THE POPULAR FOOD IN ALL REGION AT PHILIPPINES

LUZON

Northern Luzon: Cooking method is simple; vegetables are usually steamed or boiled. There is a preference for locally grown vegetables e.g., saluyot, a leafy green that looks like spinach but turns slippery like okra when cooked.

• Some popular dishes are PINAKBET and bangus (milkfish) which are farmed in ponds of brackish water. 

Pinakbet

DETAILS ABOUT PINAKBET

Pinakbet or pakbet is a popular Ilokano dish, from the northern regions of the Philippines, although it has become popular throughout the archipelago. The word is the contracted form of the Ilokano word pinakebbet, meaning "shrunk" or "shriveled". The original Ilokano pinakbet uses bagoong, of fermented monamon or other fish, while further south, bagoong alamang is used. The basic vegetables used in this dish include native bitter melon,eggplant, tomato, okra, string beans, chili peppers, parda, winged beans, and others. Root crops and some beans like camote, patani, kadios are also optionally added. The young pod of marunggay is also added. It is usually spiced with ginger, onions, or garlic. A Tagalog version usually includes calabaza. Most of these vegetables are easily accessible, and are grown in backyards and gardens of most Ilokano households. As its name suggests, it is usually cooked until almost dry and shriveled; the flavors of the vegetables are accentuated with shrimp paste. In some cases, lechon, chicharon, or other meats (most commonly pork) are added. It is considered a very healthy dish, and convenient in relation to the harsh and rugged, yet fruitful Ilocos region of the Philippines.

The vegetable dish pinakbet is more than a regional cuisine. It is an enduring symbol of the Ilokano palate and a lucid display of the Ilokanos’ history of contestations and struggles with the physical and social environment. The recipe weaves intimations of the cultural productions of the Ilokanos' transaction to their arid and less productive land. (Caday, 2009)

Pinakbet is similar to the Provençal (French) vegetable stew ratatouille except for its sauce.

HOW TO COOK PINAKBET

Recipe: Pinakbet Recipe

Ingredients

• 1/4 lb pork, thinly sliced
• 1 large egg plant, chopped
• 1 medium-sized bitter melon, chopped
• 1/4 lb squash, chopped into 2×1 inch cubes
• 3 pieces large tomato, sliced
• 1 piece onion, sliced
• 1 tbsp ginger, minced
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 6 to 8 pieces okra
• 1 bunch string beans, cut in 3 inches length
• 4 tbsp shrimp paste
• 1 cup water
• 3 tbsp cooking oil
• salt and pepper

Cooking Procedure

1. Heat the pan and put the cooking oil.
2. When oil is hot enough, saute the garlic, ginger, onion, and tomato
3. Add the pork and cook until color turns light brown (about 5 to 8 minutes)
4. Put-in the shrimp paste and cook for 2 minutes.
5. Add water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until pork is tender
6. Put-in the squash and cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until texture becomes soft
7. Add the remaining vegetables and mix with the other ingredients.Simmer for 5 minutes or until all the vegetables are cooked. (Do not overcook the vegetables)
8. Serve hot with steamed white rice. Share and Enjoy!

Central Luzon: Cooking is marked by elaborate preparation and clever combination of many different ingredients in a single dish.

• The people have a passion for meat especially pork and poultry. Some popular dishes are SISIG, EMBUTIDO and BALUT - a partially formed duck embryo in an egg that has been boiled for a few moments. 
• They usually like their vegetables sautéed in garlic, onions and tomatoes with pork and shrimps. 

SISIG

DETAILS ABOUT SISIG:

Sisig is a Kapampangan term which means "to snack on something sour". It usually refers to fruits, often unripe or half-ripe, sometimes dipped insalt and vinegar. It also refers to a method of preparing fish and meat, especially pork, which is marinated in a sour liquid such as lemon juice or vinegar, then seasoned with salt, pepper and other spices.

Sisig also refers to Sizzling sisig, a Filipino dish made from parts of pig’s head and liver, usually seasoned with calamansi and chili peppers.

The dish is said to have originated from local residents who bought unused pig heads from the commissaries of Clark Air Base in Angeles City,Pampanga. Pig heads were purchased cheap since they were not used in preparing meals for the U.S. Air Force personnel stationed there. An alternate explanation of its origin is that it is but an innovative variation on an older recipe, which is pork ears and jowl, boiled, chopped then marinated.

