FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

Named after one of Iloilo City’s districts, Pancit Molo is one of the more identifiable pancit dishes in the country. It stands out uniquely among the noodle dishes mainly because of its non-traditional pancit look. It is a derivative of the Chinese wonton (filled dumplings) made into a soup.  One of the first questions always asked is "Where's the Pancit?". With pancit as a sort of "prefix" to the name of the dish, first timers always for the noodle-like component of the dish. It's then explained that the pancit is actually the molo ball wrappers which is basically of the same mix as any pancit/noodles. Pancit Molo is more of a household specialty and the recipe varies from household to household. From the meat filling mix to the soup, there could be a hundred and one ways of making pancit molo. Pancit Molo Filling I suggest to make this days before the actual cooking of pancit molo so that the flavours will be full....

People unfamiliar with these would often mistakenly refer to tambis as makopa  - for its shape and color are almost identical. That's until you you see it up close and bite into its flesh. Tambis has a smoother skin, tends to be more translucent and a lot juicier. On the other hand,  mangkopa  ( makopa ) has a more velvety skin, more opaque and is drier. Both come from the same  genus  -  syzygium  and just differs on the  specie  -  aqueum ,  samarangense  or  malaccense . I really cannot point out which is which though... It was one rainy Saturday afternoon while having a meeting at Camiña Balay nga Bato in Arevalo that I curiously gazed outside the window. It was a tambi s tree teeming with its fruits - lots of it. And before I knew, we were served this basket of tambis which appreciatively devoured... It brought a lot of memories then - of afternoons climbing our neighbours tambis tree, of having ...

What is dampalit , you may ask? That's actually what I did when we were served  atsarang dampalit  during a welcome lunch in Roxas City. Maam Sonie, our host, explained that dampalit , is sort of a weed that grows near fishponds and most commonly used as feeds.  And they sort of have a portion of their vegetable garden that is devoted to dampalit , thus they can have this "exotic" and delicious atsara anytime. The bottled atsarang dampalit served was just a day old that we still tasted the crunch in the dampalit leaves.  While common atsaras have papaya, tambo (labong ), amargoso (bitter gourd) and even pineapple as base, its the first time I tried made from leaves of a plant.  And there's no bitter nor tartness ( pakla ) for it tastes like most  atsaras  but with a different feel and look.    It still has that sweet-sour taste that erupts in the mouth plus bell peppers giving color and fl...

I never actually dared to try apan-apan before knowing it was a local delicacy made with grasshoppers. I could just hear the crunch of it's legs and other body parts. But now, apan-apan is more popular as an apptizer made with kangkong sauteed in guinamos (the local term for bago-ong). And I get to enjoy it more and crave for it at times. Cooking apan-apan is like making adobong kangkong only with guinamos. But at times, it doesn't really matter since I almost interchange the method being an experimental cook. So it usually starts with the sauteeing of garlic and onions then adding guinamos - I often add chillis for a kick. Then I add vinegar, soy sauce and kangkong leaves and the upper portion of the stalk. Then it's just simmering it until the stalks are soft enough to be eaten. ( Click for Recipe-style post ) I like tweaking the recipe by adding (ingredients I love like) calamansi and sesame oil. The former brings more tang and the latter the dif...

All roads lead to Jaro, Iloilo City every February 2, as Ilonggos celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Candles in different aspects - religious, gastronomic, enterprising, and more. As early as December the Jaro Plaza is teeming with the Jaro Grand Carnival with activities like carnival games, food stalls, fruit stands and ukay-ukay, among others. It culminates on fiesta day with the coronation of the Fiesta Queen, chosen among the lasses of Jaro families.  The district Jaro, Iloilo celebrates biggest fiesta in the region characterized by the pageantry and the grandeur of the occasion paying homage to Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria, the patron saint of Western Visayas. Check out my Jaro Fiesta blogposts for 2013 , 2014 and 2015 !