Filipino Cuisine

Filipino Cuisine

Philippine cuisine, like its home, evolved for centuries. Inside a traditional Filipino kitchen, east meets west as woks battle kalamansi and steaks in what may be called an original culinary fusion. Its influences are Malay, Chinese, Spanish and to a certain extent American culture and they combine into a unique, multicultural hotpot. Dishes range from a simple meal of fish and rice to rich paellas and cocidos. Filipino food is indeed a unique culinary experience.
Popular dishes include lechon (whole roasted pig and calf), Longanisa (sausages); Tortas (egg wraps), Pan de sal (bread rolls), Adobo (chicken and/or pork marinated in garlic, soy sauce, and vinegar), Kalderetang Kambing (rich goat stew), Kare-kare (ox tail cooked in peanut sauce), Sinigang (sour soup), Pancit (stir-fried noodles), Lumpia (fresh or fried spring rolls) and Halo-halo (a cold exotic fruit mix dessert)
Staples
The staple of the Filipino food is rice. Like most Southeast Asian countries, rice (kanin) is grown and served. Rice is simply boiled. However, there are a myriad of ways of using rice and rice flour. They are used in cakes, sweets, and other savory snacks. Cooked rice is fried with garlic, spring onions, and scrambled eggs to create Sinangag, often served with fried eggs and Tocino (sweetened cured meat) or longanisas as a breakfast treat. The other native staples include maize (mais), Bananas, and bread.
Seafood is also popular. Milkfish (bangus); Grouper (lapu-lapu); Shrimp (hipon); Mackerel (galunggong); Mussels (tahong); Clams (tulya); large and small Crabs- (alimango) or (alimasag}; game fish, Blue Marlin and Squid (pusit) are a popular catch. Others include: Sea Cucumber, Sea Urchin, Abalone, Eel, and Seaweeds.
Fish is simply salted, deep-fried, and eaten as a simple meal with rice and vegetables. Larger fish can be cut up and cooked in a hot, spicy and sour broth (known as sinigang na isda), simmered in vinegar and peppers ("paksiw") or roasted over fire or hot coals (inihaw) . Those opting first class cuisine may prefer to cook their fish escabeche (sweet and sour) or relleno (de-boned and stuffed). Fish is also smoked ("tinapa") and sun-dried ("daing"), which could be served all day.
Abundant harvest of root crops occurs all year round. Potatoes, carrots, taro ("gabi"), cassava ("kamoteng kahoy"), purple yam ("ube"), and sweet yam ("kamote") are examples. Kamote chopped, dusted with brown sugar, fried and skewered, yielding "kamote-cue"-- a a popular caramelized snack.

Breakfast

Longanisas come in a variety of flavours, shapes, and sizes.
A traditional breakfast is served in a variety of ways:
• Tapsilog - /tap-sĭ-log/ is an acronym for tapa (marinated thinly sliced steaks) sinangag (Filipino fried rice) and itlog (egg usually fried). Tapsilog is usually served with sliced tomatoes or vinegar sauce.
• Tosilog - /tô-sĭ-lôg/ is an acronym for Tocino (sweetened cured pork or chicken breast), sinangag (fried rice), itlog (fried eggs). Tosilog is also served with either sliced tomatoes, vinegar sauce or achara (sweet pickled papaya).
• Longsilog - /long-sĭ-lôg/ is an acronym for Longanisa (sweet and spicy sausages from either Lucban, Pampanga, or Vigan province) Sinangag (fried rice) and itlog (fried eggs). Longsilog is also served with either sliced tomatoes, vinegar sauce or achara (sweet pickled papaya).
• Champorado - /Champ-ô-rə-dô/ is chocolate rice pudding similar to a chocolate oatmeal, not to be confused with Mexican Champurrado which is a hot chocolate drink
• Pan de Sal - literally, 'salted bread', it is bread rolls which can be spread with butter, jam, or marmalade
• Kesong puti - is a firm white cheese made from Carabao's milk.
• Daing na Bangus - / də-ĭN-nə-bə-Nus / meaning salt dried milkfish. It's marinated milkfish served with sinangag and fried eggs. It is also served with either sliced tomatoes, vinegar sauce or achara (sweet pickled papaya).