Sisig queen

Lucia Cunanan of Angeles City has been credited with inventing sisig. The Philippine Department of Tourism has acknowledged that her "Aling Lucing's" restaurant had established Angeles City as the "Sisig Capital of the Philippines" in 1974. Cunanan's trademark sisig was developed in mid-1974 when she served a concoction of boiled and chopped pig ears and cheeks seasoned with vinegar, calamansi juice, chopped onions and chicken liver and served in hot plates. Today, varieties include sisig ala pizzailo, pork combination, green mussels or tahong, mixed seafood, ostrichsisig, spicy python, frog sisig and tokwa't baboy, among others.

HOW TO COOK SISIG

Sisig Recipe Ingredients:

* 1 1/2 kilo pork head
* 1/4 cup grilled liver, diced
* 2 small onions, minced
* 2 pieces red pepper, minced
* 1 head garlic, minced
* 6 pieces hot chili pepper, minced
* 2 tablespoons oil
* 1 cup vinegar
* 1 1/2 tablespoons liquid seasoning
* 1 teaspoon black pepper
* 1 teaspoon brown sugar
* 1 cup beef broth

Sisig Recipe Procedure:

* Grill pork head to remove hair.
* Boil the pork head until it is tender enough to chop.
* Take out all the meat and dice.
* In a pan, heat oil and sauté garlic, onion, red pepper, pork meat and liver.
* Pour in liquid seasoning, black pepper and brown sugar.
* Pour in beef broth and heat until meat is tender.
* Add in chili pepper before serving.

EMBUTIDO

DETAILS ABOUT EMBUTIDO:

An embutido (Spanish: [embuˈtiðo], Brazilian Portuguese: [ẽbuˈtʃidu]), enchido or embotits is a generic term for sausages found in Spain, Portugal, the Philippines, and Central and South America.

It generally contains hashed meat, generally pork, seasoned with aromatic herbs or spices (black pepper, red pepper, paprika, garlic, rosemary,thyme, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, or others) that is served wrapped in the skin of the pig's intestines.

Mass-produced sausages of these types are often wrapped in a type of artificial, sometimes edible, skin. Although the Filipino longaniza is roughly equivalent to the traditional embutido, there is another Filipino dish that shares the same name, but is better described as a kind of steamed meatloaf and lacks a casing.

HOW TO MAKE A EMBUTIDO

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 kilo minced pork
• 3 raw eggs
• 1 onion chopped finely
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 cup raisin/sultana
• 1/2 cup sweet relish
• 1 cup sausage/hotdog, chopped
• 1/2 cup grated cheese
• 2 hard boiled eggs quartered
• 1/2 cup finely chopped carrots
• 3 tbsp bread crumbs
• Salt & pepper, to taste

PROCEDURE:

1. In a large bowl, combined all the ingredients except for the hard boiled eggs
2. Mix well, until blended.
3. Spread half of the mixture in an aluminum foil. (enough to make one roll)
4. Arrange the hard boiled eggs on top.
5. Roll the mixture over to form a jelly rod.
6. Roll tightly and wrap in aluminum foil, seal both ends. Repeat with the remaining pork mixture. This can make 2 jelly roll depending on how big /small you want it.
7. Place the roll in a steamer for one hour. Chill.
8. Remove from wrapping before serving.

There are many ways to serve embutido:

• Serve as cold cuts -slice and decorate with tomatoes, cucumber or lettuce, run a small portion of tomato sauce on top.
• You can lightly pan fried the whole embutido then slice, serve with your favourite tomato sauce and eat it with boiled rice.
• Leftover embutido are ideal as sandwich filling.

BALUT

A balut is a fertilized duck embryo that is boiled and eaten in the shell. Popularly believed to be an aphrodisiac and considered a high-protein, hearty snack, balut are mostly sold by street vendors. It is commonly sold as streetfood in the Philippines. They are common, everyday food in countries in Southeast Asia, such as Laos, Cambodia (pong tia koon ពងទាកូន in Cambodian) and Vietnam (trứng vịt lộn or hột vịt lộn in Vietnamese). They are often served with beer.

