Skip to main content

Tulapho - Ilonggo Pork Belly Cracklings

Tulapho can be considered to be Ilonggo chicharon dating back to the Spanish colonial period. It is an old tradition of using animal fat to fry other foodstuff and tulapho could have been the by product of extracting fats from pork. They say some bakeries (in Molo) use the fat (lard) from the tulapho in making biscuits.

Tulapho is perfect in adding crunch to various dishes like pinakbet just like the Ilocanos add bagnet to theirs. It is also a good partner when making ginisang guinamos (the Ilonggo bago-ong).

Here's the simple recipe of making Tulapho


Ingredients
  • Pork Belly
  • Salt
  • Water
How to make Tulapho
  1. Rub generous amount of salt on the pork belly. Set aside for 30 minutes.
  2. In a wok, place pork belly and water (enough to submerge it).
  3. Bring to a boil and simmer until the water dries up and the pork is fried in its own fat.
  4. When the crispness of the pork is your liking, remove from heat and let it cool.
  5. Store in plastic or any airtight container to preserve its crunchiness.
This is a very basic recipe and i didn't included the measurements - just make necessary adjustments. You can tweak the flavor to your liking like adding pepper to give it spice. Or you can add garlic and chili when the pork is frying on its own fat to give it a kick.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Cassava Cake

Cassava cake is among the most popular Pinoy native delicacies. In Iloilo, one can find it in the stalls insides malls and groceries in ready to go boxes or in bite size pieces ready to satisfy one's cravings. But it is also easy to prepare as the ingredients can be mostly found in the wet market or even grocery stores. Here's a simple cassava cake recipe:

Valenciana

Ilonggos really love valenciana because most if not all have grown accustomed of having it in almost all occasions like fiesta, brithdays, reunions and all other occasions thus I love calling it as the "occasional dish".   Basically, " go, grow and glow " dish, it has the carbohydrates, protein and vitamins and minerals in just one spoonful. And it can come in its simplest form with just malagkit rice, pork, chorizo and bell peppers to some fancy with additions like raisins, peas, chicken, hardboiled egg (just garnish though), etc.  Here's the recipe for Valenciana Ingredients 3 cups Glutinous Rice ( malagkit ) 2 cups Pork, sliced 1 cup Pork, Beef or Chicken  Liver, sliced 2-3 pieces Chinese sausage, sliced 2-3 large red bell peppers, sliced lengthwise 1 cup Green Peas 3 small boxes Raisins 2 pcs.Onion, chopped 4 cloves garlic, crushed salt and ground pepper to taste  2 pcs. pork/chicken bouillon/broth cube

Rice Puto with Gata

Puto is among the most popular Filipino native delicacies . On it's own, it's one delicious snack but also eaten with dinuguan or in Iloilo, with a bowl of hot batchoy .  It comes in many forms and in many variants, the simplest of which is just plain and simple rice puto.  Here's a very simple recipe for Rice Puto with Gata