Merienda
Merienda, is an afternoon snack. Like the English who may have tea and biscuits, and Americans who could have coffee and doughnuts; Filipinos do have a number of options to nibble with chaa/tsaa (tea), cafe/kape (coffee) or mainit na tsokolate (hot chocolate) with.
Merienda can be viewed as a cross between tapas and afternoon tea. Breads like pan de sal (bread rolls) and ensaymada (buttery sweet rolls with cheese), and sweets (kakanin) such as Kutsinta, Pichi-pichi, Palitaw, Biko, and Suman are served. Others include savories: small portions of pancit canton, stir-fried noodles; empanaditas, pastries bursting with minced pork, peas and sweet raisins; or a bowl of puto (sweet steamed rice muffins) and dinuguan (a spicy and tangy stew of pork and blood). Other sweets such as, Hopia (pastries filled with sweet bean paste) and Bibingka (sweet coconut-flavored hot rice cakes) are also favorites.

Pulutan
Pulutan is a word which means "finger food". Though at times eaten with a fork, Pulutan is served as an appetizer or as a snack accompanied with liquor or non-alcoholic beverages.
• Adidas - grilled chicken feet
• Chicharon - crunchy pork rind
• Chicharong Bituka - crispy pig's intestines
• Mani - salt and/or spicy fried peanuts
• Pork Barbecue - Filipino Satays marinated in a special blend
• Sisig - minced pig's cheeks cooked with herbs and spices and is served sizzling on a hot plate.
• Siomai - chinese dumplings (steamed meatballs sealed in wonton wrappers) dipped in soy sauce with squeezed kalamansi limes
• Lumpiang Shanghai - tiny fried spring rolls filled with mince meat.

A typical meal

There are restaurants that cater to diners who wish to eat food such as grilled whole fish that is torn apart and eaten with the hands
Filipino food is a bold combination of sweet, sour, and spicy. Whereas some Asian cuisines may be known for subtlety and balance, Filipino palates prefer to savoring the flavor at once.
Dinner, while still the main meal, is usually eaten in smaller quantities compared to other countries. Snacking is normal, and it is possible that a person could have eaten four meals in a day.
Dinner may consist of soup soured with tamarinds and cooked with pork and mixed vegetables, called sinigang na baboy, which may be drizzled atop the servings of steamed rice on a diner's plate. Vegetables boiled with ginger resound with fresh flavors and can be highlighted with a dash of patis (fish sauce) or bagoong (fermented shrimp paste) for salt. Condiments that vary from sweet achara (sweet pickled papaya shreds which look similar to sauerkraut) to the sour suka at bawang (vinegar and garlic sauce) is at hand. Fish in most kind, often inihaw (roasted) should be on the table. Desserts made with coconut milk and glutinous rice can also be sighted.
Some dishes will rely on vinegar for flavoring. Adobo is popular not solely for its splendid flavor, but also for its ability to remain fresh for days, and even improves its flavor with a day or two of storage.
In addition, though no longer a popular norm but is nevertheless practiced by some, food is eaten with the hands-- sans cutlery. The diner could use his soup (sabaw) or gravy sauce to moisten his rice, scoop it from the plate together with a piece of vegetable or meat and slide it into his mouth.

Fiestas
A few Filipino women band together and tirelessly prepare more sophisticated dishes at festive occasions. Tables are often laden with expensive and labor-intensive treats requiring hours of preparation. Lechon, a whole roasted suckling pig, takes centerstage. Ham, basted with pineapple juice and garnished with bright-red cherries titillate the hungry after a long Christmas service. Rellenong Manok, a whole deboned chicken filled with a savory blend of ham, minced pork, raisins, and chorizos-- delights both our sense of taste and sight. The mingling of egg noodles and chorizos, fruit cocktail with a splash of condensed milk and sprinkled sugar, and pastel de pollo-- a chicken pot pie with chorizos beckon with a heady aroma. A variety of dishes at the party are usually served buffet-style in palayoks-- clay pots the shape of small cauldrons.

