ILOILO FOOD TRIP

What lobo-lobo is to the Ilonggos is called d ulong in most parts of the Philippines. These are tiny silvery fishes often referred to as baby dilis in some places. It is often found in wet markets sold in "cups" or in groceries inside ready to cook styro packaging. And most of the time they often end up either fried as torta or steamed inside banana leaves. Here are two recipes for Lobo-lobo - Torta and Tino-um

I love dried danggit and I'm pretty sure, you do too! Now, who doesn't?  It's probably one of the most popular dried fishes together with the many varieties of tuyo/pinaka and balingon/dilis And fried  danggit  is the bomb!  With just vinegar or calamansi as dip or some fresh tomatoes as side dish, it often makes you say "Extra rice, please!". I love the meatier type of danggit wherein you can actually bite some of the dried flesh of the fish. Compared with the thin and smaller ones where in its just it may seem like just dried plastic and often are sharp enough to cut you gums, meatier danggit is a delight in every bite.

What makes this pan de sal interesting is the "prefix" pre-war that got me very curious then when a batchoyan started offering them years ago, along side with another iconic bread - pan de sal ni Pa-a . As the name suggest thus pan de sal may have been the typical recipe decades ago before the war. But it may have just caught up commercially in the 70s. Good thing that there are still bakeries here in Iloilo that makes the original pan de sal and among them is the Los Filipinos Bakery along Iznart Street across the Iloilo Central market. Each costs PhP 1 and it is among the most compact pan de sals I've tried and perfect with soups like Lapaz batchoy. Bakeries in towns still make this kind of bread like this one in Santa Barbara, Iloilo which is bigger but still light yet compact. It is basically on the sweet side plus it has that signature "dusting" that makes it stand out. It is also perfect coffee or chocolate drinks....

A comfort food, perhaps? One of the simplest breakfast (all around) staple is sauteed canned sardines. It can be as simple as just plain ginisang sardinas or you can add vegetables and tweak the recipe as I always do so that even though its just canned sardines it can taste different every time. Extra rice, please! Here's a simple yet special recipe for Ginisang Sardinas with Okra and Malunggay

There’s an unwritten rule in the house – leftover fried fish will become cardillo while broiled fish becomes linagpang . While cardillo involves a more complicated process of making an egg-based broth for the fish, making linagpang is just easy as 1-2-3.  It has become quite a dish in the house as there’s no need to wait for leftover fishes – bangus in particular, in order to make linagpang . Here's the recipe for Linagpang na Bangus

Eggplants are among the most all around vegetables found in a variety of dishes. It can be fried as a torta, deep-fried like chips, cooked in sinigang and pinakbet , baked into pasta dishes and pinirito  partnered with bago-ong  casseroles,  or just plainly grilled. An off-shoot recipe from the grilled eggplant is Ensalada na Talong which is an easy to make appetizer or side dish for grilled meats and fish. Here's a simple recipe for Talong Ensalada (Eggplant Salad)

I often experimented with this recipe based on the taste memories I had of my last sweet and spicy dilis snack. Good thing, balingon or dilis is always available inside the fridge and so as the other ingredients. And making one is very simple, just frying and mixing - it's really that easy. So here's my very simple recipe which you can tweak to adjust to your own taste. I don't usually put in the measurement for most of the time I just thrown in what ever there is and adjust it during the process. Sweet and Spicy Dilis Recipe