FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

When we cook Pancit Molo at home, we tend to make the filling before and in big batches for practicality. But it won't only end as part of the Pancit Molo soup but can made into other dishes as well. There are three basic ingredients we use in making this filling aside from the ground meat and additional spices. Minced garlic . We peel and mince "tons" of garlic to give it both an aroma and the flavour needed. Kusay . Even though we grow some in the backyard, we usually buy a few bundles then finely chop it. Not to be confused withy kinchay, kutsay (as it is called up north) is like chives but not hollow. It is also referred to as sibuyas na mura . Tahure . As far as I know this is soy bean curd "soaked" in soy sauce and salt. We often get it from the wet market by the cube. To make the filling we simply mix all these then add some seasoning like pepper, garlic and onion powder, additional salt if needed. Then we simply fry a small portion of the mixture for t...

Often mistaken to be, sounding-alike, as kinchay , kusay has a very distinct aroma and flavour. A rather unfamiliar herb mostly anywhere, my Tagalog officemate call this as sibuyas na mura and in Manila groceries labeled as kutchay . It do looks like onion chives but kusay is flat unlike the hollow chives. We have kusay planted in our backyard for occasional uses like soup garnishing. However, it often takes a trip to the Central Market to buy them in large quantities if ever we make Pancit Molo since it is an important ingredient in the filling mixture and as garnishing.