The Filipino and Malay word balut (balot) means "wrapped" – depending on pronunciation.

HOW TO MAKE A BALUT

INGREDIENTS:

• BALUT EGG

Method #1

1. Select eggs that are fit for incubation. Eggs should come from mated flocks, and be not more than five days old. They should have thick shells without any cracks.
2. Preheat the selected eggs under the sun for three to five hours.
3. Heat some unpolished rice in an iron cauldron or vat until it reaches a temperature of about 42 to 42.5 °C (107 to 108 °F).
4. Put 100 to 125 eggs into a large cloth made of either abaca (sinamay) or nylon.
5. Place a layer of heated rice at the bottom of a cylindrical bamboo incubator basket (45 cm in diameter and 60 cm deep, and place a bag of eggs on the rice. Alternate the bags of eggs with the bags of heated rice. Eight bags of eggs will fit into the basket. Bamboo baskets can be arrangedeither in a single row along the wall of the balutan, or in double rows placed in the middle of the balutan. Rice hull is firmly tamped down between baskets as an insulator.
6. Turn the eggs at least two or three times a day.
7. Heat the rice in the morning and in the afternoon on cool days.
8. Candle the eggs on the 7th, 14th and 18th day to select infertile eggs; D1 (dead embryo on first candling) and D2 (dead embryo on second candling). The infertile eggs, both D1 and D2, are removed, hard-boiled, and sold as a snack.
9. Eggs containing a normal embryo candled on the 16th to 18th day should be hard boiled and sold as balut.

Numerous entrepreneurs have successfully adopted this technology. However, marketing aspects such as demand for the product, promotional activities and pricing need to be considered. The shelf life of balut is one day, but this may be extended to one week if the eggs are kept in a refrigerator.

Method #2 (For Small Scale Industry)

1. Prepare a big wooden box; line this with heated rice hull at the bottom about 6-8 inches thick.
2. Arrange the eggs in bags of about 20-50 pieces each, put them on the heated hull and cover again with the same thickness of heated hull.
3. Cover the box very well so as to prevent quick loss of heat.
4. Every morning inspect the eggs to see if the rice hull needs reheating. The hull must be about 38°C.
5. On the third day, examine the eggs against a bright light to see if the germ plasm has developed. This is the part of the egg that becomes the chick if the egg is fertile. If no germ plasm develops remove these eggs. These are sold as penoy. Put back into the heated hull those eggs with germ plasm.
6. On the 13th day examine again the egg against the light. Remove the eggs without germ pasm. At this stage, those with developing germ plasm are the “balut sa puti”.
7. On the 17th day the chicks will be growing little feathers. These may now be cooked.

Southern Luzon: The people have a strong preference for fresh water fish which abound in streams and rivers. Vinegar seasoned with garlic, salt and pepper is used as a marinade for fish before frying or as a dip.

• Its cooking is notable for their generous use of coconut milk, chilies, vinegar and tamarind. Some popular dishes are sinigang and laing.

• Well-known native cakes and delicacies include suman and bibingka.

DETAILS ABOUT BIBINGKA:

Ang bibingka (Ingles: rice cake) ay isang uri ng mamon na gawa mula sa malagkit na bigas o galapong at gatas ng buko. Isa rin itong pagkaing meryenda sa Goa, Indya - ang bebinca - na ang ginagamit na mga sangkap ay harina, langis na ghee, asukal, at gata, at hindi nawawala sa anumang handaang katulad ng pagsilang, kasal, Pasko o Pasko ng Pagkabuhay. Niluluto ito sa isang hurnuhang yari sa putik, pinaiinitan ng mainit na uling na nakapatong sa ibabaw ng lutuin. Iniihaw ito ng patung-patong. Karaniwan na ang may 16 na mga patong. Bilang tanyag na pagkain sa Pilipinas, karaniwan naman itong ginagamitan ng galapong, at ang paghuhurno ay katulad ng sa pagluluto ng bebinca ng Indya, ngunit bago ihain ay pinapahiran muna ito ng mantekilya o margarina (mantekilyang gawa sa niyog) at binubudburan ng asukal. Isinisilbi ito na may kasamang ginadgad na niyog.

Ang pangalang bebinca ay ginamit ring pangalan para sa isang bagyo ng Sistema ng Pandaigdigang Panahon (International Weather System).

