Overseas Pinoy Cooking

Baguio City is known as the summer capital of the Philippines and the best time to visit the City of course is on the month of February. The Panagbenga Festival is held yearly during this month. Panagbenga is known as the Baguio City Flower Festival, the City of Pines is famous for its beautiful flowers. This is a food blog and I would not talk about the magnificent scenery and cool weather of the City. Instead I will write about some of the unique foods that the City is famous. Strawberry Taho . They are peddled on the street in the same taho metal containers balanced on bamboo poles on vendor’s shoulder. The taho is the same warm white bean curd with soft sago (tapioca balls) but flavored with fresh strawberry syrup instead of the usual arnibal (caramel). There is nothing more comforting than a sip of warm taho with the taste and aroma of Baguio while enjoying the cold weather strolling Burham Park or seeing the magnificent view at Mines View Park. Sundot Kulan

Pesa, Pesang Ulo ng Isda . Usually dalag or mudfish is usually used for pesang isda . Pesa is a ginger flavored fish soup with vegetables usually pechay, serve with miso dip . The miso dip is made up of ground fermented soya beans sautéed in garlic, onion and tomato. The Pinoy miso is available in three colors white, brown and yellow. The colors suppose to defend on type of bean used. Pesa is very popular in Laguna or Tagalog region in general. Pesa is different from the popular sinigang sa miso . As I said pesa is ginger flavored and sinigang sa miso means soup soured with miso. Here is how I cooked my pesang isda. Ingredients: 1 1/2 medium size fish head, lapu lapu or maya maya 1 small bundle spring onion or leeks, chopped 2 thumb size ginger, sliced 1 medium size onion, chopped 1 small head cabbage, quartered 1 bundle pechay , trimmed 1 tblsp. peppercorn 6-8 cup rice water cooking oil salt Miso dip: 1 tblsp. garlic, crushed 1/4 cup, yellow miso 1 small size tomato,chopped 1 smal

Inihaw na Talong at Itlog na Maalat Salad . Salted egg is one of the favorite quick ulam for most Pinoy. They are known as side dish of Pinoy banana leaf-packed meals. In our household salted egg is serve with chopped tomatoes and is usually served during breakfast. Grilled Eggplant and Salted Egg Salad is also serve as a side dish for grilled fish or meat. Please note that the ingredients should only be mixed when ready to serve, this is to avoid the fishy egg taste and of course, the vegetables are crunchier when freshly cut. Enjoy. Ingredients: 3 pcs. itlog na maalat , salted egg, shelled, diced 6 medium size eggplant 2 medium size tomato, diced 1 medium size onion, thinly chopped Cooking procedure: Grill each eggplant until skin is charred, let cool. Remove skin of each eggplant and cut/chop at about 1/2” crosswise, set aside. When ready to serve, in a big bowl toss eggplant, salted egg, onion and tomato. Serve immediately. See other reletated grilled eggplan

Ukoy na Dilis , at times you would most likely think twice when you see a dilis at the fish market especially when it is being offered at a bargain. How would you cook the fish beside paksiw na dilis or kinilaw should you find them fresh? Certainly dilis are delectable fish and it is one my favorites, I do love kinilaw na dilis . One of the alternative way of cooking the fish is fritter or crispy ukoy. The recipe is nothing new I have used the same batter mixture from my shrimp ukoy . Ukoy should be crispy from the outside, succulent and soft in the inside. To get the best result use generous amount of oil in frying. Who could resist a freshly fried ukoy deep in spicy hot vinegar? Here is how I cooked it. Ingredients: 1/2 kilo dilis , anchovy 2-3 stalks spring onion, chopped 1/2 cup flour 1 1/2 cup cornstarch 1 teaspoons baking powder 1 piece medium size egg, beaten salt and pepper cooking oil Cooking procedure: In a bowl mix flour and cornstarch, dash of salt and