Regional specialties
The Philippine islands are home to various ethnic groups. This results is regional cuisine.
Ilocanos from the rugged Ilocos region boast of a diet heavy in boiled or steamed vegetables and freshwater fish, but are particularly fond of dishes flavored with bagoong, fermented shrimp paste that is often used instead of salt. Ilocanos often season boiled vegetables with bagoong monamon (fermented anchovy paste) to produce pinakbet. The Igorots, prefer roasted meats, particularly carabao's meat, goat's meat and venison.
Laguna is known for Buko pie (coconut pie) and Panutsa (molasses clustered peanuts)
Pampanga is considered the culinary center. Among the treats produced in Pampanga are longanisa (original sweet and spicy sausages), Kalderetang Kambing (savory goat stew) and tocino (sweetened-cured pork). Kapampangan cuisine makes use of every regional produce available to the native cook, combining pork cheeks and offal to make Sisig.
Batangas is home to Taal Lake, a body of water that surrounds Taal Volcano. The lake is home to 75 species of freshwater fish. And of these, the Maliputo and Tawilis are two of the world's rarest. Maliputos and Tawilises are delicious native delicacies. Batangas is also known for its special coffee, Kapeng Barako.
Cebu is popular for Lechon; and sweets like dried mangoes; mango and caramel tarts
Bulacan is popular for Chicharon (pork rinds) and pastries like puto, kutsinta and many more...
Further south, dishes are filled with the scents of Southeast Asia: coconut milk, turmeric, coriander, lemon grass, ginger, and chilies-- an ingredient not present in other regional cuisine (except in Bicol Region whose use of chilies is more liberal compared to others). Since southern regions are predominantly Islamic, pork dishes are hardly present. Popular crops cassava root, sweet potatoes (kamote) and yams are grown.