HOW TO MAKE BIBINGKA

Ingredients:

• 1 cup rice flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1/4 cup fresh milk
• 1 piece salted duck egg, sliced
• 1/2 cup grated cheese
• 3 pieces raw eggs
• Pre-cut banana leaf

Procedure:

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2.  Combine rice flour, baking powder, and salt then mix well. Set aside.
3.  Cream butter then gradually put-in sugar while whisking.
4.  Add the eggs then whisk until every ingredient is well incorporated.
5.  Gradually add the rice flour, salt, and baking powder mixture then continue mixing.
6.  Pour-in coconut milk and fresh milk then whisk some more for 1 to 2 minutes.
7.  Arrange the pre-cut banana leaf on a cake pan or baking pan.
8.  Pour the mixture on the pan.
9.  Bake for 15 minutes.
10.  Remove from the oven then top with sliced salted egg and grated cheese (do not turn the oven off).
11.  Put back in the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the color of the top turn medium brown.
12.  Remove from the oven and let cool.
13.  Brush with butter and sprinkle some sugar on top. You can also top this with grated coconut.
14.  Serve. Share and enjoy!

SUMAN

DETAILS ABOUT SUMAN:

Suman is a rice cake originating in the Philippines. It is made from glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk, and often steamed in banana leaves. It is served wrapped in buli or buri palm (Corypha) leaves and usually eaten sprinkled with sugar. Suman is also known as budbod in the Visayan languages which dominate the southern half of the country.

SUMAN WRAPPING

Suman wrapping is a unique art in itself, and can be traced to pre-colonial roots which have had contact with Indian traditions. Wrappers utilize a wide variety of indigenous materials such as palm,banana, anahaw and bamboo leaves, coconut shells, and others. Some wrappings are simple folds such as those found in the binuo and the kamoteng kahoy, resulting in rectangular suman. Others are in vertical coils like the inantala, giving it a tubular form. Still others are in pyramid-like shapes, like the balisungsong. Some forms of suman are eaten like ice cream–with cones made from banana leaves, and still others are in very complex geometric patterns like the pusu ("heart"). Some are woven into the shape of a banana blossom (which in the Philippines is referred to as the banana plant's "heart"), or the pinagi (from the word pagi, meaning stingray), a complex octahedral star.

HOW TO MAKE A SUMAN

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups of malagkit (sticky or sweet) rice
• a can of coconut milk
• fresh ginger or maybe anise seeds or anise extract
• sugar

PROCEDURE

1. Cook malagkit just like you cook rice in your rice cooker but instead of using water, use coconut milk - about two-thirds of the can, when cooking malagkit, you have to use a little bit less of liquid than cooking regular rice.
2. we don't use ginger.. we use langka///
3. If you don't have ginger, add a tablespoon or two of anise extract or if you have the seeds, a sprinkle will do.
4. Once the rice is cooked, you can wrap them in the banana leaves (or foil) like you wrap lumpia.
5. Take about two tablespoonsful of the rice, put them on top of your banana leaf sheet that you have cut into square pieces about 6 inches by 6 inches or so, then roll to make a log, then twist both ends and tuck under the log.
6. Note: in order for your banana leaf not to tear, you have to run the leaf over a flame.
7. You also need to wipe the leaf with a piece of damp cloth.
8. Place the rice on top of the darker side of the leaf (this side doesn't have that whitish powdery stuff that covers the underside of the banana leaf).
9. Now, after you finished wrapping your rice, put them in a casserole or a large sauce pan, then boil the hell out of it, covered, again using coconut milk just enough to cover your pile (use the remaining coconut milkdiluted with water).
10. I remember my mother used to cook the wrapped malagkit overnight but i suppose you can finish this in one hour just how i did the batch above - or until the liquid evaporates.
11. Serve rolled in sugar or as a side dish for ripe manila mangoes.

SINIGANG

DETAILS ABOUT SINIGANG:

Sinigang is a Filipino soup or stew characterized by its sour flavor most often associated with tamarind (sampalok).

