FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

Overshadowed by the more popular KBL (Kadyos, Baboy, Langka), another classic dish that makes Ilonggos crave and yearn for that simple but delicious eats is the combination of kadyos, native chicken and ubad. The ever popular-to-the-Ilonggos-but-alien-to-others is kadyos – pigeon pea. Soft beans with hues playing from dark purple to black and gives a distinct violet shade to the broth it makes. READ MORE Chicken also provides protein for this dish and to make it more Ilonggo, most of the time native chickens referred to as “Bisaya” or "darag" are used. NATIVE CHICKEN LITSON And then there's ubad – it’s no typo error; yes it’s ubad with an “A”. Not to be confused with ubod, both are different yet share a similarity. Ubod is the pith of the coconut tree while ubad is the center of the banana trunk. To get the fresh ubad, one has to peel the banana trunk to obtain that fleshy and white core that looks like a fluorescent lamp. The prepare the ubad, the banana pi...

I often take pinasugbo for granted. Aside that I almost always ended up in a mess, I find it really sweet and often takes a toll on my teeth. But there are certain situations that I don’t wish for; it just comes at the right time.  A pack of pinasugbo from Deocampo suddenly appeared at home (who, when, where, etc still a mystery) and it just screamed to be eaten. So loud that in order to shut it up, I have to shove it in my mouth – lol. Pinasugbo is made from slices of banana (saba variety) slice length-wise, deep fried and smothered with caramel. Then a number of these slices are packed in paper cones for easy consumption.  But as the caramel hardens, it sticks to the cones and most often one might find himself eating a bit of paper. But luckily a trick I got from one of blog’s comments solved this problem – just heat it for a few seconds in the microwave and it slides off easily. That made me enjoy these pinasugbo from Deocampo that tim...

Every December, the town of Santa Barbara, Iloilo celebrates its annual patronal fiesta with religious as well as gastronomical activities. So here are some of the food and flavours of the Santa Barbara Fiesta from one of the houses we were able to visit. Valenciana Beef Caldereta Chicken Afritada Embutido Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta Pancit Molo Bangus Relyeno The star of any fiesta - Lechon Baboy Cucumber Salad Ube Halaya con Suman  

Be it chicken inasal or grilled pork chop to seafoods especially  talaba, a spiced vinegar is the perfect dip to further one's appetite. While every region in the Philippines has it's own version of a spiced vinegar and a name for it, when in Western Visayas especially - just look for SINAMAK . But one need not to look far as it can found almost anywhere for it is a staple dip in almost every household and native restaurants.  It basically sits on the center table in most dining places and you can't miss it! The recipe varies from each household and the percentage of the "ingredients" too but always present are siling labuyo (green and red for color variation and makes it more visually appetizing), ginger (locals used langkawas or galangal but regular ginger will do) and garlic. How to make Sinamak Ingredients 2-3 cups native (coconut) vinegar (adjust according to bottle size) 1 cup siling labuyo 1/2 cup ginger, s...