy sauce in it - notice the brown color? Removing the excess salt, you fry the fish, then remove a large portion of the oil then you saute in garlic and onions then simmer in vinegar. You can add some chillies for some extra kick. EXTRA RICE PLEASE!!!
The ultimate pulutan - dried squid! It comesin different sizes from small to large depending on what you like and your budget too. While it's usually (deep) fried, cooking it above charcoal or even open fire gives its a smoky burnt taste. Prepare you sinamak!

Another item of curisotiy among tourists are these brown mounds locally known as guinamos. This what actually what is known by most as bago-ong alamang, but unlike it's more famous counterpart this one's much drier, finer and compact. Some playfully refer to it as the "local corned beef" - the Brazilian style aka Libby's.
It comes in different hues which is determine by the baby shrimps used. Most if not all guinamos supply comes from the town of  Banate. Meanwhile the town of Estancia supplies most of the seafood produce in the market. 
So, what's your favorite dried seafood? A trip to this section of the Iloilo Central Market not only open our appetites but our other senses to the daily lives of the people and happenings at the wet market. 
Fried danggit, fish tocino and fish flakes - goes well with SINAMAK - the Ilonggo spiced vinegar.
Just don't wear your favorite or new clothes when you visit - the smell tends to go home with you. 

It's not the pasalubong you want to bring home, is it?



Popular posts from this blog

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

Budyawi

Bujawi (budjawi, budyawi) is what Ilonggos refer to the fruit of the buri or century palm tree . Abundant in many parts of the province of Iloilo, the buri has many many uses from the leaves to its trunk. It produces a fermented drink (tuba), alcohol, vinegar, syrup, and sugar. The trunk yields large quantities of starch. The bud (ubod) is used for salad or as a vegetable. The kernels of the young fruits are edible and are made into a sweetmeats. The mature seeds are used for beads? (rosaries) and buttons.  The petiole yields so-called buntal fiber of which, the famous Baliuag and Lucban hats are made, or which, when crudely extracted, is sometimes twisted into rope. Mature leaf is used for covering tobacco bales, rarely as a thatch for houses, while the ribs are used for making brooms. From the unopened leaf is obtained a very fine fiber, corresponding to raffia fiber, which is utilized in making cloth, fancy articles, and as string. Fibers secu

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?"

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.