Popular Filipino delicacies

Pinoy Sweets (L-R) Palitaw, Kutsinta, Pichi-pichi, and Suman
• Adobo - a favourite dish consisting of pork and/or chicken stewed in a broth of soy sauce, vinegar, garlic and peppercorns.
• Arrozcaldo - A Spanish-inspired rice porridge cooked with chicken and ginger, garnished with spring onions.
• Balut - essentially ducklings boiled before they hatch. Duck eggs that have been fertilized are allowed to develop until the embryo reaches a pre-determined size, then boiled.
• Batchoy - A noodle soup garnished with pork innards, crushed pork cracklings, chopped vegetables, and topped with a raw egg.
• Bibingka - A hot rice cake topped with a spread of butter, slices of kesong puti (white cheese) and itlog na maalat (salted duck eggs), and sometimes grated coconut. Wiktionary entry on Bibingka with a photo
• Biko - glutinous rice sweets creamed with sugar, butter, and coconut milk.
• Binakol - warm chicken soup with coconut meat.
• Crispy Pata - Pork knuckles (pata), marinated then deep fried until crispy golden brown. However, the knuckles are a small portion, thus it is the whole leg of pork that is usually served.
• Dinuguan - also called "blood porridge", a dish made from pig blood, entrails, and meat.
• Fishballs / Squidballs - commonly sold frozen in stores, and typically peddled by hawkers, they are skewered in bamboo sticks and sauces are dripped over.
• Goto - Rice porridge with ox tripe, intestines and sometimes coagulated pig blood.
• 'Halo-halo - A dessert composed of shaved ice, milk, coconut sport, purple yam pudding and caramel custard, sweetened plantains, jackfruit, and topped with ice cream. Wiktionary entry on Halo-halo with pictures
• Itlog na maalat/Itlog na Pula - Duck eggs that are hard boiled, then cured in warm brine. Their shells are often dyed with red food coloring to distinguish them from chicken eggs.
• Isaw - Seasoned hog and/or chicken intestines. A popular street food.
• Kare-kare - Also known as "Peanut Stew", boiled oxtail and/or ox tripe in a peanut-based stew of mixed vegetables, served with bagoong (fermented shrimp paste).
• Kesong puti - is a soft white cheese made from carabao's milk.
• Kinilaw - food served raw, cooked only by steeping in vinegar and sometimes with coconut milk. It is comparable to ceviche.
• Kutsinta - brown rice cake.
• Leche flan - caramel custard made with eggs and milk
• Lechon - whole roasted suckling pig, piglet (lechonillo) or cattle calf (lechong baka). Wiktionary entry on Lechon with a photo
• Longanisa - sweet and spicy homemade sausages.
• Lumpia - fresh or fried spring rolls.
• Lumpiang shanghai - tiny fried spring rolls filled with minced pork and shrimp and served with sweet and sour sauce.
• Mamon - a buttery sweet sponge cake that is softer than butter cake.
• Palitaw - Rice patties with sesame seeds, sugar, and coconut.
• Penoy - Hard boiled duck eggs.
• Pichi-pichi - cassava patties with coconut.
• Puto - sweet steamed rice muffins
• Puto Bumbong - purpled-colored sweets cooked in tubes that are placed on a special steamer. When cooked, they are removed from the tubes, topped with butter, and sprinkled with sugar and niyog (grated coconut). They are then wrapped in banana leaves until they are ready to be eaten. Wiktionary entry on Puto Bumbong with photos
• Que-que - boiled quail eggs dipped in batter then deep fried. Another popular street delicacy.
• Sinigang - a tamarind sour soup typically made with pork or neckbones.
• Sapin-sapin - are three-layered tricoloured sweets made with rice flour, purple yam and coconut milk.
• Sorbetes - is basically the same as regular ice cream, but is made primarily with coconut milk.
• Suman - sticky rice sticks wrapped in banana or palm leaves. They are dipped in sugar and sometimes eaten with ripe mangoes.
• Taho - a warm snack made of soft beancurd (the taho itself), molasses, and tapioca balls. Cold(cold molasses) flavoured (chocolate, strawberry etc.) taho is now available.
• Tinola - Traditional chicken ginger soup cooked with whole chicken pieces, green papaya, and spinach or malunggay leaves.
• Tocino - sweetened cured meat. The meat either chicken or pork is marinated and aged for a number of days and is then grilled.
• Ukoy - shrimp and squash fritters

Filipino drinks and cocktails
The climate of the Philippines is characterized by having relatively high temperature, high humidity and abundant rainfall. This is a reason why chilled drinks are popular.
• Salabat - ginger tea
• Gulaman at Sago - a banana flavoured iced-drink with agar-agar and tapioca balls/pearls
• Fresh Mango Shake - ripe mangoes blended with milk ice and sugar
• Pandan Iced Tea - tea made with Pandan leaves and lemon grass.
• Green Mango Shake - green mangoes blended with syrup.
• Kalamansi Juice - Philippine limes squeezed and blended with honey, syrup or sugar.
• Lambanog - is hard liquor made from coconut extract.
• Fresh Buko Juice - The Philippines is a producer of coconut products. The fruit is topped and a straw is pierced into the membrane allowing a person to drink its juice.
• Other Tropical Fruit Drinks - Dalanghita (green mandarin), Suha (Pomelo), Piña (Pineapple), Banana, and Guyabano (Soursop).
• San Miguel Beer - are the most popular locally brewed beer products.
• Ginebra San Miguel - a popular locally produced gin and rum. It is often combined with other juices such as gin-orange juice, gin-pinapple juice or gin-pomelo juice.
Other food
The Philippines doesn't only possess its traditional cuisine. Popular worldwide cuisine and restaurant chains are also available around the archipelago.