FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

It wasn't until I laid my eyes my on its flaky and crisp crust with its delicious aroma emanating that discovered the empanada specially baked by Tinapayan. With a crunch I opened the empanada to reveal what’s inside - a hot mix of moist shredded pork, carrots, peas and raisins among others, giving a flavourful blend that could rival any sio paos around. Ms. Evelyn “Owa” Que, the amiable owner of Tinapayan is very proud of her creation especially the crisp and flaky “crust”. She said the empanada has been on the shelves on her bakeshop for years now and maybe since Tinapayan offers a gazillion of delicious product, it may have been “relegated” in the background. I quite agree since with all the breads, cakes, loaves, cookies, buns, sweet squares and bars, etc, you’ll surely have to have an eagle eye to find what you’re looking for. But you’ll get distracted along the way since the quantity and quality that overwhelms you prove to be a galore o gast...

Tired of the usual paksiw recipe for left-over lechon ?Why not try making the left over roasted pig into something a lot healthier - by making it part of vegetable dishes. At home, we've tried making left over lechon into KBL ( kadyos baboy langka ) enjoying Lechon na, KBL pa . It can be made into sinigang, sisig and sinabawan . One can even sugba  ( ihaw or grill) to give it another taste dimension. Believe me, sinugba nga lechon  tastes awesome! And one of our latest recipes is "lechonizing" a monggo recipe. Usually, we cooked monggo with kalabasa and alugbati with the addition of pork. But if there's leftover lechon, the dish looks and tastes even more delicious especially with the lechon skin. Just cook the monggo dish as it is, then add lechon and the rest will be gastronomic history! Extra rice please! Check out the detailed  MONGGO GUISADO RECIPE CONTENT

Been addicted to kimchi lately and tried so many brands I found online and in grocery stores. And one that really stood out for me is the one from Kim's Bob Korean Restaurant. I'm no kimchi nor Korean food expert but this one is a level higher than the ones I've had before. From the first time I opened the bottle and smelled its aroma, it gave me an impression that its quite different and better from the ones before. Maybe because of the notion that it comes from a well respected Korean resto as compared from the generic store bought ones. Sorry for this kimchi discrimination... But I was right in the taste department as it was stronger, more flavorful - not just full of spice and the taste difference was obvious. One could really taste the difference even if it was a repeated blind taste test.  Add to the fact it had more ingredients other than Napa cabbage or wombok. It had a better defined flavor dimension that is not just salty and spicy. It has a delicious sourness whi...

How cholesterollific this linaga is but admit it it looks very delicious! On the way out of the the Iloilo Central Market , we chanced upon this stall serving this stewed lanit-lanit or tendons.  The lady who ordered it was about to take spoonful of her lunch when we stopped her just to take a photograph of her lunch bowl and she found it funny-lol. But I found it very salivating looking at the steaming broth that probably is soured by batwan just like most linaga served in Iloilo. The thought of having the chewy portion of the cow or pig is a steaming and sour soup easily made me forget that I just had lunch .  I usually dig in/look for this part whenever I order linaga or kansi but this bowl has lots of it so I might be checking this one out very soon when I get back to the Iloilo Central Market.   

When non-Ilonggo friends tasted bitso-bitso , I wasn't prepared for the comment that this could be the local version of Krispy Kreme 's glazed doughnut. Bitso-bitso is boiled-and-fried rice dough the coated with muscovado caramel, at least for this particular one made by Manang Lori in the town of Santa Barbara. Though I'm not really privy to the actual recipe of Nang Lori, making bitso-bitso , is quite laborious since it requires three cooking processes aside from choosing the right kind of ingredients. Just like the puto-bingka of Nang Leling  where rice flour is also used, it starts with the pilit rice being soaked overnight before it will be ground the next day. Just like muasi (palitaw) or the bilo-bilo balls (used in making linugaw ), the ground rice flour is mixed with regular flour, water, coconut milk and a little bit of sugar and vanilla. When the dough is ready, Mang Lori's bitso-bitso takes a twisted form so that it can "take-in" more...

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 ...

A perfect salad "station", this mix of local appetizers makes not only a good visual presentation but also a mouth watering start to a hearty meal. This appetizing bilao is composed of steamed okra, atsara, pritong talong , steamed kamote tops, salted egg, tomatoes, sweet spicy dilis , onions, fresh guinamos ( bago-ong alamang ) and lato . Everything depends on one's creativity and taste to assemble a bilao full of delicious local flavours!