FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

Cassava cake is among the most popular Pinoy native delicacies. In Iloilo, one can find it in the stalls insides malls and groceries in ready to go boxes or in bite size pieces ready to satisfy one's cravings. But it is also easy to prepare as the ingredients can be mostly found in the wet market or even grocery stores. Here's a simple cassava cake recipe: Ingredients : CAKE  2 and 1/2 cups grated cassava 1 and 1/2 cups coconut milk 1 cup sugar  1 can condensed milk  TOPPINGS 1 Can Condensed Milk 1/2 cup Coconut Cream 1 Egg yolks 1/2 cup grated Cheese Procedures : Preheat the oven to around 350°F. Mix CAKE all ingredients thoroughly. Place the mixture in well-greased baking pans. Make sure the mix in the pan are just about an inch thick to ensure more even cooking. Bake from around 45 minutes to an hour. ( Or insert a toothpick in the middle, if it comes out clean, it is good to go) In a separate pan, combine TOPPINGS

The Iloilo Central Market community has a lot of finds especially those in food and food ways. Turo-turo stall owners and market vendors are drawn to this showcase of Ilonggo gastronomy. Among them, an enterprising couple who don’t only sell live and dressed native chicken but also makes one delectable litson manok! BEST “SELLERS” For Jesus Janeo Jr. and wife Evangeline, their business involving Bisaya nga manok has been a way of life for almost 35 years.   Having a stall at the Iloilo Central Market, they’ve been selling live or dressed native chicken for years to bring up their five children.  “Rawit”, as Jesus is fondly referred to, is among the big suppliers of dressed Darag chicken in the market. Darag is a Philippine native chicken strain found in Iloilo and the rest of Western Visayas. Best known for its unique flavor, taste and meat texture - it has become famous as an alternative to commercial chicken, and has captivated the taste buds of both lo

It's not Catbalogan nor Katagalugan, it's  CA-TA-LU-GAN, Catalugan. I also had the same problem when I was a kid when reading and remembering the name of this bread. But the many years of enjoying this specialty from Tibiao Bakery, I think I have it in me. So what is catalugan? It's basically a filled bread and like what you see, it has more filling that the "bread" itself. Tibiao Bakery makes the more "high end" catalugan as they are big, individually wrapped and deliciously addicting. Smaller bakeshops also make catalugan but its just the regular "one of those" breads. But this one from Tibiao is worth every "bit and morsel". For around 12 each (few years back it was only PhP 10), this bite size bread is heavy as the filling is a compact and flavouful blend of "secrets" for this one had no ingredients listed on its packaging. So I can only assume what they are everytime I am

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 simp

  A favorite of many Ilonggos,   ginat-an nga tambo   is heaven to them and fans of Ilonggo cuisine. With coconut milk and greens like saluyot, takway and okra plus subak like shrimps or crabs – this would automatically induce a lot of cravings.  Especially when you’re abroad where raw ingredients are often hard to find and if they are luckily available, it still doesn’t taste like the one you might have grown up with. Even so, it is more than enough one's craving for this Ilonggo cuisine, no matter where you are in the world.

It’s been a while since I featured (read gorged on) Iloilo's most popular Chinese bun - Roberto’s Queen sio pao . Aside from being unavailable most of the time (I think it’s now every two weeks rather than monthly), the restaurant is out of my usual way.  Priced at PhP105 and though the size isn’t that overwhelming as before yet still big compared to other sio paos in the city.  It was still hot when I got it from “Roberta” before (he's Clauds by the way, RIP 🕯) and around two hours later with some rainy escapade, I was surprised to sense it warmth when I got home. Aside from what’s inside, I really like the bun of Roberto’s sio pao. With a hint of gumminess yet soft to each bite, it greatly complements the filling.  Though I got a rather one sides sio pao with the filling almost bursting out the bottom part while the top was all bun.  But it’s one of the more photogenic ones I had so far – I halved it perfectly with without much damage to the hardboiled

Now who doesn't love puto? One of my favorites before was the puto I christened " Puto Calaboa " as it was made in Brgy. Calaboa Santa Barbara, Iloilo. But after sometime, they supply stopped coming to town as the maker of the puto had some personal health issues. Now enter another puto maker from Santa Barbara - this time coming from Brgy. Lanag, an adjacent baranggay to the poblacion. Wrapped in 5's using banana leaves, the puto is made fresh daily every morning. The puto-maker just make a limited batch so as to ensure the quality and avoid having oversupply to be sold the following day. The puto smells very good as if you are already eating it. Each bite (though I could easily eat it all in one bite) gives a full flavour esp. of the richness of the coconut milk. Its the kind of puto that you can't stop eating given its almost dainty size at the same time rich flavour - but it's not " makasalum-od " (