Sinigang is traditionally tamarind based. Other versions of the dish derive their sourness from ingredients such as guava, calamansi, bilimbi, or unripe mango among others. Powdered soup base or bouillon cubes for sinigang based on tamarind or calamondin are also used in place of natural fruits. Vinegar is not used for making sinigang sour. A similar dish made with vinegar as the primary souring ingredient would tend to be categorized as paksiw in Philippine cuisine.

Meat in sinigang (e.g., fish, pork, shrimp, or beef) is often stewed with tamarinds, tomatoes, and onions. Other vegetables commonly used in the making of sinigang include okra, taro corms (gabi), daikon (labanos), water spinach (kangkong), yardlong beans (sitaw) and eggplant(talong). Most Filipinos like to cook sinigang with green finger pepper in order to enhance the taste while adding a little spice to the dish.

A common variation of chicken sinigang is called sinampalukang manok or sinampalukan (from sampalok, Filipino for tamarind).Sinampalukan is distinguished by its use of shredded tamarind leaves. It is also made with ginger, onions, and tomatoes. Sinampalukan is sometimes prepared to be a little spicier than the other sinigang dishes.

It bears some similarities to Indonesian sayur asem, Vietnamese canh chua, and Thai tom yam. Sinigang shares some characteristics—but should not be confused with—singgang, a tamarind soup dish from Terengganu, Malaysia.

Formal Filipino restaurants commonly list sinigang as a soup and serve it as such. It is, however, traditionally and typically transferred from the bowl to the plate and eaten with rice in a similar manner to a main dish.

HOW TO MAKE A SINIGANG

HOWEVER, THERE ARE MANY KINDS OF SINIGANG BUT I CHOOSE PORK.

PORK SINIGANG

Ingredients

• 1 Kilo Pork (cut into chunk cubes)
• 12 pcs Tamarind (Sampaloc) (or one packet of sinigang mix)
• 1 big Onion (diced)
• 6 big tomatoes (quartered)
• 2 pcs Radish (sliced)
• 1 bundle Sitaw Stringbeans (cut into 2" long)
• 1 bundle Kangkong (cut into 2" long)
• Salt and Patis to taste
• 6 cups water

Procedure

1. Boil Tamarind to soften. Pound and strain all juices and set aside.
2. In a casserole, bring pork to a boil, lower fire and simmer until pork is tender.
3. Add onions, tomatoes and Tamarind juice (OR sinigang mix).
4. Add in all the vegetables.
5. Season with salt and Patis to taste.
6. Serve hot.

LAING

DETAILS ABOUT LAING:

Laing is a Filipino dish native to the province of Bicol. It is a spicy and creamy dish of Gabi (Taro) leaves, pork, and chili peppers cooked in coconut milk.

INGREDIENTS:

• 20 pieces gabi leaves, dried and shredded
• 1/2 kilo pork belly, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small ginger, minced
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 5 jalapeno pepper, sliced
• 1 cup coconut cream (kakang gata)
• 2 cups coconut milk (gata)
• 1/4 cup shrimp bagoong
• 1/2 teaspoon monosodium glutamate (MSG)
• 1 teaspoon salt

PROCEDURE:

1. In a casserole, mix together the gabi leaves, pork, garlic, ginger, and onions.
2. Pour in the coconut milk, bring to a boil then simmer for 15 minutes.
3. Add jalapeno, bagoong, MSG, and salt to taste and simmer for another 5 minutes.
4. Add the coconut cream and until oil comes out of the cream.

VISAYAS 
The region is noted for dried salted seafood. Visayan cooking tends to be salty because of its dried salted foods and the liberal use of guinamos. Cooking is also simple. The people like their fish broiled over live coals or boiled in vinegar until it is almost dry. Some even eat their fish raw as in kinilaw.
Like the Northern Luzon people, they also like their vegetables simply boiled or steamed but dipped in guinamos with a squeeze of lemon.
The region is also well known for its native snacks such turon, turong saging/banana que and baybaye. 

KINILAW

The word “kinilaw” is derived from the bisaya term “kilaw” which means “eaten fresh”. The fishermen back then (and even till now) would fillet their fresh catch and would just deep it in sea water before eating it (now that is fresh!).

Fish is one of the most highly perishable foods; it starts to rot fast the moment the fish is hauled from the ocean. Since vinegar and salt are very good preservatives, the folks back then used it often in their cooking. Since firewood is very scarce in the islands someone must have had the insanely bright idea to not cook the fish at all. Good thing for us that they tried it first. I don’t want any experimenting when it comes to my stomach.

