ILOILO FOOD TRIP

I love the combination of pineapples and cheese. And that's not just as pizza toppings but also as a sandwich filling. But moreso in this favorite Filipino recipe of Pininyahang Manok which is even made special with the addition of cheese.  Here's a simple recipe for a delicious Pininyahang Manok with Cheese

Miswa and sardines are a classic combo. Most Filipinos have grown up with this comfort food which until now is part of their childhood gastronomic memories. But it is mostly "sardines in tomato sauce" that forms part of these taste memories.  So how about a little tweak to this comfort food recipe a bit and making it more relevant to the taste of the new generation... Victorias Foods Corporation is partnering with Chef Tope Arañador, a young and contemporary Ilonggo chef/owner of PUNOT Restaurant. With this partnership, VFC and Chef Tope has created 15 recipes using Victorias Foods signature products - Spanish Style Bangus and Sardines in Soya Oil. And just in time for the Lenten celebrations, here's the another recipe created by Chef Tope using Victorias Hot Sardines in Soya Oil Ingredients 3 cans Victorias Hot Sardines in Soya Oil, drained 6 cloves garlic 1 red onion, small 5-6 pcs bokchoy leaves 1 pc patola, peeled and sliced 1 tbsp fish sauce 150g misua noodles

My puso ng saging memories will always include that Jollijeep stall in Makati back when I was working in the big city. It sells an Adobong Puso ng Saging and Sitaw combo that always tickles my appetite. Whenever they sell it, I always make sure to indulge in it for lunch and dinner too. But another favorite recipe that has banana blossoms is having it in Bangus Sinigang. It's a really simple dish - just cook like the way you make  sinigang  and instead of radish, okra and other  sinigang  veggies, just use  puso ng saging . Here's the recipe for Sinigang na Bangus with Puso ng Saging .

  The now-iconic restaurant called Casa  Ilongga  used to be just a small eatery -- and was even established far from its Iloilo roots.  But it owes its success story to serendipity, when they discovered that one of the  Sy  siblings of the Shoe Mart fame was a regular customer, affirming the goodness of their food and that they deserve to be on a bigger stage. Based on Spanish  words  Casa (home) and  Ilongga  (a female resident in Iloilo), the original establishment consisted of just a one long  table serving  Batchoy  before  exploded into popularity and became firmly entrenched as one of the longest-running restaurants with over 40 years in operation.   Humble Origins   Challenged by the closure of their oil business in Bacolod due to the sugar crisis in the late 1970’s, Emilio and  Julieta Uytiepo  decided to move to Manila together with their children to venture into the food industry. They rented an ancestral home in Vito Cruz Manila, divi

Salmonite got its name from the its pinkish hue and its among the more attractive local fishes around. It can be cooked kinamatisan  with a "sauce" of tomatoes and onions to give it sweet and sour flavour. The fish when filleted and dried makes a perfect fish tocino . But most of the time, it is cooked pinamalhan  at home to bring out the freshness of the fish at the same time enjoy the flesh. Here's a basic recipe for Pinamalhan nga Salmonite sa Iba

Alugbati is definitely my favorite as I grew up having this green and leafy vegetable on the dinner table. No matter how its cooked, I always end up having a big appetite for the dish it becomes. Whether sauteed with meat or seafood and other vegetables or part of  ginisang monggo  dish, its always a gastronomic delight to have  alugbati . Here's a simple recipe for Ginisang Alugbati

An obvious Chinese specialty, this dimsum have evolved for years and made it into the Filipino gastronomy. Now, almost everywhere across the country from restaurants to fastfood, there are so many versions of sio mai. And you can make yours too. Here's a simple recipe of making Siomai

Non-fish paksiw recipe is almost always limited to pork especially left-over lechon. It's the default left-over whole roasted pig recipe especially during big occasions like fiestas.  Lechon Manok on the hand is very common nowadays that every street corner all across the country has one lechon manok stand. It already has become a staple and quick ulam especially for dinner when you just buy and serve with on the table.  And most of the time there's none left, unless you bought it all for yourself. So here's an adapted recipe that will surely make us enjoy chicken as lechon paksiw. 

 Everybody loves boneless bangus and most of the time its either grilled or fried. But there are no actual "boneless" bangus - just deboned , technically speaking. And one can buy already deboned milkfishes at the fish section of groceries or if you have a suki at the wet market, you can probably ask them to debone it, for you to enjoy all the bangus goodness without those pesky thorns. How to Debone a Bangus