Fish Sisig, Tilapia Sisig . Here is a healthy alternative to the cholesterol laden pork sisig. For this version of sisig I have used tilapia but you can also use bangus of any other fish. When stir frying the fish sisig I would suggest that it is to be stir fried as quickly as possible and careful stirring to avoid disintegration of the fish flakes. It can be serve as is or serve in a sizzling plate toped with egg. On this post I will share a technique in serving sisig sizzling style with out using hot plates. This can be done with the use of a microwave oven. Place a serving of the sisig in a microwave safe plate, break a whole egg on top then cook in microwave at medium to high heat until the egg is just cook or until the egg white turn to opaque white in color. Just watch out that you will not overcook the egg, it should be just cook that the sisig can still be stir mix when serving. Here is how I did it, enjoy! Ingredients: 2 kilo tilapia 1 small can liver spread 3 glo

Pork Kaldereta, Kalderetang Baboy . On several parties that I have attended I often see pork kaldereta on the table. I personally never cooked pork kaldereta because I always thought kaldereta are best cooked with goat , beef ect. This is my first attempt to use pork for my caldereta . I have chosen the tail part, I thought the bones and tails of the hog would do best for my version of pork kaldereta . To give a little sweet-sour taste that we Pinoy have come to love, I added a can of pineapple juice . The resultant dish was great and was really enjoyed by the family. Here is the recipe of my  Pork Kaldereta, Kalderetang Baboy. Ingredients: 1 kilo pork with bones and skin, cut into serving pieces 2 medium size red/green bell pepper, cut into wedges 2 medium size potato, cut into wedges 1 small can liver spread 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese 1/2 tsp. peppercorns, crushed 2 medium size onion, chopped 1/2 head garlic, chopped 1 cup pineapple juice

Pansit Palabok, Pansit Luglug is another popular Pinoy noodle dish. It made up of rice noodles blanch in boiling water and topped with shrimp sauce called palabok , made up of shrimp sauce that is flavoured with annatto which also give a bright orange tint. It is then topped with the paalat , a sautéed mixture of garlic, ground pork and diced firm tofu.  For added flavour and visual appeal it is garnished with smoked fish flakes, crushed pork cracklings, shrimps, boiled egg wedges, fried garlic and chopped spring onions. And served with kalamansi. On this post I used thick rice noodles, but if it is not available at your location the ordinary rice noodles or bihon is also suitable. I would recommend that the paalat and palabok should be mixed only when it is ready to serve because the pansit dish tend to dry up if not eaten immediately as the noodles will absorb the moisture of sauce. Here is the recipe. Ingredients: 1 kilo thick bihon noodles, cooked Red

Kinilaw na Dilis . This is my version of kinilaw na dilis , it is not the usual kinilaw na dilis that was squeezed into unrecognizable white mass and overcooked with vinegar. Most likely, it tastes so sour that the natural sweetness of the fish is already lost. Okey, for my kinilaw na dilis I use vinegar only to wash and briefly marinate the fish and subsequently discarded or drain off. The anchovy fillets are then tossed with chopped ginger, onion and chili. Now just drizzle with kalamasi juice. The sweetness and crunchiness of the fish is retained. Try it, there is no doubt you will enjoy it if you love kinilaw. Ingredients: 1/2 kilo dilis , anchovy 1 thumb size ginger, finely chopped 1 medium size onion, finely chopped 1/4 cup kalamansi juice 1-2 pcs. siling labuyo , chopped vinegar salt Method: To prepare, wash and drain anchovies, remove and discard bones, head and innards by curving out flesh on both side of the fish into fillet. Rinse

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Sinanglay na Tilapia . Fresh tilapias are always available on most fish market in Metro Manila, means fresh and alive. At times, you run out of ideas how to cook them. Today I would like to share an alternate way of cooking the fish. Sinanglay is a Bikol way of cooking tilapia in coconut milk. The fish is stuffed with chopped onions, tomatoes, ginger, libas leaves, tanglad or lemongrass and wrapped in banana or pechay leaves. Libas or hog plum is a kind of tree, the leaves are use for souring in cooking Bicol dishes like laing and fish. On my version for sinanglay na tilapia for the benefit of Pinoy overseas I use ingredients that are most likely available in most Asian store overseas. I also included in the stuffing bagoong alamang or fermented salted krill but this is an option. Here is the recipe. Ingredients : 2 pieces medium size tilapia 2-3 bundles pechay 2 medium size tomato, chopped 1 medium size onion, chopped 1 thumb size ginger, finely chopped 1 stalk