HOW TO MAKE A KINILAW

Ingredients

• 1/2 kilo of tuna fillets (or any fish that you may have on the refrigerator)
• 1 good-sized hand of ginger, peeled and sliced (this is to get rid of the unwanted smell)
• 1  head of garlic, peeled and crushed
• 2 white onion, thinly sliced (or you could use red onion if you want it traditional)
• 5 green chili peppers, cut diagonally into 1/4-inch thick slices (you may not use this if you don’t want it to be spicy hot)
• 1 red or green bell pepper, diced
• 2 cups of vinegar (if you have suka’ng tuba, or coconut vinegar, then it is preferable)
• salt and pepper (to taste)
• 1/2 cup of kalamansi juice (lemon)
• 1 1/2 cup of kakang gata (coconut cream, you could discard with this if you don’t have any)

 Procedure

1. Make sure that you fillet the fish moderately thin and without bones and skin. Then cut the fillet into cubes. Put it into a bowl and sprinkle with some salt and pepper, make sure to mix it well.
2. Pour in the vinegar, mix well, and put it in the refrigerator for about an hour or so.
3. Drain a little of the excess marinade. Put in the rest of the ingredients, mix well.
4. Put it back in the refrigerator and let it chill for about 30 minutes.
5. Serve it cold.

TURON

Turon (Castilian: turrón de banana), also known as Banana Lumpia (Tagalog: lumpiyang saging), is a Philippine snack made of thinly sliced bananas (preferably Saba or Cardaba bananas) and a slice of jackfruit, dusted with brown sugar, rolled in spring roll wrapper and fried. Other fillings can also be used, including sweet potato, mango, cheddar cheese and coconut.

In the city of Malabon, "turron" refers to a fried lumpia-wrapper-enveloped dessert which has a sweet mung bean filling, while "valencia" refers to the banana version normally associated with the term turron.

Turon is a popular street food among Filipinos. They can be usually seen on the streets along with banana cue, camote cue, and maruya being peddled by vendors.

INGREDIENTS:

• 6-8 pieces ripe bananas, cut in half lengthwise, about 3"length
• 12 - 15 strips of jackfruit
• 12 - 15 pieces spring roll wrappers
• 1 cup brown sugar
• Cooking oil for frying

PROCEDURE:

1.  Separate the spring roll wrappers, arrange your plates in sequence : sliced banana, sugar, jackfruit.
2.  Lay the wrapper, dip the banana in sugar and put on one end of the wrapper, lay a slice of jackfruit on top.
3.  Fold starting at the end of the wrapper with the filling, fold the 2 sides in, then roll up to the end. Seal the end with water.
4.  Heat up the oil in medium heat and fry the turon with the sealed end side down first (to keep it sealed). Cook until slightly browned and flip.
5.  Fry the other side, and once slightly browned, sprinkle sugar(1 tablespoon per roll) onto the oil to caramelize and glaze the fried roll.
6.  Cook until golden brown.

MINDANAO

Mindanao cooking is marked by simplicity and the non-use of pork which Muslims do not eat. It is closely similar to Indonesian and Malaysian native fares in the use of hot chilies and spices such as curry. Some popular dishes are tiola sapi, piarun and lapua.
One dish that almost every Filipino knows is adobo (pronounced AH-doh-boh, sometimes called the national dish) and the most popular dessert is halo-halo. For large parties and feasts, lechon (pronounced LEHR-tsone) or roasted suckling pig is almost a must.

ADOBO

Adobo (Filipino: "marinade," "sauce" or "seasoning") is the name of a popular dish and cooking process in Philippine cuisine that involves meat or seafood marinated in a sauce of vinegar and garlic, browned in oil, and simmered in the marinade.

While the adobo dish and cooking process in Filipino cuisine and the general description of adobo in Spanish cuisine share similar characteristics, they refer to different things with different cultural roots. While the Philippine adobong can be considered adobo in the Spanish sense—a marinated dish—the Philippine usage is much more specific. Typically, pork or chicken, or a combination of both, is slowly cooked in vinegar, crushed garlic, bay leaf, black peppercorns, and soy sauce, then browned in the oven or pan-fried to get the desirable crisped edges. There are also seafood variants which can include shrimp and squid.Although it has a name taken from the Spanish, the cooking method is indigenous to the Philippines. When the Spanish conquered the Philippines in the late 16th century and early 17th century, they encountered an indigenous cooking process which involved stewing with vinegar, which they then referred to as adobo, the Spanish word for seasoning or marinade. Dishes prepared in this manner eventually came to be known by this name, with the original term for the dish now lost to history.

Adobo has been called the quintessential Philippine stew, served with rice both at daily meals and at feasts. It is commonly packed for Filipino mountaineers and travelers because it keeps well without refrigeration. Its relatively long shelf-life is due to one of its primary ingredients, vinegar, which inhibits the growth of bacteria.

Outside of the home-cooked dish, the essence of adobo has been developed commercially and adapted to other foods. A number of successful local Philippine snack products, such as nuts, chips, noodle soups, and corn crackers, market their items as adobo flavored.

There are several variations of adobong in the Philippines in which soy sauce is used, such as adobong baboy, in which pork is used as an edible pork ingredient, and adobong manok, in which chicken is used properly. There is also the adobong pusit, a squid-based dish fish in which the broth is a mixture of squid ink and vinegar.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 kilo pork cut in cubes + 1/2 kilo chicken, cut into pieces or
• choice of either 1 kilo of pork or 1 kilo of chicken
• 1 head garlic, minced
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1 cup vinegar
• 2 cups of water
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 5 laurel leaves (bay leaves)
• 4 tablespoons of cooking oil or olive oil
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 3 tablespoons water

PROCEDURE

1. In a big sauce pan or wok, heat 2 tablespoons of oil then sauté the minced garlic and onions.

2. Add the pork and chicken to the pan. Add 2 cups of water, 1/4 cup of soy sauce, vinegar, paprika and the bay leaves. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes or when meat is tender.
3. Remove the pork and chicken from the sauce pan and on another pan, heat cooking oil and brown the pork and chicken for a few minutes.
4. Mix the browned pork and chicken back to the sauce and add cornstarch dissolved in water to thicken.
5. Add salt and/or pepper if desired
6. Bring to a boil then simmer for an additional 5minutes.
7. Serve hot with the adobo gravy and rice.

HALO- HALO

Halo-halo (from Tagalog word halò, "mix") is a popular Filipino dessert that is a mixture of shaved ice and evaporated milk to which are added various boiled sweet beans and fruits, and served in a tall glass or bowl.

Ingredients include boiled kidney beans, garbanzos, sugar palm fruit (kaong), coconut sport (macapuno), and plantains caramelized in sugar,jackfruit (langkâ), gulaman, tapioca, nata de coco, sweet potato (kamote), cheese, pounded crushed young rice (pinipig). In terms of arrangement, most of the ingredients (fruits, beans, and other sweets) are first placed inside the tall glass, followed by the shaved ice. This is then sprinkled with sugar, and topped with either (or a combination of) leche flan, purple yam (ubeng pula), or ice cream. Evaporated milk is poured into the mixture upon serving.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 ripe large banana
• 2 ripe mangoes or 1 cup canned ripe mango
• 1 cup firm gelatin set into gel and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 cup canned ripe jackfruit
• 1/2 cup sweet corn or chick peas (garbanzos)
• 1 cup young shredded coconut, fresh or canned
• 1 cup cooked sweet yams or (ube halaya) glutinous purple yam,  cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 cup shaved ice

• 2 cup milk
• 4 scoops of favorite ice cream
• 1/2 cup chopped peanuts or rice krispies

PROCEDURE:

1. Peel mangoes and slice the meat into 1/2-inch cubes. Discard the seeds.
2. Prepare 4 tall glasses. Divide each ingredient into 4 equal parts.
3. In each glass place 1/4 of each ingredient, adding layer by layer starting with corn or chick peas, cooked sweet yams, jackfruit, bananas, coconut, and gelatin.
4. Top with 1/2 cup shaved ice.
5. Pour 1/4 cup milk over shaved ice and top with a scoop of ice cream.
6. Sprinkle nuts or rice krispies over it.

THANK U FOR READING, I HOPE U ENJOY!!!!

NATATAKAM NA BA KAU